- Guest Blogger
'Auamo kuleana
This evening, I joined a webinar to listen to Manu Aluli Meyer share her scholarship of Hawaiian epistemology, and towards the end of the webinar, she spoke about her interpretation of a concept key to our Native Hawaiian lifestyle, ʻauamo kuleana. Growing up, I often heard my kupuna and mākua saying, “Hui! ʻAuamo kāu kuleana.” I always translated it as, “Take care of your responsibilities.” In listening to Dr. Meyer’s recollections and stories of ʻauamo kulenana, it sounded like growing up she had the same experiences.
Native Hawaiians, as with many Native and Indigenous groups, value the needs of the group more than those of individuals. ʻAuamo kuleana exemplifies this belief because it reminds all of us that if we do not take care of our individual responsibilities, it will eventually affect the prosperity and health of the group. Dr. Meyer excellently refined her interpretation of ʻauamo kuleana as “collective transformation through individual excellence” (Meyer, 2021), which accurately captures the Native Hawaiian concept of community before individual.
As I continue my work supporting underrepresented and underserved student populations, Dr. Meyer reminds me of my ʻauamo kuleana, not that it is my responsibility, but also in knowing that as I excel, I help transform these student populations. Additionally, as I ʻauamo kaʻu kuleana in helping each individual student excel, together, we also help transform these student populations.
What does this mean? It means that working with groups like CGEST and CompuGirls Hawaiʻi and using these opportunities to pursue my personal excellence allows me to contribute to the collective transformation of all underrepresented and underserved student populations. It also means that we each need to pursue our passions and work hard to excel at them because ultimately we will each contribute to elevating those passions that move us.
Reference: Meyer, M. A. (2021). Moʻolelo Mondays: Moʻolelo with Manu Meyer.
