Engaging a Kanaka ʻŌiwi Literature Review Methodology Through Research on Native Hawaiian Culture-Based Education

Abstract

Although research shows that critical outcomes occur for Native students when culture-based education (CBE) centers self-determination, sovereignty, and Indigeneity, Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) students rarely learn about these concepts. This review thus seeks to understand how scholars operationalize self-determination and Ea (sovereignty, life) in research on Native Hawaiian CBE and the extent to which this operationalization provides pathways for students to internalize the two concepts, self-identify as Indigenous, and enact praxis. By foregrounding Kānaka ways of knowing and being, a Kanaka ʻŌiwi literature review methodology (KanakaʻŌiwiLRM) is conceptualized and engaged to analyze 20 literature sources. Findings indicate that self-determination and Ea are positioned as the foundations and outcomes of CBE, yet disregarded as a basis for Indigenous self-identification. This results in a call for a purposeful decolonial Native Hawaiian CBE approach that nourishes Indigenous unity and supports self-determination, Ea, and pathways toward praxis.