On Oneness – O’ahu, Hawai’i

By Jasmin Winter, soon-to-be 2nd year MDP student 

Although my tan may already be beginning to fade, my memories from this summer certainly won’t any time soon. I can honestly say that the transformative nature of the time I spent in Hawai’i merits the cheesiness of that opening sentence. 

In three months I went through the process of first adapting to and then striving to understand Honolulu and Hawai’i to the best of my ability. I learned so much from the team at We Are Oceania and my friends in Honolulu about Hawai’i, the Pacific, and new ways of looking at the world at large. The challenges and experiences that I encountered this summer also taught me a lot about myself, my values, and my priorities. 

The We Are Oceania 'ohana

In the weeks since I wrote my first blog post, my role at WAO shifted incrementally. After completing a digital storytelling project about the cultural importance and relevancy of basket weaving, I was asked to create more educational, informational videos regarding migration, health care, and tax systems and processes. My projects changed in tandem with the advent of WAO’s deadline to become an independent charity. By the end of my placement, WAO’s parent organization had yet to decide if they wanted to continue the mentoring relationship that had been established, and WAO has therefore not met this goal. Although tensions rose during this transition period, I would not have wanted to do my placement at any other time, because I grew that much closer to the team at WAO and felt genuinely invested in their success. In this way, my placement is not really ending even though I have left Hawai’i. The expression “A hui hou” means “Goodbye, until we meet again,” and I will definitely be keeping up my relationship with WAO until I can physically return. 

The final product of the basket weaving workshop

There’s a lot of talk about “culture shock” when going to a new city or country, but this trip is the first that I have taken where I have felt a sense of shock coming home. Although I have always been very analytical about Canada, having this experience in Hawai’i as a direct comparison has further widened my perspective, shedding new light on both positive and negative aspects of the place that I have come back to.

The piece of insight that I think most resonated with me is the distinction between “oneness” and “sameness,” which, when intersected with the nuances between “equality” and “equity,” teaches the need to be open about engaging with multiculturalism or any inter-group dynamic through the understanding, not the dismissal, of differences. Oneness acknowledges the importance of history, heritage, and traditional knowledge, and helps us paint a much more complex picture of humanity and society.

I am really excited to begin the new school year with this, and everything about this summer in mind.

Views from the 808 – O’ahu, Hawai’i

By Jasmin Winter, 1st year MDP student

“Whatever we produce must not be a version of our existing reality…it must be different, and of our own making. We should not forget that human reality is human creation. If we fail to create our own, someone else will do it for us by default.”

– Epeli Hau’ofa, “A Beginning,” A New Oceania, 1993:128-9.

Beautiful view of the coral forest at Hanauma Bay

I think that many people, after hearing that I am doing a summer field placement in Hawai’i, envision long days spent on palm tree-lined beaches, soaking up the sun with fresh coconuts in hand. I am happy to report that my placement so far has been full of that and much, much more. 

Jasmin (R) in front of the WAO office with Kathy Martin (L), case manager

My placement is with the organization We Are Oceania (WAO), which consists of an amazing team of people promoting empowerment and self-sufficiency amongst the Micronesian population in Hawai’i. Micronesians are the most recent migrant group to Hawai’i, and WAO works towards creating an environment of cultural pluralism in which they can navigate Hawaiian systems and services while still maintaining their home values and traditions. They strive for a world in which Indigenous peoples are respected, celebrated, and honored as part of the local culture of success, and can therefore play an influential role in the shaping of society. 

Through my time here I have gained a deeper understanding of the complex intersection between migrant and Indigenous identities. As WAO is also working towards becoming an independent 501(c)(3) public charity under the mentorship of the Partners in Development Foundation, I have also gained greater insight into the highs and lows of non-profit work. 

Enjoying a fresh coconut at popular shrimp truck

Serendipitously, the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) held their annual meeting in Honolulu on May 19-21. Julie Nagam, my supervisor from the University of Winnipeg, was gracious enough to allow me to sit on her roundtable to speak about the Initiative for Indigenous Futures project (http://abtec.org/iif/). The discussion that ensued was fascinating, and engaged with questions about technology and traditional knowledge and the tension between its ability to connect or isolate us when it comes to other people, the land, non-human and spiritual relationships. We talked further about Indigenous participation in gamification, video games, augmented and virtual reality, and it was so cool to sit amongst a room full of people who were on the same page about the potential for Indigenous peoples to be at the forefront of these futuristic conceptualizations. 

In my spare time, I am playing quidditch with the University of Hawai’i’s Alohamoras (the most clever Harry Potter inspired team name to ever exist), and trying not to think about how I am already half way through my time here already!