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Economics seems to touch every aspect of Hawaii’s past, present, and future. It’s a reflection of culture, laws, environment, attitudes, values, etc. In these papers, I have tried to give the reader a view of how economics can be seen from the perspective of new and challenging values. One different perspective is to structure a national or community economic system from the eyes of a hungry child rather than Adam Smith’s invisible hand, or to switch from the approach of the Gross National Product to the Gross National Happiness, or to search for the meaning of Pono economics. These are documents covering a period from the early 1990’s to the present. The two principle writers are Regina Gregory who starts off with the first 3 documents, and myself with most of the remaining documents. Dr. Kioni Dudley has joined me in the report on the Hawaiian Sovereignty Economic Symposium. I have also reprinted an article from Maddie Felts who writes on the Pursuit of Global National Happiness. (I have misplaced the source of Maddie’s article.)

We hope you can prosper from this discussion of Hawaiian economics and what it can and should be. Should you wish to contribute to this page with your document, please feel free to send the paper to plaenui@hawaiianperspectives.org.

Mahalo for this visit.

In this section, we introduce several papers on planning and several writers who submitted their ideas and dreams of what the future should look like. The central documents for this section is the 2035 Edition of the Traveler’s Guide written in 2010 with a plan for projecting 25 years ahead. I invited others to join in this practice of setting down their specific views and hopes of what Hawaii should look like. References made by some of the responding papers are to that “Traveler’s Guide.” Eliza Goodhue’s mana`o sent via email produced a vivid expression and hopeful story of what Hawaii can aim toward, touching on fresh food sources to the underlying essence of an economy of sharing. Caroline Sakai, master instructor and practitioner of Thought Field Therapy (tapping) which has done miracles among her patients in Hawaii, in that genocidal war fields of Rwanda between the Hutus and Tutsi’s and many other places, also joins the discussion on fundamental issues of health care. Ruth Bolomet has added her vision which identifies again a theme of self-sufficiency and health for Hawaii’s future. Ho`oipo DeCambra shares a personal family vision of her recently birthed twin grandsons and what they will be doing in 2035. At a Hawaii Forgiveness Project monthly meeting, participants listed their visions for a future Hawaii reflecting many common themes along with some interesting new ideas for the future.

The last document is a more formal submission to the City & County of Honolulu in their 50 year planning process for Honolulu. The Institute for the Advancement of Hawaiian Affairs submitted to that process a detailed proposal which tries to take account of Hawaii’s history, physical/geographic realities, deep culture, population trends and patterns, technological development, changing world environment, national powers and collapse of empires, and the making of hopeful visions for a preferred future.

This practice of planning can have application not only for Native Hawaiians but for indigenous peoples throughout the world as well as societies in general.

These documents cover a period of writing by Poka Laenui over approximately 20 years, most of which was served while he was associated with the community run behavioral health center, Hale Na`au Pono, incorporated as the Wai`anae Coast Community Mental Health Center, first as a volunteer member of the Board of Directors/attorney and subsequently as its Executive Director. He returned to the full-time practice of Law in 2014. The earliest document here on La`au Lapa`au (Traditional Hawaiian Healing) was based on his participation at a Kupuna (Elder) conference of practitioners in 1988 which starts out this series of writings. As he became more involved in the behavioral health aspects, he wrote of health from an expanded perspective than merely the primary care aspect. Pōkā has not been trained in the Western medical system nor has he received formal training in traditional practices.

He is informed on this area of health based on his experience raised in a large (10) mixed cultural family (Hawaiian, Chinese, Caucasian) in the Wai`anae community, study with Pilahi Paki, advocacy through his role as Trustee with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Vice-President (International Political Spokesperson) for the World Council of Indigenous Peoples, his legal training and his role with Hale Na`au Pono, and his association with various practitioners from Hawaii and elsewhere.

He was named Outstanding Executive Director by the Mental Health Association of America in Hawaii, 2007, the Native Hawaiian Health Award for 2012 for Life-Time Achievement for improving the Health and Wellbeing of Kanaka Maoli and for his advocacy for the rights of Indigenous peoples of Hawaii by Papa Ola Lokahi, and received the 1999 Best in the Nation organization for Hale Na`au Pono by the National Managed Health Care Congress.

The papers presented here under the topic of Indigenous Rights and Decolonization has formed a fundamental part of the consideration for the right of self-determination, not only as it applies to the Hawaii theater but throughout indigenous worlds and other colonized territories. These papers cover a broad sweep of the conditions of indigenous peoples and yet can be applicable to very specific instances of current struggles. Like many other categories, these papers tend to overlap into other matters such as health care, economics, psychology, history, etc. That is just the nature of the study of people, they can’t be neatly contained in a box! Perhaps we should build better boxes.

Feel free to contact the writer(s) should you so desire.

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