IMOA: Considering Indigenous Peoples Day

 (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

📈IMSPARK: Market Signals Need Interpretation, Not Assumption📈

📈Imagine… Pacific Economic Decisions Built on Signals📈

💡 Imagined Endstate:

Imagine policymakers across the Pacific able to use financial-market signals with a clear understanding of what those signals really represent. Inflation expectations, borrowing costs, and investor sentiment would be interpreted carefully rather than treated as self-explanatory numbers.

📚 Source:

Christensen, J. H. E., Shrestha, M., & Spiegel, M. M. (2026, October 7). Pricing inflation swaps in the Japanese bond market. FRBSF Economic Letter, 2026-29. Link.

💥 What’s the Big Deal:  

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The paper identifies a puzzle in Japan: inflation swap rates and breakeven inflation rates are nearly identical even though liquidity and deflation-protection premiums should create a larger gap🧭.

The study looks at two ways markets reflect inflation expectations in Japan: inflation swaps and breakeven inflation rates derived from government bonds🧾. In theory, the two should differ because inflation-indexed Japanese bonds carry unique features that affect their pricing.

One of those features is liquidity💧. Japan’s inflation-indexed bond market is very small relative to its nominal government bond market, representing only about 1 percent of government debt. That difference should create a meaningful liquidity premium.

Another factor is deflation protection🛡️. Inflation-indexed Japanese government bonds guarantee full principal repayment even if cumulative inflation turns negative. Because Japan has experienced long periods of very low inflation and occasional deflation, that protection can be especially valuable.

The puzzle is that these premiums should push inflation swap rates and breakeven rates apart, yet the researchers find that the two remain surprisingly close📊 . Their model suggests that the expected pricing wedge should be much larger than what is actually observed.

That finding matters because market indicators are often treated as clean measures of expectations📉. But if hidden premiums or market structure affect those prices, then interpreting them without adjustment can lead to the wrong conclusion about what investors really expect inflation to do.

For Pacific economies, the lesson is broader🌊. Small and open economies often rely heavily on external financial signals when assessing inflation, interest rates, or global risk. Those signals can be useful, but only when their underlying structure is understood.

The study also highlights something important about regional economic analysis🪢. Japan’s market does not behave exactly like the U.S. market. Applying assumptions developed in one financial system to another can miss important local differences. The same caution matters when interpreting economic conditions across the wider Pacific Basin.

Imagine a future where Pacific economic policy is built not just on more data, but on better interpretation of what the data actually means💿. A market price may look like a simple number, but the forces underneath it can tell a much more complicated story.

#PacificEconomy, #Inflation, #FinancialMarkets, #Japan, #EconomicResilience, #MarketSignals, #PacificBasin, #IMSPARK

🪸IMSPARK: Samoa Is Growing Resilience Back Into Its Reefs🪸

🪸Imagine… Damaged Reefs Becoming Living Protection Again🪸

💡 Imagined Endstate:

Imagine damaged reef systems across Samoa gradually returning to life through sustained restoration and community stewardship. Coral growth would not only rebuild marine habitat. It would strengthen food security, help protect coastlines, and restore an ecosystem that coastal communities depend on.

📚 Source:

Ioane, F. (2026, August 15). New coral growth offers hope for Samoa’s damaged reefs. Samoa NewsHub. Link.

💥 What’s the Big Deal: 

Imagine a future where Pacific communities can restore damaged reefs while strengthening their own capacity to protect them🪢. Every coral fragment that survives is doing more than rebuilding a reef. It is helping rebuild habitat, food security, and a natural layer of protection between Pacific communities and the open ocean. 

The encouraging part of this story is that recovery can already be seen🎑. New coral growth is appearing on reef restoration structures installed in Samoa, offering an early indication that damaged areas may recover when restoration is paired with continued care and monitoring.

The approach is practical🔧. Coral fragments are attached to hexagonal steel structures known as reef stars, which are placed on damaged areas of reef. The structures help stabilize loose coral rubble that can otherwise make natural recovery difficult.

Over time, the coral can grow across those structures and become part of a wider reef system🌱. That turns an artificial support into something increasingly biological, with the goal of helping natural reef processes regain a foothold.

The benefits extend beyond the coral itself🐟. Newly forming reef can provide shelter and feeding areas for marine life. As those habitats improve, they can support fisheries and strengthen food security for families that depend on coastal resources.

Reefs also function as natural coastal defense🌊. Their complex structures help absorb wave energy before it reaches shore, reducing some of the force associated with erosion, storms, and coastal flooding. Restoring reef health can therefore support both ecosystems and community resilience.

What makes the effort especially significant is the community role🤝. Restoration activities in Savai‘i involved Falealupo, Manase, Fagamalo, Asaga, and Lano. The first phase established four coral nurseries, 49 reef stars, and 1,609 coral fragments.

The work does not stop after installation⏳. Community members will help maintain the restoration sites by removing seaweed and keeping the structures safe and undisturbed. Monitoring coral survival and growth is part of the process because restoration requires patience rather than a one-time intervention.

That may be the deeper lesson🌺. Resilience is rarely created through one large action. It is often built through repeated care, observation, and adjustment over time.

 

#Samoa #CoralRestoration #ReefResilience #FoodSecurity #CoastalProtection #CommunityStewardship #PacificResilience #IMSPARK

🧭IMSPARK: Pacific Research Should Begin With Pacific Purpose🧭

🧭Imagine… Research Designed With Pacific Communities🧭

💡 Imagined Endstate:

Imagine Pacific research systems where communities help shape the questions, methods, and outcomes from the beginning. It would strengthen Pacific capability, affirm Indigenous knowledge systems, and leave something useful behind for the people whose lives make the research possible.

📚 Source:

Moanaroa Pacific Research Network. (n.d.). Our collective purpose. Auckland University of Technology.  Moanaroa

💥 What’s the Big Deal: 

Imagine a future where Pacific communities are recognized not simply as populations to be studied, but as producers of theory, evidence, and solutions🪢. Research becomes more powerful when Pacific people have agency over the knowledge created about their own communities, and when that knowledge is built to serve a collective purpose.

The network centers Indigenous Pacific knowledge systems, Pacific research methodologies, and research designed with direct benefit to Pacific communities across Aotearoa and the wider Moana region. The strongest idea in Moanaroa’s purpose is that Pacific research should not simply insert Pacific people into existing research structures🔬. It should also make room for Pacific epistemologies, methodologies, and ways of knowing to shape how research itself is conceived.

That changes the starting point🧾. Instead of beginning with a researcher asking what they want to study, Pacific-led research can begin with what communities identify as meaningful. The question becomes not only “What can we learn?” but also “Who benefits from what we learn?”

Moanaroa also emphasizes Pacific-led research🌱. Communities and Pacific researchers are meant to be directly involved in the conception, implementation, and dissemination of research. That moves participation beyond consultation and toward genuine intellectual ownership. 

Capacity-building is equally important🎓. The network explicitly supports mentorship, professional development, workshops, and funding opportunities for Pacific researchers and postgraduate students. Building research capability therefore becomes part of the research mission itself. 

The relational dimension may be even more important🤝. Moanaroa frames research as something carried through relationships, reciprocity, and responsibility rather than as a one-time transaction. Its broader Pacific research guidance emphasizes respect, service, cultural safety, and teu le vā, the continual nurturing of relationships throughout the research process. 

That matters because research has power⚖️. Researchers decide what questions are asked, whose knowledge counts, and how findings are interpreted. A Pacific-centered approach makes those decisions visible and asks researchers to be accountable for their positionality and the effects of their work. 

There is also a larger leadership implication🌊. When Pacific communities develop their own research agendas, they are not merely contributing local examples to theories developed elsewhere. They can generate concepts, methods, and knowledge that influence scholarship far beyond the Pacific.

#PacificResearch, #IndigenousKnowledge, #PacificMethodologies, #ResearchEquity, #PacificLeadership, #KnowledgeSovereignty, #Moanaroa, #IMSPARK

☀️IMSPARK: Solar Is Crossing a Threshold☀️

☀️Imagine… Pacific Energy Systems Become Strategic Assets☀️

💡 Imagined Endstate:

Imagine Pacific communities powered increasingly by energy they can generate locally rather than fuel they must continuously import. Rooftops, public facilities, and utility-scale systems would become part of a more distributed energy network capable of supporting communities during ordinary days and emergencies.

📚 Source:

Root, T. (2026, June 10). For first time, Americans are getting more of their electricity from solar than coal. Grist. 

 💥 What’s the Big Deal: 

Imagine a future where Pacific islands begin treating sunlight the way previous generations treated imported fuel⛽️, as a strategic energy resource. Solar overtaking coal, even for one month, signals that the architecture of electricity is changing. For the Pacific, that change could become an opportunity to build cleaner energy systems with greater local control.

The milestone matters because it shows how quickly the electricity system can change📈. Five years earlier, solar supplied just 5.4 percent of U.S. electricity in May. By May 2026, its share had more than doubled while coal’s share had fallen substantially. In May 2026, solar supplied 12.8 percent of U.S. electricity compared with 12.2 percent from coal, the first month on record that solar surpassed coal nationally.

This was not simply a symbolic crossover⚡. Solar generated a record 45.5 terawatt-hours during the month and became the third-largest source of U.S. electricity behind natural gas and nuclear. That scale shows that solar has moved from supplemental generation toward a meaningful part of the power system.

The transition is still uneven🧭. Coal generation can increase when demand rises, fuel prices change, or other generation is unavailable. Solar also varies by time of day. Crossing coal for one month does not mean the energy transition is complete.

But direction matters🌱. Solar represented more than half of newly installed U.S. electricity capacity in 2025, according to the reporting cited by Grist. The larger trend is that more generating capacity is being built around renewable energy rather than the systems that dominated the previous century.

For Pacific islands, this transition has a different strategic meaning🌊. Energy systems dependent on imported fuel remain exposed to shipping disruptions and global price movements. Locally generated solar can reduce part of that exposure while building greater control over how electricity is produced.

Distributed generation may be especially important🏠. A resilient island energy system does not necessarily depend on one enormous power source. Solar spread across homes and essential facilities can create a network with more places capable of producing electricity.

That does not mean panels alone equal resilience🔋. Storage and grid modernization still matter. The lesson is that the technology has matured enough that the conversation can move beyond whether solar can contribute and toward how it should be integrated into a reliable system.

#SolarEnergy, #EnergyResilience, #PacificEnergy, #CleanEnergy, #EnergySecurity, #DistributedEnergy, #BluePacific, #IMSPARK

🏙️IMSPARK: Resilience Is a Journey, Not a Checkbox🏙️

 🏙️Imagine… Communities Know the Road to Resilience🏙️

💡 Imagined Endstate:

Imagine every Pacific community able to look honestly at its current level of disaster readiness, identify the next practical step, and build resilience over time rather than waiting for the next crisis to expose the gaps. The goal would not be perfection. It would be steady movement from awareness, to planning, to implementation.

📚 Source:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. (n.d.). Resilience Roadmap: Resilience Roadmap Stage Assessment. Making Cities Resilient 2030. Link.

💥 What’s the Big Deal: 

Resilience becomes stronger when it is treated as a measurable journey instead of a slogan🌱. Imagine a future where Pacific communities can say not only “we are resilient,” but “this is where we are, this is where we need to go next, and this is how we will get there.”  

The roadmap uses a three-stage approach, Cities Know Better, Cities Plan Better, and Cities Implement Better, to help local governments understand where they are in the resilience process and what support they need next🧭.

The strength of the MCR2030 roadmap is that it treats resilience as a process rather than a label📍. Communities do not suddenly become resilient because they complete one plan or hold one exercise. They move through stages as their understanding, systems, and capacity improve.

Stage A is about knowing better🪢. Communities begin by understanding risk, raising awareness, and bringing local actors into the conversation. That foundation matters because resilience planning is weak when people do not share the same picture of the hazards they face.

Stage B is about planning better🗺️. Cities strengthen their ability to assess risk and align local strategies with national or regional priorities. This is where resilience begins moving from awareness into policy and where development decisions can become more risk-informed.

Stage C is about implementing better🛠️. Communities with stronger plans begin mainstreaming resilience across government and putting actions into practice. The emphasis shifts toward implementation, governance, financing, and inclusion.

That progression has real value for Pacific communities🌺. A small municipality should not be judged against the capacity of a large metropolitan government. The roadmap is flexible enough to recognize that communities begin from different places and need different tools at different times.

The framework also stresses connection🔗. Local resilience cannot be built in isolation from national systems, and one agency cannot carry the entire responsibility alone. MCR2030 specifically emphasizes stronger vertical links between local and national government and stronger horizontal connections among community partners.

That is especially important in the Pacific, where capacity is often distributed across small organizations and islands 🌊. Regional learning can help communities avoid rebuilding the same solution from scratch. What works in one place can become a starting point for another.

The roadmap’s biggest contribution may be that it makes the next step visible🔦. Resilience can feel overwhelming when treated as one enormous destination. Breaking it into stages turns it into a sequence of achievable decisions.

#MCR2030, #DisasterResilience, #RiskReduction, #PacificResilience, #CommunityPreparedness, #LocalGovernment, #ResiliencePlanning, #IMSPARK

♿ IMSPARK: When Earning More Can Cost You♿

♿Imagine… Disability Policy That Rewards Advancement♿ 

💡 Imagined Endstate:

Imagine people with disabilities being able to accept a promotion, build savings, or earn a higher salary without fearing the loss of the healthcare services that make employment possible. Work would become a pathway toward greater independence rather than a financial cliff.

📚 Source:

Krebs, N. (2026, August 10). People with disabilities say Medicaid income limits can stifle career advancement. Iowa Public Radio/KFF Health News. NPR. Link.

💥 What’s the Big Deal: 

The story exposes a contradiction at the center of disability employment policy🧾. People with disabilities are often encouraged to work and become more economically independent, yet some Medicaid eligibility rules can make earning more financially dangerous.

For many workers with significant disabilities, Medicaid is not simply insurance🩺. It can cover supports that private insurance or Medicare may not provide, including personal care and other community-based services. CMS itself says Medicaid Buy-In programs are intended to help workers avoid having to choose between employment and healthcare.

The problem appears when income and asset limits create a benefits cliff📉. A person can become more successful at work while simultaneously moving closer to losing the services that make that success sustainable.

Krebs (2026) makes that tension personal♿. Erica Carter built a professional career and earned a six-figure salary, only to discover that her income had moved beyond Iowa’s Medicaid Buy-In limit. Her decision was not simply about insurance. It was about whether career advancement could coexist with the disability-related care she still needed.

That is not the same as dependency🪢. A person may be fully capable of working while still requiring expensive long-term supports. Employment does not make a disability disappear, and a higher paycheck does not automatically make those services affordable.

States approach this differently🌎. Medicaid Buy-In programs for working people with disabilities are available in most states, but income and asset rules vary widely. Some states have eliminated income or asset limits altogether, while others retain substantial restrictions.

Hawaiʻi has this issue too🌺. In 2026, their Medicaid Buy-In pathway has an individual monthly income limit of about $2,112 and an asset limit of $9,950. That means financial advancement can still carry consequences for workers with disabilities who depend on Medicaid-supported services.

The deeper issue is how we define independence⚖️. Independence should not mean removing support until someone can no longer function. It should mean designing support so people can work, contribute, and build financial security without being pushed backward for succeeding.

Imagine a future where disability policy measures success by how far people can go, not by how quickly assistance can be withdrawn🌱. If public policy says people with disabilities should work, then the system should not make career advancement the thing that threatens the support allowing them to work in the first place.

#DisabilityEmployment, #Medicaid, #DisabilityEquity, #EconomicMobility, #BenefitsCliff, #WorkforceInclusion, #Hawaii, #IMSPARK

🌺IMSPARK: Early Childhood Education Is Pacific Capacity-Building🌺

🌺Imagine… Grounding Pacific Children With Confidence🌺

💡 Imagined Endstate:

Imagine Pacific early childhood education treated as core social infrastructure rather than an afterthought. Children would begin learning from a place of cultural confidence, families would see their languages and knowledge systems reflected in education, and communities would have stronger foundations for future leadership.

📚 Source:

Lance, C. (2026). Call for more investment in Pacific early childhood education by pioneering Pasifika ECE professor. RNZ Pacific. Link.

💥 What’s the Big Deal: 

Imagine a future where Pacific children do not have to leave part of themselves at the door to succeed in education🪢. Investing in early childhood education is not only about preparing children for school. It is about building the confidence, identity, and capability that Pacific futures will depend on.

Lance (2026) makes a compelling case that early childhood education is where long-term capability begins🧭. The first years of life shape confidence, belonging, and how children come to understand themselves as learners.

For Pacific children, language is part of that foundation🗣️. Educators argue that learning a first language does not hold a child back. It gives them another pathway into meaning, inquiry, and different ways of understanding the world.

That matters because language is more than communication🌺. It carries memory and identity. When children grow up hearing and using Pacific languages, they gain access to knowledge systems that might otherwise be weakened across generations.

The history behind Pacific ECE is important too🪶. Much of it was built from the ground up in churches, garages, and community spaces. That legacy shows that Pacific families did not wait for institutions to create the future for them. They created it themselves.

The article also highlights the role of Pacific women in building that foundation👩🏽‍🏫. Their contribution was not only educational. It helped preserve continuity between migration, community life, and ancestral connections.

The challenge now is sustained investment 💵. If Pacific ECE is treated as secondary in policy or funding, the system risks undervaluing the very stage where future educational outcomes begin to take shape.

There is also a broader regional opportunity🌊. The vision of Aotearoa New Zealand becoming a Pacific hub for early childhood education suggests that knowledge developed through decades of Pacific experience could support learning across the wider region.

This is human capital development at its earliest point🌱. Before workforce development or leadership training, there is a child learning who they are and whether their language and culture belong in the classroom.

 

#PacificEducation, #EarlyChildhoodEducation, #PacificLanguages, #HumanCapital, #CulturalIdentity, #PacificLeadership, #EducationEquity, #IMSPARK