ʻONIPAʻA: HOʻŌLA LĀHUI

The ʻOnipaʻa speaker series continues on March 5, 2025, 12:30 PM – 1:50 PM, on the library’s second floor with a presentation by three UHWO faculty (Kaʻiulani Akamine, Dr. Masahide Kato, and Dr. Kauʻi Merritt) who will share their first-hand experience and knowledge with community-based healing in Lāhainā and the importance of building pilina in grassroot trauma responses.

The ʻOnipaʻa Speaker Series, which started in 2016, features Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners, scholars, researchers, and community members. It is inspired by the idea of ʻonipaʻa, its meaning and its history within various political contexts. ʻOnipaʻa was the motto of Kamehameha V who reigned from 1863-1872. During her reign, Queen Liliʻuokalani expanded her motto to “ʻOnipaʻa i ka ʻimi naʻauao” or to “Stand fast in your seeking of wisdom and knowledge.” Following the Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, “ʻOnipaʻa” became a rallying cry for Kānaka Maoli national pride and resistance to American colonialism. In the modern era, ʻOnipaʻa was the name given to the 100-year commemoration of the Overthrow and mass march held in 1993.

The word, ʻOnipaʻa, combines two seemingly contradictory concepts–ʻoni, “to move, stir, shif, movement, motion” and paʻa, “Firm, solid,… fixed, stuck, secure.” When combined, they are difficult to translate in English and can only be closely approximated as “fixed movement.” In Hawaiian, however, ʻOnipaʻa conveys a sense of resolution, determination, and steadfastness that is grounded in action, motion, and passion, and also carries a historical and political genealogy that is closely tied to Hawaiian sovereignty and independence.

About the Speakers

Kumu Kaʻiulani Akamine is a Cultural Practitioner in Lomilomi. She has served as University of Hawai’i Faculty since 2006, she is currently an Assistant Faculty Specialist at the University of Hawaiʻi – West Oʻahu working with Adults Returning to Education and is kāko’o to the Hawaiian Indigenous Health and Healing Program. Creating educational opportunities is her passion and she continues to weave together Hawaiian and Western practices to help foster foundations of student success.

Masahide Kato, Associate Professor in SSCI, spent his sabbatical semester (Fall, 2023) in Honokōwai, Lāhainā, volunteering for Maui Medic-Healersʻ Hui.  He continues to be part of the community-wide holistic healing through Wisdom Circle Oceania, providing sound healing to the keiki survivors in West Maui.  

Dr. Merritt lives in her family home built by her father and uncles in ‘Aiea with her husband, their three children, kitty, and Ocean the Fish. She follows her mo‘okū‘auhau to the Waiolama family of Waihe‘e, Maui. At UHWO she is an Associate Professor of Indigenous Health Sciences and Principal Investigator of the Māpuna Lab. As a social epidemiologist she strives to help students connect their social, cultural, and historical contexts to contemporary living conditions, health behaviors, and health disparities.