ABSTRACT
Maenette Kape‘ahiokalani Padeken Ah Nee-Benham is a Native Hawaiian scholar and teacher. Her patriarchal lineage reaches back to Papa on the southwest side of the big island of Hawai‘i. Her matriarchal lineage is tied to the ahupua‘a of Ka‘a‘awa on the northeast coastline of the island of O’ahu. She was brought up to understand that learning was embedded in the family and grounded in Native Hawaiian values and beliefs in the individual spirit and the collective good. Coming to know the self and the world has been a fl uid experience for Maenette. She was taught that the world is fi lled with possibilities and everything holds a promise of intimate knowledge because everything is related. This learning has led Maenette to believe that teaching and learning is holistic, comprehensive, and comparative, and that its purpose is to build strong, positive relationships. Education, then, has a transitional function-that is, it moves an individual from one part of their path to the next. Over time, however, Maenette has observed through her own experiences and those of her cousins that Western education has destroyed Native languages, stories, songs, and “ways of knowing.” She observed that many of her Native cousins have not had the benefi t of ‘ohana (family), spiritual passion, and a cultural script written by Native people. The work of education for Maenette has come to mean fi nding a cultural self and a passion and spirit for one’s work. It has become her goal in education to build a foundation where Native children can express their full potential.
