Each article in this journal describes not only a unique journey, it also describes an effort to build a homeland of some form or another. The authors refer to these journeys as the "loved experiences" of indigenous peoples. The idea then, that research is a lived experience that reflects the macrocosms and microcosms of indigenous well…

C. Mamo Kim is a Native Hawaiian leader and political activist in Hawai'i. In 1986 she began healing people of diseases from which their doctors had already pronounced they would be imminently dying or chronically doomed to suffer. By merely placing her hands on or near the body she was able to completely reverse the diseases or chronic…

This article recounts the story of a visit to Kelemania, the homeland of the author's grandparents. It relates a series of events that occurred approximately ten years ago and had a profound effect on the author's life. The events described here occurred within a very short period of time and set the author on a life's journey.

The Nga Manu Speech Contest has grown to be one of the biggest and most positive events for New Zealand secondary school students where competitors articulate their thoughts and aspirations in both Maori and English. The contest is acknowledged as an avenue that enhances language and cultural development amongst Maori youth, yet no formal…

Conventional theories of student development are often used to explain student persistence, attrition, amd marticulation in education and thus formulate the basis for student retention models. Student development theories fail to consider the diverse set of socioeconomic cultural and academic experiences of Indigenous peoples, in this case…

This article provides a discussion that examines Hawaiian performance cartography as described by Oliveira--but only as it relates to the island of Kaua'i. Section I begins with a chant asking permission to "enter" into the cultural landscape described in "mele" (songs) and "hula" (dance). Section II looks…

In 2003, the University of Hawai'i sponsored a symposium titled "Indigenizing the University." This symposium featured indigenous scholars such as Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Graham Smith, and Taiaiake Alfred, who addressed how indigenous political theory and methods of research were necessary to support indigenous research and how changes…

In Hawai'i there is a myth known as the alamihi crab syndrome. The myth is a creation of foreign origin used to explain a Western worldview of Hawaiians. It is deployed to explain everything from the 1893 overthrow of the monarchy to the reason why Hawaiians can never better their lives. Crabs in a bucket have a tendency to struggle and fight…

Indigenous scholars have consistently challenged institutions to be more responsive to indigenous students and their communities. In providing guidance on how institutions could support indigenous education in North America, Kirkness and Barnhardt suggest a set of interconnecting principles of respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility.…

The author's first impression of the philosophy for children program in Hawai'i (p4c) was a strong, intuitive feeling that this approach to education can be a vehicle to change the world. This feeling has not faded at all in the course of her five-year commitment to p4c. Yet, as the author has exchanged her ideas about p4c with teachers and…

In 2001, Dr. Thomas Jackson, or Dr. J as the author and her colleagues affectionately call him, spoke to the faculty at Waikiki Elementary. He described philosophy for children (p4c) Hawai'i and encouraged them to try P4C if something about it "resonated" with them. In the beginning, Dr. J held a p4t (philosophy for teachers) after-school seminar…

When the author was first introduced to philosophy for children (p4c) Hawai'i, it made her cringe. She wasn't sure what it was all about, but it reminded her of a miserable past experience of sitting in a circle. Sitting in circles is the sort of activity that she tries to avoid in life. She was told that Dr. Thomas Jackson, aka Dr. J, would guide…

The author was involved in philosophy for children (p4c) Hawai'i for many years during her graduate studies. It was her first introduction to "teaching," or, more accurately, the facilitation of philosophical inquiry. What she would call the "p4c pedagogy" has become infused into her undergraduate teaching. The Good Thinker's Toolkit, the model of…

In spite of the many different "flavors" of philosophy for children (p4c) Hawai'i, one undeviating element involves the creation of a community for intellectually safe philosophical inquiry. The first step in this process is usually an activity in which the participants work together to fashion a "community ball". It's a process that Thomas…

Ever since Thomas Jackson introduced philosophy for children (p4c) to Hawai'i in the mid-1980s, one of the defining characteristics of his p4c Hawai'i program has been its commitment to working with classroom teachers in Hawai'i's public schools. Part of the program's mission has been to find every way possible to support these teachers, both in…