Enacting Kū‘ē through makawalu discourse: A Kanaka‘ŌiwiCrit study of Native Hawaiian students

This research article applies a Kanaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) Critical Race Theoretical (Kanaka‘Ōiwi Crit) framework to examine Native Hawaiian students’ experiences with kū‘ē (resistance). Through a qualitative data analysis of 91 student voices from four panels, four public hearing testimonies, and 43 newspaper essays published from 2019 to 2024, this article answers how Kanaka ‘Ōiwi students in the K–12 and higher education sectors kū‘ē (resist) in public discourse. Findings reveal that students engage in makawalu (multiple perspectives) discourse to address cultural, economic, educational, and social issues affecting Kanaka ‘Ōiwi. They invoke ‘ike kūpuna (ancestral wisdom) to construct a kahua (foundation) of Kanaka ‘Ōiwi knowledge, which includes Hawaiian language, proverbs, stories, and aloha ‘āina (love of land). Students strengthen this kahua by sharing ‘ike kumu (foundational knowledge) and ‘ike pono‘ī (personal knowledge). The wisdom shared in this article demonstrates how Indigenous knowledge systems (a) kū‘ē colonial worldviews and practices under Hawai‘i’s settler state, (b) disrupt majoritarian narratives about youth participation in civic activities, and (c) affirm the potentialities of family-school partnerships to kū‘ē for the Lāhui Hawai‘i (Hawaiian nation) and the global Indigenous community.