E Hoʻomalu Mai: Building Pilina Through Conflict and Difference

ʻŌlelo Noʻeau #532. He ali‘i ka la‘i, he haku na ke aloha

Where peace is, there love abides also.

E ho‘omalu mai.

In this theme of Maluhia, Mālama & Safety, to build pilina through conflict and difference, we focus on ‘safety’ as an English word that our campus community has been articulating as a goal. As we reflect on safety, we are reminded of mālama as a guiding principle because it is through caring for and tending to one another that we can arrive at a state of maluhia, described in English as peace, tranquility, and safety.

Past Events

Community Dialogues – Conflict and Peace Specialist

These are facilitated sessions where you can engage with peers from diverse backgrounds. People who participate in the Community Dialogues program will be able to: 1) Identify important aspects of their personal backgrounds, 2) Articulate the value of understanding different perspectives, 3) Describe and demonstrate principles of positive social engagement in communication, and 4) Understand about being responsible members of the Community.

• Thursday, September 5: “Ethical Photography for Social Change” with Wiwik Dharmiasih
• Thursday, September 12: “Life Story Sharing” with Yumi Saito
• Thursday, September 19: “Reframing the Ivory Tower” with Emma Hsu
• Thursday, September 26: “Wellness Strategy” with Yumi Saito
• Thursday, October 3: “Home, Truly?: Places, Journeys, and Origins” with Ruizhi Choo
• Thursday, October 10: “Narrative Perspective” with Emma Hsu
• Wednesday, October 16: “Performing Arts And You” with Emi Obana
• Wednesday, October 30: “Of Spaceships, Sorcerers & Small Gods: The Relevance of Fiction & Fantasy in Our Lives” with Ruizhi Choo
• Wednesday, November 6: “Food For Thoughts” with Emi Obana
• Thursday, November 7: “Cross-Cultural Conversations, Peacebuilding Post-Disaster through an ALOHA Response”
• Wednesday, November 13: “Microaggressions” with José Barzola
• Thursday, November 14: “Cross-Cultural Conversations, the Future of Sustainable Outer Space Development from a Human Rights Based Approach”
• Monday, November 18: “Generational Trauma: Understanding the Impact of Generational Trauma on Mental Health”
• Wednesday, November 20: “Code-Switching” with José Barzola
• Wednesday, November 20: “Pathways to Learning: Supporting Pakistan’s Out-of-School Children” with Ms. Kiran Peters
• Thursday, November 21: “Cross-Cultural Conversations, MySDGDream: Sustainable Development Goals and Me” 
• Friday, November 22: Conflict Resolution Alliance, Annual Meeting and Interactive Keynote Address, “Mediation: Evolution or Revolution?” with Judge Riki May Amano (retired)

September

• “Political Conflict In and Out of the Classroom” – Open House hosted by The Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Excellence: Sept. 6 (11:30 am – 1:00 pm HST) at Hawaiʻi Hall Room 309 (for faculty and staff only)
• Safe Zone Training – UH Mānoa LGBTQ+ Center
  
  • Sept. 5 (10:00 AM – 11:30 AM HST), Zoom
  • Sept. 24 (2:00 PM – 3:30 PM HST), Zoom
• University of Hawaiʻi Webinar Series hosted as part of Equity Explored
  
  • Sept. 23 (12:00 PM – 1:00 PM HST): Frameworks for Understanding Diverse Religious Traditions & Worldview Differences
  • Sept. 24 (12:00 PM – 1:00 PM HST): Navigating Difficult Conversations: A Skills Workshop for Diverse & Inclusive Communities
  • Sept. 26 (12:00 PM – 1:30 PM HST): Honoring Our Shared Humanity: Understanding Islamophobia & Antisemitism
  • Sept. 27 (10:00 AM – 11:30 AM HST): What is Antisemitism?
  • Sept. 27 (12:00 PM – 1:30 PM HST): Addressing Islamophobia

October & November

• Pilina Circle
  
  • Oct. 10 (12:30 PM – 3:00 pm HST) in-person on the Mānoa campus (space TBA)
  • Nov. 20 (12:30 PM – 3:00 pm HST) in-person on the Mānoa campus (space TBA)
• “Teaching in Troubled Times: Revisited”
  
  • Oct. 16 (11:30 AM – 12:45 PM)
  • Kuykendall 106 Events Room
  • Description: Classroom discussions are valuable opportunities for exchanges of ideas, experiences and perspectives. A kind of forum for faculty and students to sit together exploring what is known and knowledge that is unfolding, in-class discussions can bring up/focus on matters with contending points of view that may or not appear to be resolvable. Topics such as the climate crisis, political elections, military conflict, social and cultural characteristics and practices, to name a few. What approaches can faculty take that preserve academic freedom of speech as well as civility, without necessarily always achieving a state of balance on issues of great impact? (For more info visit: https://www.ofdas.hawaii.edu/events/teaching-in-troubled-times/) 
• “Healing in Divided Times” Virtual Workshop with Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer, Aunty Lynette Paglinawan, José Barzola, and moderated by Dr. Maya Soetoro (Advocacy for Social Justice Talk Story Series):
  
  • Oct. 17 (11:00 AM – 12:00 PM HST)
  • Panel Recording: https://go.hawaii.edu/8ob
  • Description: This panel is a conversation on how to build relationships and connections with those who have different perspectives & across conflict and difference (i.e. at home, on campus, with loved ones, with the election, etc.). Lost trust in people and institutions? This session explores personal experiences and offers a call to action for individual change and rebuilding trust through human connection and collective action.

ʻŌlelo Noʻeau #532. He ali‘i ka la‘i, he haku na ke aloha

Where peace is, there love abides also.

E ho‘omalu mai.

In this theme of Maluhia, Mālama & Safety, to build pilina through conflict and difference, we focus on ‘safety’ as an English word that our campus community has been articulating as a goal. As we reflect on safety, we are reminded of mālama as a guiding principle because it is through caring for and tending to one another that we can arrive at a state of maluhia, described in English as peace, tranquility, and safety.

Past Events

Mālama ʻĀina Workshop (In-Person):

April 26, 2024 from 3:00 – 4:00 pm

How do we pause and reconnect in tangible ways to ʻāina? Join us in a hands-on, teamwork experience of taking care of our ‘āina and the plants that grow here.  By caring for and grounding ourselves in this place that nourishes us, we will glean lessons on how to mālama one another and the places we come from. All are welcomed and we especially encourage those who are yearning for connection during challenge and tension to join us. 

Register for this workshop here.

Indigenizing Self-Care Workshop (Online):

April 5, 2024, 10:00 – 11:00 am

What tools are available for taking care of ourselves and our bodies when we are actively enduring intergenerational trauma of oppression over our lands and peoples? This experience will introduce and provide tools grounded in Hawai‘i for self-care (such as connections to past and future, your healthy self, and community), with a specific lens on healing from intergenerational trauma. Learning how to care for ourselves provides the tools to care for one another and fostering spaces of care to rediscover relationships we have been disconnected from. All are welcomed and you do NOT need to identify as Indigenous to attend. We especially encourage those who are searching for holistic self-care during challenge and tension to join us. Register for this workshop here.

Safe Zones Training

April 23, 2024 from 2pm-3:30 pm

June 21, 2024 from 10am-11:30am

This training addresses oppression in an intersectional manner and shares allyship strategies to address bias, microaggressions and other forms of harassment. Tools presented can be used to address more than anti-LGBTQ+ bias. We are all invited to act strategically to challenge interpersonal prejudice and systemic oppression The Safe Zone training is part of a university-wide campaign to build a safe and welcoming campus community for LGBTQ+ people. What will be addressed:

• The difference between “assigned sex,” “gender” and “sexual orientation”
• The rights of the LGBTQ+ UHM community
• How to maximize gender and LGBTQ+ inclusion in your daily life
• What are strategies for allyship
• How to be an effective ally or advocate for LGBTQ+ people

Register for these trainings here.

Pilina Circle

Wednesday, April 10, 2024, from 2-4:30 pm

What leads to prejudice and hate of various identity groups? At the heart of this answer is disconnection; disconnection from stories and experiences that remind us of the ways we are interrelated and part of the common human family. 

How do we heal that disconnection? We reconnect. We rebuild our pilina. 

This Pilina Circle will be a space where participants can share stories, listen deeply, and find connections, especially around the theme of safety. All are welcomed and we especially encourage those who are yearning for connection during challenge and tension to join us. 

This Pilina Circle will be in person. Pre-registration is required. Register for this Pilina Circle here.

Teaching in Troubled Times: A conversation for faculty, by faculty

Thursday, April 4, 2024,12 noon – 1:15pm
Kuykendall 106 Events Room

Register for this conversation. 

Classroom discussions are extraordinary opportunities for exchanges of ideas, experiences and perspectives. A kind of laboratory for faculty and students to sit together exploring what is known and knowledge that is unfolding, on matters with contending points of view that may or not appear to be resolvable. Matters such as the climate crisis, political elections, military conflict, social and cultural characteristics and practices, to name a few. What approaches can faculty take that preserve academic freedom of speech as well as civility, without necessarily always achieving a state of balance on issues of great impact.

Panel includes:

• Kath Sands, American Studies
• Lia Keawe, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies
• Colin Moore, Communication and Information, Matsunaga Institute for Peace
• Kathy Ferguson, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Political Science
  (tba: STEM faculty on climate crisis)
• Hazel Gedikli, Center for Teaching Excellence, moderator

This exchange among faculty will begin with the panel presenting varied approaches, then open up for a full discussion with attendees to illuminate effective teaching practices. We look forward to seeing you there! 

Maluhia, Mālama and Safety Speaker Series Panel

Monday, April 1, 2024 from 2:30-4:00 pm

Maluhia, Mālama and Safety Speaker Series Panel Recording

Calling People In, Not Calling People Out.

I ka ʻōlelo nō ke ola,i ka ʻōlelo nō ka make (Words can heal; words can destroy). What words do we use to describe the feelings and experiences that are impacting our ʻāina and peoples? How can we be intentional about the language we bring to life with our leo (voice)? How can we “call people in” instead of just “calling them out” when we have a difference of opinion? In this session of the Speaker Series we will engage with specialists whose work focuses on ‘safety’ to help us explore and complicate this concept while also supporting our vocabulary to include additional verbiage for us to describe our situations and experiences.

Panel Includes:

• Jillian Freitas, Ka Malu a Wa‘ahila
• Andrew Black, Department of Public Safety
• Camaron Miyamoto, LGBTQ+ Center
• Laura Lyons, Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Excellence
• Niya McAdoo, Sister Circle
• Jennifer Rose, Office of Equity Assurance

Moderated by Kamakani Albano and Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Lipe

Indigenizing Self-Care Workshop (Online):

March 8, 2024, 9:00 – 10:00 am

What tools are available for taking care of ourselves and our bodies when we are actively enduring intergenerational trauma of oppression over our lands and peoples? This experience will introduce and provide tools grounded in Hawai‘i for self-care (such as connections to past and future, your healthy self, and community), with a specific lens on healing from intergenerational trauma. Learning how to care for ourselves provides the tools to care for one another and fostering spaces of care to rediscover relationships we have been disconnected from. All are welcomed and you do NOT need to identify as Indigenous to attend. We especially encourage those who are searching for holistic self-care during challenge and tension to join us. 

Mālama ʻĀina Workshop (In-Person):

March 1, 2024 from 3:00 – 4:00 pm

How do we pause and reconnect in tangible ways to ʻāina? Join us in a hands-on, teamwork experience of taking care of our ‘āina and the plants that grow here.  By caring for and grounding ourselves in this place that nourishes us, we will glean lessons on how to mālama one another and the places we come from. All are welcomed and we especially encourage those who are yearning for connection during challenge and tension to join us. 

Resources and Materials 

Campus Resources: 

UHM Department of Public Safety (DPS): https://manoa.hawaii.edu/dps/ 

• UH Mānoa’s DPS is dedicated to providing and promoting a safe and secure campus, and serving our community with aloha. Services include walking escorts and vehicle transportation, 24/7 Emergency Call Boxes around campus as identified by their blue light, and reporting crime. 

DPS Resource List: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/dps/resources/ 

DPS also provides links to and descriptions of other on-campus resources for various safety considerations, including the following:

• UHM Office of Title IX
• Mānoa Advocate
• UH System Confidential Advocate
• PAU (Prevention Awareness, Understanding) Violence Program
• UHM Counseling & Student Development Center
• LGBTQ+ Center
• University Health Services Mānoa
• UHM Office of Student Conduct
• KŌKUA Program
• Health Promotion Resource Center
• Office of the Vice Chancellor for Students
• Environmental Health & Safety Office
• Office of Human Resources
• UH Employee Assistance Program
• UH Mānoa Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EEO/AA) Office

Conflict and Peace Specialist – Community Dialogues: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/peacebuilding/get-involved/community-dialogues/

• The purpose of Community Dialogues is to help students develop personally and professional by 1) promoting an understanding of conflict management skills, 2) providing an opportunity for students to learn and practice skills that will help them better engage with other members of the Community; and 3) developing critical thinking skills.

Ka Malu a Waʻahila: https://kwaahila.org/

• The mission of Ka Malu a Waʻahila is to foster a safe, therapeutic space for our kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiian) students, faculty, and staff within the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, born from the acknowledgment of historical and intergenerational trauma, to cultivate healing pathways that elevate the behavioral health of the lāhui. Using the Pilinahā Framework, one of their principles include cultural safety, engaging in ongoing self-reflection and awareness to hold ourselves and our systems accountable for addressing biases, attitudes, and assumptions.

UH System Executive Policy EP 1.202: https://hawaii.edu/policy/docs/temp/ep1.202.pdf 

Executive Policy EP 1.202 provides the overarching framework to implement the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents Policy RP 1.205 on Nondiscrimination and Affirmative Action. This Executive Policy also provides the administrative framework to ensure compliance with applicable federal and state statutes, rules and regulations, and provisions in the collective bargaining agreements regarding nondiscrimination, equal opportunity, and affirmative action, as applicable. This includes compliance with federal contractor affirmative action mandates pursuant to Executive Order 11246 and implementing regulations for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. 

The University has a policy and procedure, to address Sex and Gender Based Misconduct, as required by federal and state laws, including but not limited to, Hawai‘i Revised Statutes §304A-120, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and the Clery Act, as amended by the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. Please refer to EP 1.204 or contact a Title IX Coordinator. 

This policy does not cover general harassment that is not based on a protected category. For allegations involving Workplace Violence, please refer to EP 9.210 or contact your respective campus designee. This Policy governs the conduct of all University students, employees, and third parties.

Safety Resources and Materials: 

Reading Materials:

• Pilinahā: An Indigenous Framework for Health
• Why cultural safety rather than cultural competency is required to achieve health equity: a literature review and recommended definition
• Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené Brown
• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
• “Hawaiian Souls: The Movement to Stop the U.S. Military Bombing of Kahoʻolawe” by Jonathan Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio in A Nation Rising: Hawaiian Movements for Life, Land, and Sovereignty” edited by Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, Ikaika Hussey, and Erin Kahunawaikaʻala Wright (2014)
• You Are the Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience edited by Tarana Burke and Brene Brown
• “We Hold These Truths: Dismantling Racial Hierarchies, Building Equitable Communities” edited by Tia Brown McNair

Videos:

• “The power of vulnerability with Brené Brown” by TED
• “What Does Cultural Safety in Health Care Mean for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders” – VCH Aboriginal Health Virtual Conference in October 2020

Podcasts:

• Kū Project Podcast with Daniel Aipa
• “Putting Indigenous cultural safety into practice: ‘The first step is admitting we have a problem with racism” episode from the DocTalks: A Doctors of BC Podcast
• University of California, Berkeley Othering & Belonging Institute Podcast

ʻŌlelo Noʻeau #1191. I ka ‘ōlelo nō ke ola, i ka ‘ōlelo nō ka make

Words can heal; words can destroy.

E ho‘omalu mai.

In this theme of ʻŌlelo, Kuleana & Speech, to build pilina through conflict and difference, we focus on ‘speech’ as an English word that our campus community has been concerned with: What is free speech? What is hate speech? We also add: What is responsible speech? What is speech that is grounded in a sense of kuleana?

Join us for events and visit our list of resources to explore and engage. In addition, share events or resources under this theme with us here.

Past Events

Pilina Circle

Tuesday, April 30, 2024 from 10am-12:30pm

What leads to prejudice and hate of various identity groups? At the heart of this answer is disconnection; disconnection from stories and experiences that remind us of the ways we are interrelated and part of the common human family. 

How do we heal that disconnection? We reconnect. We rebuild our pilina. 

This Pilina Circle will be a space where participants can share stories, listen deeply, and find connections, especially around the theme of speech. All are welcomed and we especially encourage those who are yearning for connection during challenge and tension to join us. 

This Pilina Circle will be in person. Pre-registration is required. Click here to register.

Welina Mānoa Workshop (In-Person):

How do the stories we share about the places important to us allow us to remember how we care for another? How does the language we use uplift the mana (spirit, power, life energy) of those places and the peoples (human and more-than-human) within them? This chant workshop provides an experience to deepen our relationships with ‘āina, centering Mānoa and Hawai‘i, as well as to self and one another. Share and listen to stories of the places we come from, that care for us, and practice some tools of being in relationship and community with one another and our homes. All are welcomed and we especially encourage those who are yearning for connection during challenge and tension to join us. 

Indigenizing Self-Care Workshop (Online):

April 5th, 10:00 – 11:00 am

What tools are available for taking care of ourselves and our bodies when we are actively enduring intergenerational trauma of oppression over our lands and peoples? This experience will introduce and provide tools grounded in Hawai‘i for self-care (such as connections to past and future, your healthy self, and community), with a specific lens on healing from intergenerational trauma. Learning how to care for ourselves provides the tools to care for one another and fostering spaces of care to rediscover relationships we have been disconnected from. All are welcomed and you do NOT need to identify as Indigenous to attend. We especially encourage those who are searching for holistic self-care during challenge and tension to join us. Register for these workshops here.

Resources

Campus Resources:

UH System Executive Policy 10.206: https://www.hawaii.edu/policy/?action=viewPolicy&policySection=ep&policyChapter=10&policyNumber=206

This executive policy, “Free Expression on University Campuses,” sets forth policies regarding speech and other expressive activity on University of Hawai‘i campuses.

Board of Regents Policy RP 1.205: https://www.hawaii.edu/offices/eeo/policies/ 

It is the policy of the university to provide equity of opportunity in higher education, both in the educational mission and as an employer. The university is committed to comply with all State and Federal statutes, rules, and regulations which prohibit discrimination. The university is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, sex, gender identity and expression, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, disability, genetic information, marital status, breastfeeding, income assignment for child support, arrest and court record (except as permissible under State law), sexual orientation, national guard absence, or status as a covered veteran. This policy covers admission and access to and participation, treatment, and employment in the university’s programs and activities. Discriminatory harassment, including sexual harassment, is prohibited under this policy. The university shall promote a full realization of equal opportunity through a positive, continuing program of nondiscrimination and affirmative action (41 CFR Chapter 60) on each campus.

Speech Resources and Materials: 

Reading Materials:

• Free Speech on Campus (2017) by Erwin Chemerinsky & Howard Gillman 
• It’s Not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom (2022) by Michael Bérubé & Jennifer Ruth
• Campus Free Speech: A Reference Handbook (Contemporary World Issues) (2023) by Lori Cox Han and Jerry Price
• Words that Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendment (1993) by Mari Matsuda
• Free Speech and Hate Speech in the United States: The Limits of Toleration (2021) by Chris Demaske

Videos:

• “Free Speech, Political Speech, and Hate Speech on Campus” by Harvard Radcliffe Institute
• “Race, Reconciliation and Free Speech” (Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus)

Podcasts:

• “Unlocking Us” with Dr. Brené Brown
• “So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast”