Hawaiian Cartography and ‘Aina Sovereignty
Rooting us further into the Indigenous cosmologies of the Pacific (Moana), podcast host Melissa Nelson catches up with Hawaiian Cartographer Renee Pualani Louis during a writers’ retreat at the Mesa Refuge in Point Reyes, California.
Renee shares her experience of being changed while writing her book Kanaka Hawaiʻi Cartography: Hula, Navigation, and Oratory (2017), which explores Kanaka Hawai’i place-name and spatial knowledge systems. We are met with the breadth of Hawaiian, place-based language and knowledge of ‘Aina – the land-food matrix. Deep in intimate conversation, together we traverse stars and seasons, plants and mountains, and how to embody food sovereignty, self-determination, and nourish relationships of food and community.
About Renee Pualani Louis
Renee Pualani Louis is a Hawaiian cartographer passionate about Hawaiian storied place names, spatial knowledge systems, and an advocate for the integration of indigenous knowledge systems into Western Geosciences.
A leader of her field, Louis is a graduate of The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, a Co-Chair of the Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers, the 2014 co-recipient of the American Association of Geographers Enhancing Diversity Award, and a member of CHIRP3 Working Group, whose goal is to develop new guidelines for building collaborations between Native and non-Native researchers working with Native communities.
Additional Resources
Collaboratively Harnessing Indigenous Principles, Protocols, and Practices (CHIRP3)
Article for First Peoples: New Directions in Indigenous Studies
CREDITS
Host/Writer/Director: Melissa K. Nelson
Producer: Sara Moncada
Co-producer and photographer: Mateo Hinojosa
Audio Editor and Engineer: Colin Farish
Production Assistant: Teo Montoya
Additional Photography: Melissa Nelson
Songs (in order of appearance):
“Plants of the Sea, Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai” by Del Medina, Linda Low, and Colin Farish