Embracing passion projects on and for ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi
Repost from August 9, 2024
Even though I love math, I've never considered myself a quantitative data scholar. Maybe it's the majoritarian belief that statistical data is neutral or the dominant practice of leaving Indigenous Peoples out of large-scale data projects, but quantitative data analysis never spoke to me in the way that qualitative analysis has. However, I cannot deny its utility in illuminating population-level trends and patterns and shaping education policies and practices.
To my knowledge, Kamehameha Schools' Ka Huaka'i: Native Hawaiian Education Assessment is the only comprehensive collection of contemporary quantitative data on the Lāhui Hawaiʻi that draws from national and state data and presents an analytic story about the state and well-being of our people. Published every seven to ten years, Ka Huaka'i explores numerous facets of well-being, including physical, social, and economic/material wellness. After the 2020 Census revealed that 53% of Native Hawaiians live on the U.S. continent, the most recent edition of Ka Huaka'i briefly explored this growing diaspora. Two years later, Kamehameha Schools conducted and began publishing research briefs from their study Hawai'i in Motion: Understanding the Decision to Stay, Leave, or Return. With this research project, the institution's strategy and transformation team utilizes national quantitative data and qualitative interviews to understand motivations and outcomes of migrating to the continental U.S.
While spreading word about HONUA Scholars' 2024 Proposal Competition this summer, I began thinking more about the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander diaspora. Since we opened this year's contest to all students regardless of residency, I wondered if there was a way to target our outreach to connect with the greatest proportion of NHPI students about the contest. The ongoing outcome is a living database with information on states with high NHPI enrollments and institutions that NHPI students attend.
Unless the settler state of Hawaiʻi makes serious changes to its policies regarding the recognition of Indigenous rights, our Kānaka may continue to be pushed out and pulled toward other lands, becoming settlers themselves. However, we cannot forget our Kanaka ʻŌiwi students who are navigating education systems in the diaspora. They, too, should be made to feel visible.
Though quantitative data analysis still intimidates me, I'm embracing this passion project and prioritizing criticality and intentionality in my quantitative data analysis approach. I hope to publish mini reports through HONUA Scholars in the near future not only to provide information to Hawaiʻi policymakers and educators about where Kanaka ʻŌiwi students are but also to show other Native-Hawaiian organizations that outreach beyond Hawaiʻi is possible and necessary now that we know how widespread the diaspora is.
Kanaka ʻŌiwi do not cease to be Kanaka ʻŌiwi once they leave these islands. I believe we need to aloha these students more and help them feel connected to ʻāina, especially if the choice to leave was out of their hands. By harnessing quantitative data and controlling narratives about our people, we can affirm their sense of belonging to the Lāhui Hawaiʻi.
