Mokuola Honua is hosting it’s second international symposium in Hilo, Hawaii. The language centre aims to bring back the prominence of Indigenous perspectives from a foundation of language fluency.
The first symposium was held in 2016 which saw representatives from over 25 indigenous communities, discuss the impacts of their respective language on policy, education, and media.
Mahina Pashion-Duarte, co-founder of the Waiwai collective, a Hawaiian space for culture and commerce spoke in a panel discussion yesterday.
“If we have access to our ancestral lands, we can sustain our practices, we can sustain our practices, we can grow our practices and our relationships to place.
“I truly believe that through our cultural practices, we are going to be inspired to create a new mindset for the future that we are going to create.”
Aotearoa was represented at the first symposium by Julian Wilcox, Charlie Te Pana, and Judge Caren Fox.
Te Reo advocate, Dr Hinurewa Poutu (Ngāti Rangi, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Maniapoto), one of the keynote speakers at the four-day event added some of her thoughts to the discussion also.
“The sign of a living language is one that’s spoken and that’s the most important thing, regardless of institutions or legislation, it really is in our own mouths really.
“We have seen that in school or at Māori Television once the camera turns off we switch to English not always but often, it's about making it our language of love, of community and whānau.”