Maenette K.P. Ah Nee-Benham is the inaugural dean of the Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
One of the great tragedies of Hawaiian colonization was the intentional undermining of indigenous education. Prior to colonization, natives communicated through oral traditions, but they were quick to embrace the written word when Christian missionaries introduced it in the 1820s. The first public education system was established by King Kamehameha III in 1840 and, at its apex, Hawaiian literacy was as high as 75 percent. But as the movement toward American annexation grew, occupiers viewed this as a threat. So, in 1896, an English-only law was imposed, banning the Hawaiian language from being taught in all schools. Native Hawaiians have struggled to recover ever since.
Educators and students have been at the forefront of the Hawaiian renaissance movement since its beginnings in the early 1970s. They’ve been able to keep the language and culture alive with the support of community leaders, elders and political allies. Most of the 20th century education battles fought and won occurred at the K-12 level, but progress in higher education has been much slower, notes Benham.
Today, Native Hawaiian enrollment in the University of Hawaiʻi system is roughly 15,000. At the flagship campus, UHM, Native Hawaiians are represented at levels comparable to their presence in the state population. But student retention remains an issue and the Native Hawaiian presence among faculty and staff remains well below parity.
“We have moved a distance, but we certainly are not there yet as a Hawaiian nation,” Benham says. “We’re still working to recover a lot that has been taken away.”
While her vision includes reclaiming traditional knowledge, Benham and her team are also looking forward.
“I want a 21st century Hawaiian nation,” she says, explaining that she envisions a nation that blends the best of the past with leading-edge experiences and skills of the digital age.
