Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge (HSHK) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa welcomed more than 100 Indigenous educators from around the world for the annual World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC) 2024 conference. The five-day event, held September 27–30, attracted educators from as far as Norway, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, and Canada, to share cultural ʻike (knowledge) and practices in Indigenous education.
“This is why it’s so important for Kānaka Maoli to own the fact that we are Indigenous native peoples and that we have the spiritual connection to the land, to the waters, to our ancestors that is so similar to Saami, Apache, Māori regardless of where people come from,” said Jon Osorio, dean of Hawaiʻinuiākea.
WINHEC, first established in 2002 in Alberta, Canada, is a global effort to advance Indigenous studies in higher education. The conference serves as a forum for members of Indigenous-serving institutions to discuss Indigenous philosophies and knowledge systems. While most of the 2024 conference took place in Waikīkī, a key breakout session was an all day cultural experience at the Mānoa campus at Ka Papa Loʻi o Kānewai, the site of HSHK’s loʻi kalo (taro patch) and cultural garden.
ʻĀina-based education
During the session, participants engaged in hands-on learning led by Hawaiʻinuiākea haumāna (students), who demonstrated traditional kalo cultivation, the importance of our water systems, and traditional imu (underground) cooking methods. Hawaiʻinuiākea, home to the nation’s largest Indigenous studies program, deeply values ʻāina-based learning—education rooted in the land, its resources, and people.
“The things that our ancestors knew about how to live off of this land, we believe are becoming increasingly important to sustain us for many generations,” Osorio added.
Among the attendees was Bashqwaa-idaamoqwe Roxanne Delille, an Ojibwe from Minnesota and dean of Indigenous and Academic Affairs at Fond du Lac Tribal Community College.
“When we think about that old knowledge, how do we pick that back up again and reclaim it so that we become stronger in who we are,” Delille said. “That’s the beauty of it!”
Accreditation achievement
On the final day of the conference, Hawaiʻinuiākea received a prestigious renewal of a 10-year WINHEC accreditation, honoring the school’s dedication to preserving and revitalizing Indigenous knowledge.
