As a native Hawaiian, I was fortunate to have been able to participate in the REU-NSF program during both the Spring 2006 and Spring 2007 semesters. This program allowed us to take classes at the University of Pennsylvania and gain valuable experience in conducting research. My research project involved working with kapa, or bark cloth, and learning techniques to clean, repair, and preserve it. I also learned how to create housing units for artifacts that I can now use to help preserve my own people’s prized possessions.
While the Penn Museum’s Hawaiian collection is fairly small compared to its other collections, it has some items that are valuable to Hawaiian culture. Among these are the lei niho palaoa(s), or human hair and whales’ tooth necklaces, and the large ahu ula, or Hawaiian feather cape—both of which are symbols of Hawaiian royalty.
One of the amazing aspects of the REU program was the opportunity it presented for some of us to educate other members of our own culture. In my case, I was able to revise some of the Hawaiian artifact labels (that were originally written in the 1970s from the perspective of the colonizer) to correct spelling mistakes and historical inaccuracies.
The REU program also introduced us to “Six Directions,” a Penn Native American interest group under the auspices of the Greenfield Intercultural Center. This connection allowed the REU students to play a part in the planning process for the AllI-Ivy Native Conference that Penn hosted during the spring of 2007. As a result, everyone who attended the conference was also able to hear Manulani Meyer, a noted Native Hawaiian educator, speak in the Penn Museum’s Dialogues Across Indian Country series on “Ho’ea Ea: Returning to Freedom— Hawaiian Epistemology and the Triangulation of Meaning.” Similarly, during a presentation at the Greenfield Intercultural Center, Gail Makuakane-Lundin, the Director of Native Hawaiian Student Services at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, shared her expertise on how to indigenize a university campus.
These are just a few of the many wonderful experiences I have had thanks to the REU program. And the friends I have made at Penn have become lifelong ones. As a Native Hawaiian it is customary to acknowledge those who have been instrumental in our endeavors. Therefore, I would like to thank Janet Monge for the inspiration that created this program, her unending support, and for always being there. Thanks are also due to Valarie De Cruz, Director of the Greenfield Intercultural Center, for her guidance and help in making us feel at home in Philadelphia, to Ginny Green, the Museum’s Senior Conservator, for her time and patience in teaching me the skills I have acquired, and to Jeremy Sabloff for his hard work behind the scenes. Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to Lisa Gemmill, for being a wonderful emotional support and friend, and to Sonya Ashley, who was an inspiration when things got tough, my lunch and dinner buddy, and the person with whom I spent many days exploring Philly and all it has to offer.