Ka Huli Ao Events – Fall 2017
Ka Huli Ao seeks to prepare students with the knowledge and tools to advance the traditions and legal rights of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific and Indigenous Peoples, and to inform and engage Native Hawaiian and other peoples to appreciate, protect, and restore the valuable natural and cultural resources of Indigenous island communities. We further these goals in part through Maoli Thursday, a lunchtime speaker forum and speaker series held every first Thursday of the month during the semester.
On September 7, Ka Huli Ao presented Maoli Thursday featuring Professor David Wilkins, who discussed “Self-Determination or Self-Decimation? The Political and Legal Dismemberment of Native Citizens in Indian Country.” Professor Wilkins is a citizen of the Lumbee Nation and holds the McKnight Presidential Professorship in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, with adjunct appointments in Political Science, Law, and American Studies. His most recent book, Dismembered: Native Disenrollment and the Battle for Basic Human Rights (with Shelly Hulse Wilkins, 2017), examines the origins and significance of tribal disenrollment, how Native nations are defined, and who has the right to belong. Ka Huli Ao Acting Director Kapua Sproat moderated.
Professor David Wilkins discussing “Self-Determination of Self-Decimation?” at Maoli Thursday.
On October 11, Ka Huli Ao presented Maoli Wednesday featuring Dr. Valmaine Toki and Dr. Keakaokawai Varner Hemi on “Deconstructing Indigenous Rights: From Aotearoa to Hawaii and Beyond.” Dr. Toki and Dr. Hemi are from the Māori and Indigenous Governance Centre at the University of Waikato’s Te Piringa Faculty of Law. Ka Huli Ao Post-J.D. Research and Teaching Fellow Mahina Tuteur moderated.
Prof. David Forman, Prof. Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa, Dr. Keakaokawai Varner Hemi, Dean Wayne Rumbles, Dr. Valmaine Toki, Prof. Kapuaʻala Sproat, Post-J.D. Fellow Mahina Tuteur.
On November 2, Ka Huli Ao presented Maoli Thursday featuring Former Governor John Waiheʻe and Esther Kiaʻāina, executive director of the Pacific Basin Development Council, who spoke about “Chaos in the Capital: What’s at Stake for Native Hawaiians?” Stanton Enomoto, senior program director for the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Native Hawaiian Relations, moderated. Law Students Kealiʻi Sagum and Kuʻupua Kiyuna also shared highlights of their summer work experiences in Washington, D.C.
Chaos in the Capitol: Panelists included Former Governor John D. Waiheʻe ‘76 and Esther Kiaʻāina.
Stay tuned for Maoli Thursday and other Ka Huli Ao events in the Spring 2018 semester!