What makes Indigenous innovation unique? How can traditional Hawaiian practices help us fix our world today? Those are some of the questions organizers hope to address at a conference this Friday at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center.
The University of Hawaiʻi will spotlight what its Office of Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation has achieved after five years of focusing on scientific, economic, and social initiatives.
Kamuela Enos, the director of the office, will present the opening keynote along with Kūhaʻo Zane, the creative director at Sig Zane Designs and president of Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation.
"The intention of this summit is not to say, 'Oh, this is what innovation is and gatekeep and be like, no, this is the only thing.' It is more of an accountability," Enos said.
He said three featured panels at the conference will focus on health equity, Indigenous data visualization centers, initiatives that have begun and more.
"There's a moment in time to quote Einstein's maxim that the mindset that created a problem can't be the mindset that solves it — that me and Kūhaʻo families and those that came before us work so so so hard to normalize that we can express our Hawaiian-ness without fear."Kamuela Enos
Registration for the conference is at maximum capacity, and Enos said he isn't surprised due to successful conferences in previous years.
"I hope the word indigenous is an invitation. Indigenous doesn't mean brown people. It means continuity, and everyone is indigenous to someplace, and if you're in a space where Indigenous people exist, you make the world better by supporting them in the restoration of their practices because these practices have been proven to create ecological and social balance," Enos said.
Zane will be presenting alongside Enos at the innovation conference. Zane said he doesn't come from an academic background. However, because of this, he brings a different perspective.
"I think for me the part that I bring to the table — one is the foundation portion of where are we at currently when you're looking at cultural understanding," Zane said.
He sees the conference as an opportunity to transfer information between generations.
"If there is information that is held within these past generations, and especially with the current generations of kūpuna that we have currently right now, that there is a sense of urgency to be able to learn and to be able to listen as much as possible," Zane said.
UH's conference on Indigenous innovation is at capacity but will be live-streamed. For more information, click here.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Nov. 5, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
