Aloha Final Blog,

I just wanted to add this to our archive.  I had the privilege of being part of the 2012 Indigenous Conference and it was wonderful.  I think that a class like this would benefit tremendously from the various presenters and topics that are so specific to our class.  I particularly enjoyed the fact that a main component of this Conference was to include poetry and in fact their keynote speakers were exactly that.
The audience was also another huge aspect!  They were understanding and concerned.  The audience "got it".  When Kumu asked the question, in regards to last weeks video that he showed, he expressed "How do you change people who are so set?"  Simple answer, "Poetry, Creativeness, Na'au." The change needs to occur within all of us, a change of understanding and Working Together!  I feel what best exemplifies this value is the Hawaii version of "PotLuck".  There is also an abundance of food especially if the group is made out of Hawaiians.
This abundance was not forced nor was it demanded, it was a simple request and commitment to each other.  And with these simple beginnings such a feast is usually formed. However, if there is not this abundance than dysfunction and non-desire for good will towards each other possibly exists.
I believe that this ability to be willing to impart of one substance is a somewhat common value in indigenous peoples.  It is also this same willingness that will allow the fruits and true superiority of civility for Human life and the essences of Indigenous. To convert this into the Economics has always been the challenge and will be the one I hope to overcome by using means of poetry, creativeness and art.

Mahalo to everyone for this class it has been interesting!

FOOD SIGN UP

I will bring a main dish, the napkins, the utensils, plates, and bottled water. K

Respond to this thread with what you will bring so we do not have 14 pots of rice.

post

The peak oil film was eye opening, but I believe the outcome far out ways the bad. Cuba to me is a place that I could see myself living with my family. I have also watched the movie Sicko produced by Micheal Moore. The universal health care that they have there seems better than here. They don't pay for the medical which is crazy to think about I mean growing up I only heard very negative things that came out of Cuba, like the Cuban missile crisis. Now I am thinking that it might have been conjured up like a lot of other things that the U.S. has done to go to war with.

The readings that we had this week were very interesting but to put connections together Like my sister has said "A coop is an attempt to treat a symptom and not the illness. The illness is the idealogy.  Monetary economies allow you to save and not share. And therefore people, places, and mea get exploited." I totally agree with the idea that we need to fix problems as they arise makes absolutely no sense to me because it shows no insight into the future. The with an indigenous economy is the balancing act between trying to make money with out exploiting someone else. When I think of all businesses their is exploitation that happens it is collateral damage when working with Capitalism. My ideal goal is to not work within capitalism but I know to achieve that in my lifetime would be impossible. In order to survive in the world we live in we all must give up something that we don't want too. I haven't realized this until I had children. Me going to school to get a better paying job is me sacrificing time with my children. It is what it is. If I knew of a better way I hope that I would try to do that. 

Final Paper/Presentation

PAPER/PRESENTATION GUIDELINES


What is your projects story?

• A narrative that explains your motivation for:
• Creating your project.
• The scope of your project.
• How will it contribute to wellbeing?

What do you really enjoy doing (What do you aloha)?

• What will sustain your aloha?

What is your goals/desired outcomes?

• Resources needed:
• Financial
• Money
• Physical
• What you need
• Structural (Site)

Statistics to support your claims?

Webbing potential partners?

Obstacles/Challenges?

**********************************************************************************

UPCOMING CLASS SCHEDULE

(April 19, 2012)
***POTLUCK NŌ HOʻI***
Presentation:
5 SLIDE LIMIT for presentation
5 MINUTE MAX

(April 26, 2012)
***NO CLASS***

(Due May 2, 2012 @12pm)
***ABSOLUTELY NO EXTENSIONS***
Paper:
5-7 Pages
Double-Spaced
12 pt. Font

Deadline for the Blog

has passed.

Burker

“In the old village everything was different.

Everybody was painted and wore traditional dress and traditional haircuts.

But when we came here we became whiter. Everybody is white here, and

I think the kids will become even whiter. The young people aren’t learning

much about the old ways.”

For me Burkers article, highlighted the ill effects of enganging in western ideology. 

Things that stood out:

1. The cooperative administrator once being a missionary. 
2. Missionaries exploring for the US and Brazillian Steel Companyʻs. 
3. The idea that people depended on the coop for basic needs, "milk, sugar, coffee and beans"
4. Improvement to villages was defined by sewerʻs 
5. The "city indians"
6. Diversified crops to six crops
7. The one family who had to purchase manioc

Ideologies are so different. Definitions of well-being are then changed. And youʻre left with an unthriving people. 

It reminds me of my brother who lived in Ghana for a  couple of years. He said that the people were

very poor--it wasnʻt always that way. Because the people of Ghana were great rice farmers. They were so good tbe ghananian people chose to farm and not work in factories. So what happened?

The US flooded the Rice Farmer region with aid in the form of rice.

A coop is an attempt to treat a symptom and not the illness. The illness is the idealogy.  Monetary economies allow you to save and not share. And therefore people, places, and mea get exploited.

Fair Globalization...not to sure that will ever happen.

Fair Globalization aka Aloha?

Fair globalisation means putting people first; respecting their rights, cultural identity and
autonomy; and the empowerment of the local communities in which they live.

I like that!

The opening paragraph illustrated what it takes to fail, a political-economical structure not rooted in participation, democratic member control, and autonomy.

Ngugi Wa Thiong'o stated in his book Decolonizing the mind that there are two types of characters that are identified within the cultural stories.  The first, was the kind, cooperative person who cared about others and wanted good for all and hated-evil.  The second was, the two mouth species, that was greedy and cared only about himself.

The opening paragraph simply states the utmost most important underlying theme that clearly illustrates what works. We as indigenous people must fight to be just like the heros of our own cultural mo'olelo.  Our state of mind must become one with the motto of hero.  It is then that all we do will permeates our everything.   Our indigenous economies must have that motto.  It is the heart of the indigenous community and it is the cause for the success of our ancestors and will be the way for our success.And then we will no longer have to ask the question, "What is Indigenous Economies?"  The question once arose in class, "Why la'au lapau practitioners should not collect money?"  Could the answer be that In accepting cash payment one is internal violating what they believe.  They are internally choosing to be "The second" type of human who did not care for cooperation?

I recently read a book called, "Change We Must" by Nana Veary, in this book she asked one of her patients why she stopped coming and she said because she couldn't pay. Nana Veary's response was I am Hawaiian we give everything away free.  She also stated earlier in her book that to be Hawaiian is not about blood, it is about Aloha, and she define Aloha as Alo meaning the the center of the universe, the bosom, and Ha as the breath of God. This is exactly what I believe being Hawaiian is.  Today we have complicated and complex meanings, however, I feel if we could simplify we would have a much easier time of making sense and the impossible will turn into the possible.

Therefore, in relation of this class and to the answer of my semester long question, "What is Indigenous Economies?" the answer is an Economy that expresses aloha as it's number one Product.  In this simple statement I believe lies the ultimate answer to not only this class but to the life of what being Human is.

If we look to move forward by honoring our past and practicing what our ancestors practice because we believe they had the answers, then, having Aloha is the only thing we need and the rest will work itself out.  Ha ha ha, I know that by saying this it sort of shoots our own class and academic validity in the foot, but, "Ma ka hana ka ike."  Should we instead be practicing acts of Aloha, and coming together to talk about what happened from these acts? Is Aloha the Truest for of Economy available?

Intertwining the non-physical the "aloha" with the physical "economics" will create the infusion all Heros are looking for.