Dr. Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa

Lilikala K. Kame'eleihiwa is the former director of the Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Trained as a historian, she is also an expert in Hawaiian cultural traditions, and in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement; she served as co-scriptwriter of the 1993 award winning documentary An Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation. Her books include Na Wahine Kapu: Sacred Hawaiian Women [1999], He Mo'olelo Ka'ao o Kamapua'a: A Legendary Traditional of Kamapua'a, the Hawaiian Pig-God [1996], and Native Land and Foreign Desires: Pehea La E Pono Ai? [1992]. The latter book is analysis of changes in Hawaiian land tenure from the Hawaiian point of view.

Fluent in Hawaiian, she has served as protocol officer and crew for the double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoes Hokule'a and Hawai'iloa, and has written the first year-long course in traditional navigation offered at any university in the world. Since 1987, she has written another dozen courses in Hawaiian history, mythology and culture for the Center for Hawaiian Studies.

Her current research topic is on the 1993 OHA Ceded Lands Inventory with which she is training teams of students to map and study the TMKs with a view to creating a knowledge base accessible to all. In Hwst 440: Mahele Land Awards, students not only learn about ceded lands and the history of land tenure changes in Hawai'i, but also how to title search kuleana and konohiki awards. Ultimately, Dr. Kame'eleihiwa wants 300 young hui konohiki kalai'aina, who know the 1,000 ahupua'a of Hawai'i as well as the Hawaiian ancestors did in 1850. With the aid of GIS mapping, students should be able to plot all sacred sites, water resources, toxic wastes, and designate which lands would be best used for kalo, uala, fishing and housing.

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