(IMOA) Imagine Pacific Original Article
Considering Indigenous Peoples Day: The cultural importance of metaphor
By: James E. Faumuina, MBA, MPA, GCert/DDS
Ph.D. Student, Troy Global Leadership Program
The use of metaphor aligns with traditional language and learning in the Pacific Islands. Namely, Nunn et al. (2024) align the threat of climate extinction with traditional knowledge and practice. Nothwithstanding, as a result of Western colonization, many cultural and linguistic practices were denied or eventually erased, as with the Hawaiian language after the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy (Trask, 1993; Fernandez et al., 2020).
In Fernandez et al. (2020), the authors explain how the Hawaiian language uses metaphor through symbolism; the term is mo'olelo. In Hawaiian, mo'olelo, or story, describes lineage, science, and relationships among the Hawaiian people.
With the restriction of the use of the Hawaiian language in schools and public places in the modern colonization period before statehood in 1959, the ability to utilize the power of mo'olelo, or metaphor, a common traditional practice, resulted in a loss of sense of self and culture for many Native Hawaiians (Trask, 1993; Fernandez et al., 2020). However, this is not isolated to Hawaii, as May (2006) reminds a global audience that Pacific Islanders possessed culture, innovation, and capacity before Western influence.
My research attempts to not only focus on and highlight injustices and mistreatment of the past, but it will not focus on how external influences currently affect Pacific Island-Small Island Developing States (PI-SIDS), which will be covered in the literature review.
Thus, the intent is to further academic interest in gauging PI-SIDS' internal assessment of themselves as global leaders and the extent to which factors like the loss of language, traditional knowledge, and culture have affected their self-view, if at all.
References
Fernandez, P., Sang, D. K., Yim, K., Iwane, A., Kalama-Macomber, K., Kukahiko, K., Makua, K., Nakasone, K., Tanigawa, D., Kim, K., Reyes, L. C., & Fleming-Nazara, T. (2020). Pūpūkahi i holomua: A story of Hawaiian education and a theory of change. Encounters in Theory and History of Education, 21, 175–212.
May, J. D. (2006). Human dignity, human rights, and religious pluralism: Buddhist and Christian perspectives. Buddhist-Christian Studies, 26(1), 51–60.
Nunn, P. D., Kumar, R., Barrowman, H. M., Chambers, L., Fifita, L., Gegeo, D., Gomese, C., McGree, S., Rarai, A., Cheer, K., Esau, D., Fa'anunu,' Ofa, Fong, T., Fong‐Lomavatu, M., Geraghty, P., Heorake, T., Kekeubata, E., Korovulavula, I., Kubunavanua, E., … Waiwai, M. (2024). Traditional knowledge for climate resilience in the Pacific Islands. WIREs Climate Change, e882.
Trask, H.-K. (1993). From a native daughter: Colonialism and sovereignty in Hawai'i. Common Courage Press.
#IndigenousPeoplesDay, #CulturalResilience, #TraditionalKnowledge, #PacificIslanderVoices, #HawaiianLanguage, #Moolelo, #IndigenousWisdom, #StorytellingTraditions
