Dr Haunani-Kay Trask, a Hawai’ian leader and sovereignty activist with a distinguished career as an academic at the University of Hawai’i, died today at age 71.

The sovereignty organisation Ka Lahui Hawai‘i on Facebook shared a post recalling Trask’s legacy, “We love you our great kumu, leader, and voice for our Lahui! Ue na lani.”

Trask began teaching at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in 1981 and became the founding director of the university’s Centre for Hawaiian Studies, although her influence was not limited to her academic career.

“She dedicated her life to the plight of Hawaiians, for the return of our lands and for the path toward sovereignty,” said Ka Lahui Hawai‘i spokeswoman Healani Sonoda-Pale in a statement.

“Her voice was an important voice in our movement — probably the most important voice in our movement — in terms of uplifting, educating and empowering our people.”

Trask retired from her position at UH in 2010 but remained active in promoting Hawai’ian culture and rights. The university in April announced that Trask had been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Kekuewa Kikiloi, director of the UH Kamakakuokalani Centre for Hawai’ian Studies, said in a statement that Trask was a visionary leader of the Hawai’ian sovereignty movement.

inspired critical thinking
“She served her career as tenured professor in our department inspiring critical thinking and making important contributions in areas of settler colonialism and indigenous self-determination,” Kikiloi said in an email.

“More importantly, she was a bold, fearless, and vocal leader that our lahui needed in a critical time when Hawaiian political consciousness needed to be nurtured. Our center mourns her passing and sends our aloha and to the Trask ‘ohana.

“Our department remains committed to carrying on the legacy of Professor Trask in educating and empowering the lahui.”

Hawai‘inuiakea School of Hawai’ian Knowledge dean Jonathan Kamakawiwo‘ole Osorio also provided a statement following the news of Trask’s death.

“Professor Trask was a fearless advocate for the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawai’ians) and was responsible for inspiring thousands of brilliant and talented Hawaiians to come to the University of Hawai‘i,” Osorio said in a statement.

“But she also inspired our people everywhere to embrace their ancestry and identity as Hawai’ians and to fight for the restoration of our nation. She gave everything she had as a person to our Lahui and her voice, her writing and her unrelenting passion for justice will, like our Queen, always represent our people.

“E ola mau loa e Haunani Kay Trask, ‘aumakua of the poet warrior.”

Sonoda-Pale said Trask had been ill for some time, but did not disclose the details of her situation.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

A new app developed by Spark and Google in conjunction with the Research Team of the Te Aka Māori – English, English – Māori Dictionary in Te Ipukarea ~The National Māori Language Institute, has taken New Zealand by storm this Māori Language Week, reports AUT News.

Kupu – an app that allows users to scan their surroundings, take photos of everyday objects and offers the te reo translation – has landed extensive media coverage since its launch on Monday and has been downloaded thousands of times.

Te Ipukarea director Professor Tania Ka’ai of Auckland University of Technology served as project lead and worked closely with Spark and Colenso BBDO, Spark’s Creative Team, to develop the resource from the time they requested to embed Te Aka in the app to its completion.

For Professor Ka’ai, Kupu symbolises the legacy of her colleague, mentor and friend Professor John Moorfield, who died in March.

“Spark first approached John late last year,” Tania explained. “They needed a solid, reliable and comprehensive set of Māori words to integrate into the app – and saw John’s Te Aka Māori -English, English- Māori Dictionary as the best tool for the job.”

The team at Te Ipukarea sourced and provided a set of nouns and adjectives that underpin the app’s te reo lexicon. They also provided the audio versions of these words to ensure that Kupu users can hear the correct pronunciation.

“The team and I worked hard to get the best possible collection of words and phrases together in time for the app’s launch,” Professor Ka’ai said.

“One of John’s final projects was a Dictionary update and to help finish that off in time for the Kupu launch we spent five days in a recording studio with a native te reo speaker and recorded a further 6,500 new words. It was an exhausting, but necessary process.”

Now that Kupu is in the public sphere, Professor Ka’ai and her team are involved with reviewing feedback and fine-tuning any niggling issues.

“We’ve received so much positive feedback already,” Professor Ka’ai said. “Its incredibly gratifying to know that it has made people happy. Kupu really is for all New Zealanders – not just Māori – and I’m glad that the app is another step in normalising te reo in this country.”

And since the official launch at the start of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori / Māori Language Week Tania has been proud of the team’s efforts.

“It really is a proud moment for us, and I think John would have been proud of the final product too.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand and Filipino teachers, community advocates and students this week launched an open letter appealing to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to end military abuses against indigenous Lumad people in the southern island of Mindanao.

They also called on the Manila government to scrap a terrorist listing of Lumad leaders and community activists.

The appeal was made in response to a group of Lumad advocates and teachers from the Save Our Schools (SOS) network who have been visiting New Zealand for a speaking tour.

The activists spoke at Auckland’s Peace Place in their last meeting before returning to the Philippines.

Pacific Media Centre’s Del Abcede was there to capture the event in images.

Save Our Schools

1. Fritzi Junance Magbanua …. indigenous Lumad campaigning to save their schools. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

2. Pacific Media Centre journalist Jean Bell interviews Fritzi. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

3. Te Waha Nui reporter Rahul Bhattarai interviews Lorena Sigua. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

4. Fritzi, Rahul and Lorena at Auckland’s Peace Place. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

5. Janet Roth speaking with Amie Dural of Auckland Philippine Solidarity. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

6. “Land is life” to the indigenous Lumads. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

7. “Land of promise”. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

8. Lumad activists tagged as “terrorists” by Duterte government. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

9. Mining on ancestral land in Mindanao. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

10. “Yutang Kabilin” … ancestral land. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

11. Singing an indigenous Lumad song about their struggle. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

12. Posters on the Save Lumad schools campaign. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

13. A call to stop the killings of indigenous people in the Philippines. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

14. “Don’t bomb Lumad schools” plea. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

15. A group photo of Lumad activists and supporters at Auckland’s Peace Place. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz