Aoloani and Keanu were on a panel about Connecticut missionaries in Hawaii during the 19th century. It was taped by the Hartford Seminary Library and will be uploaded to YouTube. It was the kind of conversation that is interesting and frustrating at the same time– always hard to hear about Hawaiians converting (!) and haole missionaries judging!
Aolani talks, which she said was not what she had prepared, was mainly about Hawaiian world view, and it was beautiful. She spoke to how Hawaiians saw (and still see) their world in layers of space that begin from different points of view. For instance, she spoke to the way Hawaiians envision the horizon, and the difference between something from here (Hawaii) and something or someone from the outside. In that context, whatever missionaries or anyone else brought can be understood in a completely different way if the concept of Hawaiian cosmology and is understood, even if only on the most subtle level.
Another interesting part of the conversation was when she and Keanu spoke about Captain Cook, and how when he died it wasn’t a big celebration for Hawaiians… nor was it a big deal. As Aolani said, it was just one day. He was not a huge deal for Hawaiians, although all of the haole written history books make Cook in Hawaii a big deal.