Halau Education: A review of hula, haka and siva education strategies in Hawai’i and New Zealand

Abstract

The primary objective of this thesis is to place the pedagogies and practices of Halau Hula O Maiki, as expressed by a number of halau students, in the context of Hawaiian Education. The thesis begins by reviewing the pre-contact, colonial and indigenous education movements in Hawai'i mainstream public schools. it then places halau, hula schools, and Halau Hula O Maiki in particular within the Hawaiian Education context. Generally halau are characterized as emerging from the Hawaiian Renaissance period. While halau gained popular public recognition during the Hawaiian Renaissance, they nevertheless always were valued and cherished by the Hawaiian people as a source of education and way of knowing from earliest times. This research places the authors experience in Halau Hula O Maiki in relation to other students' experiences in hula, kapa haka and siva. It utilizes the Hawaiian epistemological themes of Meyer (2003) to organize, compare and analyze the anti-colonial pedagogies and practices of Halau Hula O Maiki relative to others. Hula, always was and continues to be a traditional and contemporary form of education that teaches the student more than physical dance movement but rather spirituality, relationships, nature of the senses, utility and discipline.