Mackenzie Butson, "Pa'u Riding: A Parade of Horsemanship, Hawaiian Culture, and Colonial Resistance"
Pa’u riding, an equine riding discipline with roots in Hawaiian culture, is a popular feature in Hawaiian parades, as the riders personify the Hawaiian Islands. Wearing kepola tops and pa’u bottoms held up with kukui nuts, lei-adorned pa’u riders carry their island's color of flowers on their body, as they ride their horses in Hawaiian cultural parades, like the King Kamehameha Celebration Floral Parade.
Beyond the pageantry of this performative parade unit, pa’u riding carries a complex history regarding Hawaiian culture, sovereignty, and the continued work of colonial resistance. This presentation discusses the 20th century evolution of pa’u parade riding, the importance of Hawaiian cultural preservation amid colonialism, and how the continued practice of pa’u riding brings forth cultural education for tourists while evoking a heightened sense of cultural community among Hawaiian people.
Through the lens of performance and ritual literature, the research compiled in this presentation covers how this equestrian tradition dates back to the 19th century after the introduction of horses to the Hawaiian Islands, how Hawaiian women chose to ride astride, contradictory to European influence, and colonial resistances amid the United States annexation of Hawaii in 1898 and later United States statehood in 1959.
Utilizing both imperative primary and contextual secondary resources, this presentation will also cover how this equestrian dicipline has evolved throughout the 20th and 21st century as a way to honor Hawaiian culture, such as the memorialization of Hawaii’s Queen Lilikuolani, and how pa’u riding withstands the test of time as both an opportunity to learn about the complexities of Hawaiian culture, and the resistance to a colonially-induced cultural crisis.
Kyle Cook, "Land back futurities: A reflection on community-led land rematriation in Hawai’i"
What is the connection, or lack thereof, between collapse and Indigenous Land Back? What are the world building possibilities that can arise from moments of economic and environmental collapse? What opportunities and frictions arise from building futures amongst moments of collapse? What does engaging pono (ethically) with Land Back as a visitor to Indigenous territories look like in practice?
Often referred to as the last Hawaiian island, Moloka’i is a sacred space for many Kānaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiians). With the introduction of off-island extractive corporations, tourism, and the State, this has left ‘āina (land, that which feeds) out of the hands of the Indigenous peoples of Hawai’i. In this content, many Kānaka ‘Ōiwi are joining Indigenous peoples internationally demanding for the return of Indigenous lands to Indigenous hands, often referred to as Land Back (Schneider, 2022).
In this paper, the author will examine the experiences of engaging in a year-long research project in a multigenerational community-led land back initiative on the island of Moloka’i. Through Tuck and Yang's (2012) framework of rematriation - the restoration of land and relationships to Indigenous peoples to advance Indigenous futures - this paper provides insight through the engagement with community leaders, kupuna (elders), and youth through interviews, sharing mo’olelo (stories), and mālama ‘āina (caring for the land) the opportunities, limitations, tensions, and love experienced through a multigenerational Indigenous-led land rematriation project.
Research findings include the embodiment of visitors understanding their kuleana (responsibilities) to the communities they serve, visitors embodying aloha 'āina (love for the land) in praxis, and the Indigenous futures built upon off-island owned economic collapse. The opportunities and tensions experienced by multigeneration projects such as the affiliation with the Western academy, mediating urgent disasters caused by climate change, and the interconnected need and desire for cultural survival are recurring themes featured throughout the paper.
Adriana Juárez, "Revolution Soundtrack: Indigenous Latin American Resistance Movements and the Use of Music as a Political Tool (1960s-1980s)"
The 1960s-1980s was a politically tumultuous period that impacted the world, characterized by the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, and anti-Communism. A largely ignored area within literature is the experiences in Latin American, which saw the rise of right- wing governments that violently targeted those who opposed these oppressive regimes. Mexico, Chile, and El Salvador, specifically, were three countries within Latin America who were impacted deeply during this time and had both similar and different experiences with state organized political violence, despite residing on different continents. More specifically, Indigenous peoples were those who experienced a vast majority of this organized state violence. Despite this unrest, activists were organizing, resisting, and surviving. One unique mode of resistance was the use of music. which created a strong sense of community, resilience and most importantly, supported identity and well-being of those directly and indirectly participating in resistance movements. This music spoke on the history of Indigenous peoples within Latin America, as well as the everyday experience of those living through wars, massacres, and other forms of political violence. Music was expressed through various forms of media, such as live street performances, guerrilla radio shows, guerilla camp performances, and during protests. Drawing on literature on the Cold War, global and cross-cultural social movements, political resistance, concepts of well-being, Indigenous music, political media, as well as interviews with those who experienced direct political violence (and were subsequently involved in various resistance movements and music), this paper explores the role of Indigenous resistance music in political movements within Mexico, Chile, and El Salvador, and what this meant individually and collectively. It is vital to understand how Latin American Indigenous resistance music contributed to individual and collective well-being historically, and how it encouraged people to continue to resist in creative ways during times of state-sanctioned violence.
Asia Parker, "Visual Politics, Human Rights, and Aboriginal Artwork"
Contemporary Aboriginal art challenges legacies of colonial violence that still persist in Australia. Art in this sense holds an interesting paradox to critically examine as Aboriginal people remain marginalized in Australia. They have minimal political self-representation and make up only 3% of the national population. This marginalization persists, evidenced by reconciliation programming to “close the gap” between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Australia. On the other hand, Aboriginal art has been co-opted and embraced as “authentic” Australian mainstream identity and culture. Paradoxically while Aboriginal art is celebrated decoratively and culturally, it often contains overt, radical political messages. Aboriginal art is often used as a tool to communicate different human rights issues such as self-determination, rights to land, rights to reparations, and critiques legacies of colonialism. Reverence of Aboriginal art which is wholeheartedly embraced by the nation, and generates billions of dollars in revenue for the state yet this starkly contrasts how Indigenous people are treated in Australia (Butler and Bleiker 2017).
Art becomes political by determining what is seen, what is said, and what is remembered collectively as a nation. Aboriginal art holds deep historical and cultural significance as the first art of the nation. Aboriginal culture, dream time stories, and oral histories have been communicated through rock art, dot paintings and other visual arts forms for thousands of years, however there is scant work on how minorities articulate their understandings of ri
