Hawaiian Studies

Degrees and Certificates

Classes

HWST 107: Hawai‘i: Center of the Pacific

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH
An introduction to Hawai‘i and Hawaiian culture in the context of the larger Pacific, including Hawaiian origins, settlement, language, land, history, society, religion and the arts.
Course Outcomes
  • Compare and contrast cultures and histories of Pacific island peoples in relation to their languages, religious traditions, artistic expressions, material culture, and political and economic development.
  • Identify ways in which the environment has shaped Hawaiian and Pacific island culture.
  • Describe the integration of land in Hawaiian culture and the historic changes in the relationship between people and land through written and oral communication.
  • Describe aspects of Hawaiian relationship with other groups of people in and outside of Hawai‘i.
  • Identify, access, and evaluate major Hawaiian studies sources.
  • Identify implications of the relationships and develop proposals for possible ways to affect positive change.

HWST 110: Huakaʻi Waʻa: Introduction to Hawaiian Voyaging

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH

This course introduces students to modern Hawaiian canoe voyaging through a beginning examination of the science and narratives of ancient voyaging, the history of the modern revival of voyaging, and the Hawaiian navigator’s toolkit.

Course Outcomes
  • Show knowledge of location of the Hawaiian islands and island groups of Oceania.
  • Explain the various aboriginal and academic narratives relating to the migration to and settlement of Oceania
  • Discuss the historical and cultural events leading to the revival and reestablishment of Hawaiian voyaging
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the tools contemporary navigators use for open-ocean voyaging

HWST 115: Mo‘okūauhau: Hawaiian Genealogies

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH
This is a course in which students will learn about the centrality of genealogy to Hawaiian history, culture, and family. Students of any ancestry or background will gain value in learning about a central aspect of Hawaiian culture, and in doing research that is geared toward either their own family genealogy or the researching of the genealogies of public figures, or historical figures. Students will be guided through a research process and set of research methodologies for vital statistics, land, tax, census, historical material, and online resources. Students will also learn chiefly and family genealogies of Hawai‘i, which is a Hawaiian method through which some of the history of Hawai‘i is also explored. By completion of the semester, students will be expected to assemble a genealogy and family history beyond what they might already have completed before enrollment in this class for either themselves or a public figure cleared by the instructors of this course.
Course Outcomes
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the centrality and importance of genealogy to Hawaiian culture.
  • Show knowledge of some of the major genealogies of Hawaiian chiefs and large families in Hawai‘i.
  • Demonstrate the ability to conduct research in public and private institutions in Hawai’i, and through the use of internet genealogy web sites.
  • Show that they are able to research and construct a genealogy and family history.

HWST 130: Hula ‘Ōlapa: Traditional Hawaiian Dance

Discipline
Credits 3 Lab Hours 2 Lecture Hours 2
Designation
DA

In this class students will learn various beginning traditional hula interpretations. Students will be taught the basic footwork and hand gestures of traditional hula accompanied by chanting, Ipu Heke (double gourd) or Pahu (drum). Students may also be required to make accompanying instruments like Ipu (smaller single gourd), Kala‘au (sticks), ‘Ili‘ili (stones), and Pū‘ili (split bamboo), and learn accompanying oli (chants) under the direction of the class Instructor. Students will be taught different historical aspects of specific hula, associated hula mythology, ali‘i (chiefly) genealogies, plants and place names.

Course Outcomes
  • Learn a basic understanding of the differences between traditional and more modern styles of hula including the significance of hula as part of Hawaiian culture in traditional times.
  • Learn the histories and mythologies behind the creation and performance of various hula.
  • Learn how to perform several hula in unison, and the relationship between movements with the significance of lyrical content in a mele or oli combined with the occasions for which one is dancing.
  • Learn how to prepare adornments for their specific hula.

HWST 131: Hula Ōlapa ‘elua: Traditional Hawaiian Dance II

Discipline
Credits 3 Lab Hours 2 Lecture Hours 2
Designation
DA

Continuation of HWST 130. In this second class, students will learn intermediate traditional hula interpretations. Foot work and hand gestures of traditional hula will be reinforced accompanied by chanting, Ipu Heke (double gourd) or Pahu (drum). Students will be exposed to chants, and pule of traditional and ceremonial protocols related to the discipline of hula. Students may also be required to make accompanying instruments, like Ipu (smaller single gourd), Kala‘au (sticks), ‘Ili‘ili (stones), and Pū‘ili (split bamboo) under the direction of the class instructor. Students will be taught different historical aspects of specific hula, associated hula mythology, ali‘i (chiefly) genealogies; plants, and place names.

Prerequisites

Credit for HWST 130, and enrollment in or credit for HAW 101 or HWST 107.

Course Outcomes
  • Describe and discuss the stories behind the creation and performance of various hula.
  • Perform several hula demonstrating the relationship between movements and the significance of lyrical content in mele.
  • Prepare and use adornment for specific hula.

HWST 135: Kālai Lā‘au: Hawaiian Woodwork and Wood Carving

Discipline
Credits 3
Studio Hours
6
Designation
DA
This is a Hawaiian cultural woodwork and wood carving project class. This class will involve the development of two to three introductory woodworking projects of Hawaiian cultural significance or ceremonial use. through this class the students will develop both the skills needed to work effectively and safely with wood, and the cultural knowledge important to the pieces developed. As a project class, there will be specific projects and themes set by the instructor of general Hawaiian cultural interest. Students will learn different aspects and solutions in carving and creating Hawaiian cultural projects.
Course Outcomes
  • Learn to plan and create wood working projects of Hawaiian cultural relevance or significance.
  • Gain a deeper insight into Hawaiian cultural use of wood.
  • Gain deeper understanding of the cultural significance of the wood-working project the student has undertaken.
  • Learn to work with wood in an effective and safe manner.

HWST 136: Kālai Lā‘au II: Advanced Techniques in Hawaiian Carving

Discipline
Credits 3
Studio Hours
6
Designation
DA
This is a Hawaiian cultural carving class that is a continuation of the themes and techniques learned in HWST 135 Kālai La‘au. Students will be required to complete at least one large piece and two highly finished smaller pieces. Students will be expected to have a basic understanding of carving upon entering the class and will spend their time fine tuning and working on a larger scale. through this class students will develop skills and techniques with more advanced tools needed to work effectively and safely with wood, bone, and/or stone, and students will acquire the cultural knowledge important to the pieces developed. Students will also learn how to make some of the tools required for use in the class.
Prerequisites

Credit for HWST 135 with a grade of “B” or better, or consent of the instructor.

Course Outcomes
  • Students will plan and complete carving projects using advanced tools on wood, stone, and bone in an effective and safe manner.
  • Students will research and analyze Hawaiian cultural use of wood, bone, and stone.
  • Students will be able to design, forge and finish a tool for use in carving projects.

HWST 140: Mahi‘ai I: Hawaiian Taro Culture

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH
The first mahi‘ai course in a series of four in Hawaiian cultivation practices. Covers the history, lore, and geographically specific methods of mahi‘ai. Emphasis on the cultivation of kalo and related staple foods.
Course Outcomes
  • Tell the Mo‘olelo (traditional history) of kalo
  • Explain the cultural significance of kalo in Hawaiian culture
  • Identify varieties of kalo and their characteristics
  • Record and analyze observations of kalo cultivation
  • Create papa ku‘i ‘ai

HWST 142: Mahi‘ai Kalo II - Traditional and Modern Techniques of Lo‘i Kalo Production

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH

This course expands on the traditional Hawaiian kalo growing knowledge covered in the first class to include the ecology of wetland kalo systems, focusing on traditional loʻi techniques, and the integration of nutrient flow analysis through the ahupuaʻa and nutrient management practices for lo‘i kalo. Additional emphasis is placed on both scientific and practical approaches. Cooking and eating are used throughout the course to demonstrate linkages between kalo and human nutrition and wellbeing. The course will consist of a mixture of lecture and hands-on field experience.

Prerequisites

A grade of C or better in HWST 140 or consent of instructor

Course Outcomes
  • Explain traditional Hawaiian and modern technical farming terminology and processes;
  • Discuss nutrients, nutrient budgets, or nutrient cycling in loʻi kalo farming;
  • Identify major patterns of nutrient flows in ahupuaʻa/watershed systems and the impacts of changes to those patterns.

HWST 215: Oli Hōlona: Beginning Hawaiian Protocol and Chant

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH

An introduction to beginning Hawaiian protocol(s) and chant. Students will learn types of chants, voice quality, modes of chanting, and their basic elements of place chants at an introductory level.

Prerequisites

Grade of C or better in HWST 107 or consent of instructor.

Course Outcomes
  • Illustrate the history and types of oli and their role in protocol.
  • Demonstrate techniques and performance of basic oli pule and oli mele.

HWST 217: Understanding Polynesian Religions

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH

This course provides an introduction to the study of Polynesian religions through an exploration of the oral traditions of Hawaiʻi, Aotearoa (New Zealand), French Polynesia (Tahiti et al .), and Samoa among others. In this class, students will gain a foundational understanding of important religious themes that permeate Polynesia. Main themes include but are not limited to deities’ forms & functions, cosmogonies, etiologies, and belief-regulated practices. Additionally, a portion of the semester will focus on belief narratives as vehicles for the transmission of knowledge and the significance of contemporary representation and self-representation of Polynesian religion and culture. This class will use comparative analysis between Hawaiian religion and the religious traditions of Aotearoa, French Polynesia, and Samoa to identify the fundamental concepts needed to understand Polynesian religions and explore how they are interconnected and interwoven into the fabric of our lives today. (Cross-listed as REL 217)

Course Outcomes
  • Identify and describe significant source-language terms, major figures, and stories in Hawaiian and other Polynesian religions
  • Identify and describe important themes common to Hawaiian and other Polynesian religions
  • Analyze, compare, contrast, major themes common to Hawaiian and other Polynesian religions

HWST 222: Ma‘awe No‘eau: Hawaiian Fiber Work

Discipline
Credits 3
Studio Hours
6
Designation
DA
This is a Hawaiian cultural fiber arts project class. This class will involve the development of three to four introductory fiber arts projects of Hawaiian cultural significance or ceremonial use. through this class students will learn how to procure the materials needed to complete various fiber arts projects, including learning related protocol and methods for gathering, understanding of Native Hawaiian gathering rights, and the type of environments in which specific materials grow and can be gathered, Students will develop the skills needed to work effectively and safely with various fiber arts materials on introductory projects, and students will learn the cultural knowledge important to the pieces created. As a project class, there will be specific projects and themes set by the instructor of general Hawaiian cultural interest.
Course Outcomes
  • Plan, create, and finish, in a safe and effective manner, fiber arts projects of Hawaiian cultural relevance or significance.
  • Explain issues and history of fiber material use in Hawaiian culture and, observing cultural protocols, apply these to gathering materials for a fiber arts project.

HWST 253: Kamehameha I and the Hawaiian Kingdom

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH

Kamehameha I, also known as Paiʻea, Ka Naʻi Aupuni, and Kaiwakiloumoku is the most famous Hawaiian in history. This course will look at the rise to power of Kamehameha I, as he consolidated all of the islands under his control establishing the Hawaiian Kingdom. We will examine his genealogy and chiefly family relations including, his most famous exploits and battles, the olelo noʻeau (wise sayings) related to his life, and the cultural and political legacies he has left Hawaiʻi.

Course Outcomes
  • Identify important events and characters associated with the life and events of Kamehameha’s time.
  • Compare and contrast different ideas and values we see in the stories about Kamehameha.
  • Relate the life and events of Kamehameha’s time to contemporary events and issues.

HWST 255: Introduction to the Hawaiian Kingdom

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DS

This course focuses on the Hawaiian Kingdom era covering two major historical periods: the first from 1810 until 1893; the second from 1893 to the present. This course focuses primarily on the first historical period, allowing the legal, political, and economic conclusions from that era to inform and provide for us a continuity into the second historical period. Major topics addressed in this course are: unification; the Hawaiian Constitutions; recognition and nationhood in 1843; feudal and allodial land systems; the Hawaiian economy; the Hawaiian monarchs; the occupation of the Hawaiian Islands; issues and methods of de-occupation; historical, political, legal, and economic global contexts.

Prerequisites

A grade of “C” or better in HWST 107, HIST 284 or HIST 224.

Course Outcomes
  • Explain the political, economic, and social development of the Hawaiian Kingdom from a pre-unification feudal society to an internationally recognized nation-state.
  • Compare and contrast applicable domestic and international law terminology as applied to the Hawaiian historical context.
  • Analyze past events in Hawai’i by using methodological reasoning on the various models of social, political or economic systems.
  • Assess the various lawful and unlawful Hawaiian Constitutions their creation, implementation and legal authority.
  • Analyze the cause and effects of the Great Mahele as a unique land tenure system on Hawaiian society.
  • Analyze the problems facing each of the Ali’i Nui, their solutions to those problems and the historical significance of each Ali’i Nui from Kamehameha I to Queen Lili’uokalani

HWST 263: Hawaiian and Indigenous Film & Literature

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DL

This course is a study of film & literature created by Native Hawaiians and other Indigenous peoples; especially to focus on the situational and cultural impetus from which these texts were created.

Prerequisites

Grade of C or better in HWST 107 or PACS 108, or instructor consent.

Course Outcomes
  • Illustrate major themes seen across different film & literary works.
  • Describe the diversity of film & literary opinions, conflict, and commonality in texts in course..
  • Discuss stories and storytellers from a range of ethnic and cultural indigenous groups.

HWST 270: Hawaiian Mythology

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH

Survey of gods, ‘aumakua, kupua, mythical heroes, heroines, and their kinolau as the basis of traditional Hawaiian Metaphor. This course will investigate and analyze oral and written Hawaiian literary sources.

Prerequisites

Credit for HWST 107 or HAW 102.

Course Outcomes
  • Analyze written and oral sources of Hawaiian moʻolelo.
  • Describe akua (deities), kupua (deities), ‘aumakua (ancestral family deities), and kanaka (humans) and their various forms from Hawaiian moʻolelo.
  • Analyze the relationship between Hawaiian moʻolelo (mythologies) and Hawaiian worldview, including Hawaiian cultural values and traditions.
  • Employ the terminology of literary and/or cultural analysis in the study of Hawaiian mo‘olelo.

HWST 273: Tattoo Traditions of Polynesia

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH
An overview of the traditional tattoo practices of the various Polynesian islands within the context of the great Pacific.
Course Outcomes
  • Compare and contrast the migrations and the peopling of the Pacific focusing on ancestral connections and continuities in the tattoo practices of the Pacific peoples.
  • Identify primary and secondary source material and incorporate original documents in their analysis whenever possible.
  • Identify the cultural contexts and differences (both traditional and modern) among the tattoo styles of the primary Polynesian groups.

HWST 275: Wahi Pana: Mythology of the Hawaiian Landscape

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH

Wahi Pana: Mythology of the Landscape, is designed to illuminate Hawaiian intelligence regarding the geographic features of these islands. Students will undertake a basic study of the natural sciences from a Western/modern perspective. They will then look at various Hawaiian chants and epic tales to explore the connections with indigenous knowledge forms found in a Hawaiian worldview. Cross-cultural comparisons are made with the goal of bringing forth specific, physical information about important Hawaiian places. Students will gain cultural awareness of their surroundings through the bridging of geography and the mythology studied, thus creating a more Hawaiian sense-of-place in our community.

Prerequisites

Grade of “C” or better in HWST 107, or HWST 270.

Course Outcomes
  • Students will compare and contrast landscape descriptions, mythology, and human behavior from different cultural perspectives.
  • Students will analyze Hawaiian mythology as it applies to Hawaiian place names, Native Hawaiian social history, and Native Hawaiian relationship to the natural environment.
  • The student will explain the importance of place in the island ecosystem and the values of environmental sustainability.

HWST 275L: Wahi Pana: Mythology of the Hawaiian Landscape Field Lab

Discipline
Credits 1
Designation
DH
This field lab supports HWST 275. Together, they illuminate Hawaiian intelligence regarding the geographic features of these islands. The course highlights the Ko‘olau districts (Waimānalo to Waimea) or O‘ahu as a living classroom resource where the Wahi Pana (sacred places) and mythology of the landscape can be seen and appreciated. Students will explore connections between the social and natural sciences, and indigenous knowledge forms found in a Hawaiian worldview from observing their physical surroundings. Cross-cultural comparisons are made with the goal of bringing forth specific, physical information about important Hawaiian places.
Prerequisites

Enrollment or credit in HWST 275 lecture component.

Course Outcomes
  • Students will examine the physical properties of the geographic landscape to identify their place in Hawaiian myths.
  • Students will observe the physical properties of the physical landscape and describe them from a Hawaiian worldview.

HWST 285: Lā‘au Lapa‘au I: Hawaiian Medicinal Herbs

Discipline
Credits 4 Lecture Hours 3
Designation
DH
In this class students will learn the basic philosophy and traditions surrounding Hawaiian healing herbs. Students will also learn how to identify, grow, harvest, prepare, store and use these herbs for various human ailments.
Prerequisites

Credit for HWST 107 or BOT 105.

Course Outcomes
  • Learn Hawaiian and introduced medicinal herbs and be able to identify them by name, color, smell, taste, and sight.
  • Learn the beliefs and practices of Hawaiian herbal healing.
  • Learn planting, growing and harvesting techniques used to raise traditional Hawaiian herbal healing plants.
  • Prepare, use and store Hawaiian herbal remedies.

HWST 296: Special Topics in Hawaiian Studies

Discipline
Credits 3 Lecture Hours 3
Students will investigate important topics in Hawaiian Studies such as specific people, events, or periods. May be repeated up to 9 credits with different topics.
Prerequisites

“C” or better in HWST 107.

Course Outcomes
  • Identify the important concepts and facts particular to the selected course topic.
  • Analyze and interpret the nature and significance of the selected course topic.
  • Investigate connections between the selected course topic and contemporary events and issues.