Hiapo Cashman and his students from the University of Hawaii will install a wetland taro patch on the National Mall this month when UH officials show an estimated 1.5 million people how ancient Hawaiian practices can apply to modern life.
Cashman, director of Ka Papa Lo‘i ‘O Kanewai next to UH-Manoa’s Hawaiian Studies building, and his group will be part of 80 UH and community members who will join 19 other public land-grant universities invited to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., from June 27 to July 8.
The festival will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Morrill Act, which paved the way for higher education for rural and working-class Americans.
But Cashman and others in the UH delegation also see their trip as an opportunity to show people in Washington a much richer view of island life.
By working a 4-foot-by- 6-foot wetland taro patch nearly every day for two weeks, Cashman hopes to show traditional Hawaiian techniques of planting — while sending the message that all American communities can learn from their own traditions.
"What we want to get across is that traditional ways of doing things are still practical today," Cashman said. "There’s a lot to be learned from the past. The message we want to send is: Wherever you’re from, those traditional ways of doing things are still applicable."
ALOHA FROM D.C.
Events featuring the University of Hawaii:
>> June 24: Kamehameha statue draping ceremony with the Hawai‘i State Society of Washington, D.C., at Emancipation Hall, Capitol Visitors Center.
>> June 25: University presidents procession at the Lincoln Memorial, featuring nearly 200 leaders from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.
>> June 26: Hawaii Community College’s Unukupukupu halau performs at the Library of Congress. UH?President M.R.C. Greenwood participates in panel discussion on agriculture and natural resources with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. APLU Conference with keynote address by Bill Gates.
>> June 27: Folklife Festival opening ceremonies. Festival runs from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily except July 2 and 3.
>> July 6: UH-Manoa Hawaiian Studies students from the Tuahine Troupe perform at Kennedy Center, Millennium Stage.
>> July 8: Folklife Festival concludes.
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Maenette Benham, dean of UH’s Hawai‘inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, also hopes to learn how other land-grant universities work with indigenous and other community members in places such as Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Montana and Oregon.
"A measure of success is how we’re working with our partners to bring more students to campus," Benham said. "For us, there are several opportunities to work with other land-grant universities while giving people a more authentic view of Hawaii that translates into a more responsible, a more sustainable form of tourism. We’re hoping people will see that you can be fully Hawaiian in a contemporary world."
Hula dancers from UH-Manoa and Hawaii Community College will perform throughout the festival, including a performance by UH-Manoa’s Tuahine Troupe at the Kennedy Center.
There will be discussions and demonstrations on traditional Hawaiian health and healing practices, a medicinal herb display and presentations on ancient, non-instrument navigation techniques.
Rick Barboza, a 1999 UH zoology graduate, is now co-owner of Hui Ku Maoli Ola, the islands’ largest native Hawaiian plant nursery. The business will donate a pallet of 50 native plants for the festival — including taro for the taro patch, ‘ohia lehua to be used by la‘au lapa‘au native healing practitioners from UH’s medical school, and ko‘oko‘olau leaves and flowers for tea.
Barboza said he doesn’t see any direct benefit for his company, but hopes to show a different side of Hawaii through his plants.
"It is a lot of work, but it’s for a great cause," said Barboza, who is half Hawaiian. "Hotel landscapes in Waikiki look exactly the same as a hotel in Thailand or Saipan or Mexico or the Bahamas. This will help people realize what plants are really from Hawaii."
UH officials estimate it will cost about $230,000 — or less than $3,000 per person — to transport, feed and house the Hawaii delegation for at least 15 nights. They will stay in dorm rooms at George Washington University.
About half of the cost is being underwritten through cash donations from sponsors including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawai‘i Convention Center (Hawai‘i Tourism Authority), UH Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution, UH spokeswoman Lynne Waters said.
The Unukupukupu halau from Hawaii Community College also will receive a $4,500 performance fee to dance at the Library of Congress before the Folklife Festival opens, which will help defray the group’s costs, Waters said.
"The educational and professional value our students, faculty and staff will glean from the experience of sharing what they do with 1.5 million visitors to the Folklife Festival was honestly too good to pass up," UH President M.R.C. Greenwood said in a statement. "… Our presenters and performers will be personally and interactively sharing the culture and traditions of our homeland and also demonstrating how science and academics provide a bridge from the past to the future. The theme ‘Campus and Community’ must be evident in everything we do. That’s why we’re taking our community partners up with us to show how we serve our community as a land grant university. We will endeavor to be worthy representatives of this special institution and all it means to the people of Hawaii."
