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April 2023

Academic Conferences are Settler Colonialism

Positionality Statement:
I am a hapa haole with a diasporic relationship to the Hawaiian Islands lasting over 100 years. My mother’s side immigrated from an island off the shores of Cebu City in the Philippines. My living and past ancestors are sugar cane workers, blacksmiths, paniolos (Hawaiian cowboys), cooks, construction workers, hotel staff, nurses, and teachers. To this day, they live on the small plot of land given by the plantation company on the Big Island.

I believe in the words of Uncle Walter Naki, “Our blood in Kanaka. You cannot be Kanaka… If you love this place and you mālama [care for] our ‘āina [land] the way we love it and our ancestors loved it, then brah, we can be more than friends, we can be family” (Akutagawa, p. 103). The word ‘āina has many, intertwining meanings such as “land,” but another is “that which feeds.” As a non-native who has been fed by the macadamia nut tree in my great-grandmother’s backyard since I was a keiki (child), I must mālama the ‘āina, for it has nourished me. This article is in service of that sentiment.

A view from Pololu Valley where my uncles would ride donkeys up and down the pali looking for pua’a to hunt.

The Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) 2023

The International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) 2023

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Human-Computer Interaction (CHI) 2024

More tech conferences taking place on Hawai’i can be seen here.

These are just a handful of major conferences in my discipline that will be hosting their annual conferences in Hawai’i. For non-native academics reading this, I am sure your eyes light up at the prospect of spending a few days in one of the most beautiful and welcoming places on the planet. Visions of white-sand beaches, sunshine, exotic food, and glorious ocean. Many of you have spent days or weeks vacationing there as well. A getaway from the breakneck pace and burnout that academia often spurs. However, with even an ounce of awareness, the choice to go to the islands should cause some pause. The goal of this post is to link the status of academics to the history of dispossession of the Hawaiian Islands. This knowledge is intended to help conference organizers understand why the utmost care should be taken when considering Hawai’i as a site for a conference. We need to know what power and influence we carry to adequately place a cost on what it means to Native Hawaiians when we bring thousands of people to a site of ongoing resistance.

As academics, our influence and impact is not as individuals. We are representatives of institutions. Institutions which have histories, contexts, and will, all facilitated through the substantial power they wield. Histories that include using science as a means to justify genocide, enslavement, sterilization, displacement, and land theft. All U.S. universities are built on stolen land. Even today, Native bodies are held disproportionately in university archives, genomics researchers misuse Native DNA, and the data of Native populations is being harvested and withheld from Tribal communities. All of which barely scrape the surface of how academic institutions continue the more visibly violent histories of the near past.

Yes, many who read this will not have a direct hand in the projects described above. However, you likely bring funding into, and espouse values of, your institution. This is the myth of academic freedom. The U.S. has two of the largest funding bodies on the planet in the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their calls of funding directly influence what is allowed to be studied, what gains greater visibility, and who is allowed to produce knowledge. It is in our methods, our Western ways of knowing, our epistemology, which are reflected in our courses, conferences, review committees, awards, hiring, and funding. In many ways, despite our best efforts, our labor is often exploited to increase the visibility and power of the institution. So we cannot claim to be separate from the harms of our funders. This is reflected in decisions to host and attend conferences at sites of ongoing occupation.

Even with good intentions, our presence on stolen land should be subject to as much scrutiny and rigor as we put into our own academic endeavors.

When you bring thousands of people to the Hawaiian Islands without thought, you reify the oppression of Kanaka People and chronic issues plaguing Kanaka Maoli such as: low land/home ownership, lack of high-income employment, high rates of unemployment, and health crises exacerbated by the pandemic. All of which are kept intact due to unnamed billionaires who own and impose a toxic tourism industry through settler-colonial modes of land ownership.

You are a part of this tourism-induced violence. In 1893, the U.S. Government led by President William McKinley organized a coup to overthrow and imprison the last sovereign queen of the Hawaiian Islands, Queen Lili’uokalani. In 1897, the Kū‘ē Petitions were signed by almost 40,000 Kanaka Maoli protesting the annexation of Hawai’i. Shortly after, Hawai’i was annexed and illegally made into a U.S. territory. A half century later, Hawai’i was forced into statehood. At no point did Kanaka Maoli consent or relinquish sovereignty to the United States, as evidenced by the 1994 Apology Resolution. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Interior held meetings to explore establishing Kanaka Maoli as a government to negotiate with the U.S. government. Referencing the Kū‘ē Petitions, Native Hawaiians responded ‘a’ole (I refuse)! According to David Uahikeaikalei‘ohu Maile, “…this means that federal recognition would undeniably strengthen U.S. sovereignty to exercise territorial rule over Hawai‘i” (2019). Protests, petitions, and (broken) treaties all reaffirm that Hawai’i was taken by force and until this day ea (sovereignty) has not been ceded. So, any passing onto the Islands without explicit permission by Kanaka Maoli relies on this history.

Equally important to historical context are the ongoing movements that visitors are in the midst of when on the Islands.

Current Kanaka Movements:

In 2014, the Red Hill (Kapūkakī) United States Naval military outpost leaked 27,000 gallons of jet fuel into the drinking water of O’ahu residents. After which, the tanks were drained, but still remain. In 2020, another spill of ~8,000 gallons, which was deliberately hidden from the public until June 2021. In November of 2021, 19,000 gallons of fire suppression fluid leaked. After protests from environmental activists and water protectors and poisoned military personnel, the Navy officially shuts down Red Hill. The Navy then sends a warning for those on military bases to cease consumption of potable water with a petroleum scent and recommenced evacuation. A series of (emergency) orders, bills, and laws are presented and contested that attempt to hold the U.S. Navy accountable, which would require defueling and removing the military infrastructure. All of which are contested by the Navy. In March of 2022, the U.S. The Department of Defense sent the order to shut down and remove the fuel from Red Hill. In the aftermath, further leaks are disclosed, water testing exposing the spread of contamination, investigations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Navy. The Navy estimates a defuel and removal of tanks by summer 2024. Locals and military residents of O’ahu have spent nearly a decade ingesting toxic chemicals, boiling their water, purchasing bottled water, evacuating their homes, petitioning, protesting, and surviving. They sustain rashes, severe headaches, vomiting, and difficulty breathing.

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a $1.4 billion project that has been the subject of protests and legal battles since 2015. More importantly, it is the most visible site of Kanaka Maoli fighting for ea (sovereignty). Already home to 13 telescopes, Mauna a Wakea (Mauna Kea) is the tallest mountain in the world and a sacred place (wahi pana) for Native Hawaiians. Mauna a Wakea is related to the god Wākea who, along with Papahānaumoku (Papa), birthed the Hawaiian Islands (which is also backed up by Western geology). The summit of Mauna Kea is known as the realm of the gods. The decision to impose a massive telescope was done so without consultation of the traditional caretakers of the Mauna. It uses science as a tool to continue land theft. For nearly a decade, kū kia’i mauna (the protectors of the mountain) have put their bodies in front of construction, police, and military to ensure the proper care (mālama) of the mauna.

These are just two ongoing examples of many. It is clear then that the choice to host any event in the context of Hawai’i is complex and will produce significant, and predominantly negative, impact. The question then becomes: should you host, and if so, what can be done to shift the power dynamics to reaffirm the sovereignty of Kanaka Maoli?

There are only two options when considering Hawai’i as a site for a conference: do so on the explicit, consensual terms of the Native people, or don’t come at all. The depth and breadth of these issues cannot be solved by  “decolonial” education or donating conference registration fees alone. Solutions must be multi-faceted and holistic. Wealth redistribution is helpful and accessible in this context, but cannot be the only mechanism for shifting power. The fundamental underpinnings of ethical tourism lies in creating and sustaining relationships with both people and land. It is about the work. Examples of successful partnerships do exist, consider the terms established between a cruise ship company and the Kanaka Maoli of Moloka’i.

The ‘Aha Kiole is the People’s Council, which has stood as a governing model for over a thousand years. The role of the council is to enact the will of the people. In 2011, the ‘Aha Kiole of Moloka’i surveyed and held multiple community meetings in each moku (district) to not only understand reactions to tourism, but also what terms must be met should they be allowed to continue to visit. From here, requests and terms were collated and then reviewed by more community feedback. Other stakeholders, such as the Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources and Department of Transportation, Harbors Division were also consulted. The outcome produced this list of terms:

  • “All American Safari guests must view a community-produced orientation video on Moloka’i so that they are made aware of the specialness of our island and our cultural protocols.
  • Cruise passengers must avoid visiting certain named subsistence areas and sacred cultural sites.
  • The number of annual visits is capped, and no more than thirty individuals are allowed per visit in order to keep numbers sustainable and acceptable to the community.
  • Visitors commit to patronize local vendors.
  • Moloka’i must be selected as the first and/or last port of call so that tourists may fly into the island and elect to use Moloka’i hotel lodgings for a few extra days before or after their cruise.
  • Trash cannot be discarded from the cruise ship on Moloka’i, so as to avoid potentially introducing invasive species (e.g., coqui frogs, fire ants, papaya ring spot virus, banana bunchy top virus).
  • A percentage of the revenues accrued by the American Safari Cruises shall be donated to the Hawai’i Community Foundation and earmarked for a special Moloka’i fund to support cultural and environmental conservation projects.” (Akutagawa, p. 102).

Concerning ongoing movements, you can (if you have more current resources, please do reach out and I can add them here!):

This is what it takes to establish an ethical relationship as tourists and visitors. If conference organizers, university administrators, faculty, staff, and students, are unable or unwilling to participate in this process, then your presence will continue ongoing harm.

If you wish to come to Hawai’i, you must do so on the terms of the Native people. Or, do not come.

Note: If you are Native Hawaiian, or have a diasporic relationship to the Hawaiian Islands, and you have critique, know of other ways to help, or want to contribute your ideas/opinions please email me at pingaspen [at] proton [dot] me for consideration of inclusion to the blog post. If changes are accepted, I will make notes here to honor your help. Mahalo!

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