The disastrous fires affecting Maui and Hawaii (the Big Island) have had a devastating toll on residents, heritage, and infrastructure. In the Conference Co-Chairs’ message below, Aya Kimura has compiled a list of local charities accepting donations and resources to better understand the background and context of this disaster. If you are planning to come to 4S Honolulu and are travelling to other islands beyond O’ahu, the current advice from the Hawaii Tourism Authority is to not travel to West Maui. We are monitoring the situation and response and are in frequent contact with our local partners.
The conference organizing team are continuing their work to ensure our upcoming conference in Honolulu is of benefit to the local community (see the travel to Honolulu page for information on minimizing the environmental, cultural and economic impacts of travel). We are very pleased that many outstanding local scholars have agreed to participate in our plenary sessions, and below the Conference Co-Chairs announce our final plenary.
I look forward to seeing many of you in less than 3 months in Honolulu. For those who can’t be there, zoom links for each session will be available with the final program.
Emma Kowal,
4S President.
Disasters in Maui and Hawai‘I (August 29)
The recent fires on Maui and Hawai`i are devastating and we were so shocked and sad to see the extent of the damages on news coverage. Our hearts go out to those affected by these unprecedented disasters. If you would like to help, here is the evolving list of organizations that are accepting donations.
Resources to watch:
Special thanks to Drs. Karin Louise Espejo Hermes, Kaman Beamer, Mehana Vaughan, andAurora Kagawa-Viviani in providing suggestions for the resource list above.
Presidential plenaries and keynote lecture
The keynote speaker for the meeting is Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer (Dana Naone Hall Endowed Chair in Hawaiian Studies, Literature, & the Environment at Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa). Dr. Beamer's website has anumber of videosof his talks if you are interested in learning more about issues of water sovereignty in Hawai‘i.
In addition to the presidential plenary (Hili Naʻi Hili Hewa: On Fantasies, Broken Things and the redistribution of epistemic authority) with Bruce Kaʻimi Watson, Kyle Kajihiro, and Aurora Kagawa-Viviani, we are excited to announce another presidential panel entitled Aloha 'Āina: Hawaiian Knowledge Today with Drs.Manulani Aluli Meyer, Malia Akutagawa, and Mehana Vaughan and chaired by Joan Fujimura. Their detailed bios will be posted shortly on the 4S website.
Aya Kimura and Grant Otsuki,
4S Honolulu Conference Co-Chairs
August 11
Initially we made sure all our local organising team and their families are okay. At the same time we pulled resources together for our conference and will have a timely response after we do the immediate care for one another.
August 21
A week or so later, we contacted all the plenary speakers & our wider circle of contacts to check on their welfare and assess whether it is okay to continue with our plans for the conference. At this stage there was no suggestion that the conference should be moved or changed. #4sHonolulu23.
Technoscience update went out to all members and updates were added to social media channels.