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Settler Colonialism in Hawaiʻi: Learning Community

A guide to resources used during a learning community on settler colonialism in Hawaiʻi.

Responding to settler privilege


As the saying goes, "ignorance is bliss," and indeed, the ignorance of the colonization and continued occupation of Hawaiʻi has been a privilege to settlers in Hawaiʻi.

Shavonn Matsuda and Kawena Komeiji

Matsuda & Komeiji, 2023.

Learning Community

Background

The Difficult Knowledge Learning Community (DKLC) originated from conversations between the Leeward CC Library Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee and Dr. Eiko Kosasa, Associate Professor in Political Science (retired), discussing her dissertation, Predatory Politics: U.S. Hegemony, Imperialism, Settler Hegemony, and the Japanese in Hawaiʻi in the summer of 2023.

These meetings resulted from a panel presentation organized by the EDI Committee with Dr. Kosasa in November 2023. The session was aimed at Leeward CC faculty and staff, but the organizers also invited people in their networks to attend. Over 70 people registered. At the end of the Zoom presentation, Leeward CC attendees were invited to join a new learning community planned for the spring of 2024.

The first DKLC session was held in person on February 20, 2024, with about 15 attendees. Subsequent meetings were held in April, May, and June, some in person and some online, with attendance between 10 and 15 people. Meetings in September and October had much smaller attendance, with the October session being the last one scheduled.

Purpose

To establish a supportive environment where faculty and staff can educate themselves on the legacy of settler colonialism and identify ways to advocate for indigenization efforts at Leeward.

Readings

DKLC meetings were structured as facilitated discussions by one or more facilitators. Readings and discussion questions follow:

February & April 2024

May & June 2024

September & October 2024

Community Guidelines

The following guidelines were established to create a safe space for all participants. 

Recognizing that the topic can be overwhelming, that first steps can be difficult, and that the work is ongoing, our hope is that the learning community supports individuals in finding concrete ways to advocate for efforts to indigenize Leeward Community College. As such, we agree to support the following community norms:
  • Speak from personal experience rather than trying to share other peoples’ perspectives or feelings.
  • Respect and maintain confidentiality.
  • Engage in this community with humility and vulnerability.

References

Britzman, D. P. (1998). Lost subjects, contested objects: Toward a psychoanalytic inquiry of learning. State University of New York Press.

Dion, S. D.(2004). (Re)telling to disrupt: Aboriginal people and stories of Canadian history. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies. 2(1), 55-76.

Felman, S. (1982). Psychoanalysis and Education: Teaching Terminable and Interminable. Yale French Studies, 63, 21–44. https://doi.org/10.2307/2929829

Kauanui, J. K. (2016). “A Structure, Not an Event”: Settler Colonialism and Enduring Indigeneity. Lateral, 5(1). https://doi.org/48671433

Kosasa, E. (2024). Notes regarding difficult knowledge, from one settler to other settlers (on US imperialism and settler colonialism in Hawaiʻi.

Matsuda, S., & Komeiji, K. (2023). Kuʻu ʻāina kulāiwi. up//root. https://www.uproot.space/komeiiji-matsuda

Wolfe, P. (2006). Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native. Journal of Genocide Research, 8(4), 387–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520601056240