Identifying Underrepresented Stories & Related Cultural Sites is Goal of Forum
A unique community forum to explore heritage sites, their under-told stories and perspectives on cultural identity and place will be held in Honolulu January 26-27, 2018. The two-day meeting will focus on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander (AANHPI) heritage in the Hawaiian Islands.
“Identity and Place: Celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Heritage in the Hawaiian Islands” is designed to gather perspectives and plans for identifying, preserving and sharing sites that are significant to the heritage of AANHPI communities in the Hawaiian Islands.
Youth Video Project Films
Pacific Buddhist Academy Student Projects
Three students from Pacific Buddhist Academy were invited to present their final projects from Dr. Benjamin Bruch’s Grade 12 course “Made in America/Made in Hawai’i” as part of the AANHPI Community Forum. Dr. Ben’s Hawaiian studies course has been part of PBA’s PeaceBridge curriculum since 2014, and provides seniors with an opportunity to reflect on their experiences living in Hawai’i and their own cultural identities before many of them leave to attend college on the mainland. After completing units on the architecture, history, languages, and literature of Hawai’i, students are asked to create a final project that explores some aspect of the concepts “Made in America,” “Made in Hawai’i,” or the links between them. Over the past four years, students have responded to this challenge with personal essays and short stories, poetry, graphic novels, paintings, drawings, photographs, films, and even culinary presentations.
After an oli aloha and formal welcome from the organizers, PBA senior Shala McKee opened the forum by reciting “Hawaii vs. Hawai’i,” the first of a series of poems she composed for her final project examining issues of identity, integrity, tradition, and change in the islands.
Two other PBA seniors, Lisa Foo and Andrew Mori, presented their projects as visual exhibits. Lisa’s consisted of a handmade book featuring definitions, proverbs, and miniature watercolor paintings representing 13 carefully chosen words of ‘Ōlelo Hawai’i (one for each letter of the Hawaiian alphabet). Andrew’s project resonated strongly with the Historic Hawai’i Foundation’s mission to document places of historic and cultural significance. It comprised a series of photographs he took at six sites around O’ahu (including PBA’s new Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building) accompanied by a research paper detailing the history of each location and a personal essay explaining the way these places resonate with his family history and his study of Japanese culture and traditions. There was tremendous positive feedback about all three of the Pacific Buddhist Academy’s projects.
