Featuring Dr. Marie Alohalani Brown
Department of Religion
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

On July 12, 2019, a small group of Hawaiians established a camp at Puʻuhonua of Puʻuhuluhulu (Refuge of Puʻuhuluhulu Hill) on the slopes of Mauna Kea, a sacred mountain, to prevent the equipment for the construction of the Thirty-Meter-Telescope (TMT) from being delivered to the summit. Five days later, thousands of Hawaiians and our supporters who had answered the kāhea (call) to help protect the mauna (mountain) watched as thirty-eights kūpuna (elders), who were the front line in this protection effort, were arrested. This effort to protect Mauna Kea from further desecration has been the catalyst for the resurgence of Hoʻomana Hawaiʻi. Each day, kiaʻi (protectors or guardians) participated in or lead ʻAha (religious ceremonies) four times a day. As a consequence, hundreds of Hawaiians have had, for the first time in their lives, the opportunity to practice their religion together in public. Because thousands of visitors have witnessed or participated in these ʻAha, which have also been videoed and made available to the public on the Puʻuhonua of Puʻuhulu website, there is a growing awareness around the world about Hoʻomana Hawaiʻi and that it is a living religion. These ʻAha manifest mana through prayer chants and hula, which in this case, constitutes a form of kinetic prayer.

More about Dr. Marie Alohalani Brown.

CO-SPONSORED BY

American Indian Studies Department
Atlantic Workshop, Consortium for the Study of the Premodern World
History Department
Institute for Global Studies
Religious Studies Department
 

*NOTE: This event takes place at 3:30 p.m. Central Time.