Kuleana

Kuleana: right, privilege, concern, responsibility

Mehana states “Kuleana is expressed through specific actions or practices that build to create broader impacts when practiced as a community”. The Hā‘ena community members expressed their kuleana by fighting for the rights to “bring coastal management back to the local level”. The community was able to regain access to their ancestral lands by securing legislation that would allow them to collaboratively manage their ahupuaʻa.

The people of Hā‘ena felt it was their kuleana to care of the ʻāina that has taken care of them. Although these kānaka may have lost their physical homes on this ʻāina, the community came together to preserve the culture. Without their efforts, unethical fishing and overuse of the lands would continue. The kānaka ʻōiwi of the future may have no iʻa left if it were not for the efforts of the community.

As a kanaka maoli, I feel it is our kuleana to care for the ʻāina we come from. How can we preserve the cultural practice of kuʻi kalo if there are no loʻi? How can we preserve the the cultural practice of loko iʻa if there is no access to the ocean? If we do not take action to preserve the natural resources of these places, our culture will die.