Kū‘ula: Nurturing a generation of Indigenous leadership for marine conservation in Hawai‘i

Abstract

“Kū‘ula: Integrated Science” was developed as an undergraduate–graduate dual-level course at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. It aimed to provide research and service-learning opportunities in natural resource management that integrated Native Hawaiian and Western sciences. So far, it has served five cohorts of students, mostly Native Hawaiian. In this article, we offer summaries of how this course impacted participants while they were students and in their post-graduation careers. The participant voices illustrate the deep and long-lasting impacts of their experiences with Kū‘ula, some by academic content but mostly because of experiential and peer-learning. Such impacts are lasting well beyond their graduation into their careers now. Kū‘ula participants resoundingly advocate for University of Hawai‘i campuses to offer place-based pedagogical frameworks that integrate Native Hawaiian knowledge and epistemologies.