Pre Conference Webinar Series & Resources In the months of February and March, AAAS will hosted three webinars featuring Kanaka ʻŌiwi speakers addressing multiple topics. Ranging in topics from art and labor in Waikīkī, militarism, and thinking through what it means to be in good relation with people and place, these webinars were aimed at allowing conference participants to set their intentionality before arriving in Hawaiʻi. In case you missed the webinars, we have provided the recordings and pre-conference readings. See links below. Pre-Conference Resources: Tips for a More Pono (Respectful/Responsible) Stay in Hawaiʻi Pre- Conference CurriculumIn preparation for the upcoming conference, the AAAS Ad Hoc Steering Committee has compiled a brief collection of suggested readings to facilitate meaningful discussion in and about Hawaiʻi. These works align with the pre-conference webinars and conference huakaʻi (tours) by providing an overview of theorizations of settler colonialism, racial capitalism, global militarism, and critiques of the tourist industrial complex with an emphasis on Hawaiʻi. Pre-Conference Webinars Recordings Webinar #1: “Waikīkī: Art and Labor Activism” Participants: Dean Saranillio (moderator), Brandy Nālani McDougall, Corey Asano Webinar 1 Recording Passcode: %1z4qC=M This webinar examines Waikīkī as a critical site of capitalist and colonial struggle. Featuring two Kānaka ʻŌiwi, Brandy Nālani McDougall (scholar/2023-25 Hawaiʻi Poet Laureate) and Corey Asano (labor organizer with UNITE HERE Local 5), this webinar will share the critical work they have done to transform the unequal conditions of power in Waikīkī. Corey will discuss his participation in their union’s successful labor strike at the Hilton Hawaiian Village (the site of the AAAS conference) while Brandy will speak about her art/poetry installations that address empire and settler colonialism while reclaiming Waikīkī as a particularly Kanaka place. Webinar #2: The Labor of Being a Guest Participants: Monisha Das Gupta (moderator), Maile Arvin, Nohelani Teves Webinar 2 Recording Passcode: &9S3Jhm& So you want to attend a professional conference being held in Hawaiʻi. You’re a self-reflective enough scholar to recognize that such a trip may merit some ethical reckoning given the past and present realities of settler colonialism in Hawaiʻi. What do you do? This webinar does not offer one answer as to how to be an ethical conference tourist in Hawaiʻi, or any other place. Rather, this webinar offers those interested in this question some models of how to be in relation to place and people in Hawaiʻi. This webinar asks participants to learn Kanaka Maoli cultural protocol (specifically oli mahalo, a chant of gratitude) and to listen to a frank discussion between Dr. Monisha Das Gupta, Dr. Nohelani Teves, and Dr. Maile Arvin which will range across themes of conference tourism, tokenizing Kanaka Maoli thought on Asian American Studies syllabi, and how our commitments to being in good relation to Hawaiʻi are lessons that can be applied and practiced everywhere. Webinar #3: Demilitarizing Hawaiian Lands – Local Struggles, Global Implications Participants: Kyle Kajihiro (moderator), Camille Kalama, and ʻIlima Long Webinar 3 Recording Passcode: HW$7iSJI This webinar will discuss the history of (de)militarization in Hawaiʻi and contemporary struggles to reclaim Hawaiian lands, including expiring military leases of Hawaiian trust lands and successful demilitarization campaigns on Kahoʻolawe, Mākua, and Kapūkakī (Red Hill).
