According to the Reverend James Kekela,who was stationed in Nu‘uhiwa, Kieekai came to the Hawaiian Islands“on account of his illness to be medicated.”
iʻm always interested how come when the author mentions medication, no steps or protocols are attached to show what were the medical steps the doctors took. I wonder if that was part of oppresion or maybe it wasnʻt intentional and important at the time.
all translations are mine unless indicated otherwise.
This makes me wonder what kind of things does the author know thatʻs beyond Pukui and Elbert. Iʻm not saying that those two scholars are the only authority of definitions, but I find it interesting that "are mine" was used here instead of saying "are my understanding" or something along that line. iʻm not sure if iʻm being knit picky, it just feels weird. But it does make me think about kaona, and that potentially in the reading there might be kaona that he understands for each words. same as how a farmer may see the plant uala different from a lapaʻau practitioner. I do understand that this section is just to help the reader understand where the author is coming from when ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is being used.
Dominant overwriting also ignores ordevalues ‘Ōiwi aesthetics, by which I mean Hawaiian ways ofunderstanding and being that draw upon the senses, and all otherpleasurable modes of knowing, to inform and guide ‘Ōiwi artistic-intellectual expression.
This made me think of what I am going through as a student of lomilomi. My kumu was taught by many kumu, some of them allowed him to write all the detailed notes needed, and some said he wasnʻt allowed to write any. He never did show his notes to us. he always taught it to us with physical examples and demonstrations. Iʻve learned he did that with the intent that we had would share mana, space, and time in that way which formally builds the pilina and passes down hā, but also allowed us to write notes after the lesson when we got home. This is so that we would have ways to reminds us, when it came down to passing the ʻike to our ʻohana. this section made me think of the things and experiences people can miss if they read how to do lapaʻau practices from a book. all the small little nuances.
FIGURE I.1. Portrait of John Papa ‘Ī‘ī, circa 1851. Bishop Museum.John Papa ‘Ī‘ī began serving in the royal household of Mō‘īKamehameha5 as a kahu ali‘i (attendant or guardian for an ali‘i) in1810, when he was ten years old.
After our discussion this past week, iʻm starting to wonder how many times have scholars asked the ʻohana if it was okay to write about their family member (john Papa ʻīʻī), or have gotten any permission at all. At what point, did they feel like it was okay, or not okay? Iʻve been contemplating this kind of a lot as I am trying to figure out how to retell our healing stories in my research. As a Kanaka Maoli, Iʻm thinking permission needs to happen, but is this something that actually happens in scholarship now days? This section is just the start of where the author believes highly influences ʻīʻīʻs work.