Cartography

Hawaiian Cartography and 'Aina Sovereignty

Speakers: Renee Pualani Louis | Air Date: February 1, 2020 | Run Time: 52mins | The Native Seed Pod: Season 2

Speakers: Renee Pualani Louis | Air Date: February 1, 2020 | Run Time: 52mins | The Native Seed Pod: Season 2

Hawaiian Cartography and ‘Aina Sovereignty

Cover of Kanaka Hawai’i Cartography: Hula, Navigation, and Oratory

Cover of Kanaka Hawai’i Cartography: Hula, Navigation, and Oratory

Rooting us further into the Indigenous cosmologies of the Pacific (Moana), podcast host Melissa Nelson catches up with Hawaiian Cartographer Renee Pualani Louis during a writers’ retreat at the Mesa Refuge in Point Reyes, California.

Renee shares her experience of being changed while writing her book Kanaka Hawaiʻi Cartography: Hula, Navigation, and Oratory (2017),  which explores Kanaka Hawai’i place-name and spatial knowledge systems. We are met with the breadth of Hawaiian, place-based language and knowledge of ‘Aina – the land-food matrix. Deep in intimate conversation, together we traverse stars and seasons, plants and mountains, and how to embody food sovereignty, self-determination, and nourish relationships of food and community.

. . . . you can see how the bones of our ancestors are really what’s feeding the generations to come, and again, this is how we become invested in the landscape.
— Renee Pualani Louis

About Renee Pualani Louis

Renee Pualani Louis is a Hawaiian cartographer passionate about Hawaiian storied place names, spatial knowledge systems, and an advocate for the integration of indigenous knowledge systems into Western Geosciences.

A leader of her field, Louis is a graduate of The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, a Co-Chair of the Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers, the 2014 co-recipient of the American Association of Geographers Enhancing Diversity Award, and a member of CHIRP3 Working Group, whose goal is to develop new guidelines for building collaborations between Native and non-Native researchers working with Native communities.

Additional Resources

CREDITS

Host/Writer/Director: Melissa K. Nelson
Producer: Sara Moncada
Co-producer and photographer: Mateo Hinojosa
Audio Editor and Engineer: Colin Farish
Production Assistant: Teo Montoya
Additional Photography: Melissa Nelson

Songs (in order of appearance):

“Plants of the Sea, Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai” by Del Medina, Linda Low, and Colin Farish