Wai? Indigenous Words and Ideas

Dr. ‘Ulise Funaki (Kakai Tonga, Kanaka Maoli) is featured in this episode and shares a breadth of insights having recently completed a doctorate in anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i and as an instructor at Brigham Young University – Hawai‘i. Topics covered in this episode include: Navigating research and study as a grounded family person; Kava protocols in academic spaces; Historical and shifting kava perceptions among Latter-day Saints (Mormons); The continuation and adaptation of kava for a new generation of Tongans and Native Hawaiians in O'ahu to connect to fonua; Ali‘i Kaua – Chief of War commentary and insights on contemporary and future kava practices within and outside of Oceanian communities. Terms: TRA (Tonga Research Association), member (referring to being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, mainstream Mormon, or Brighamite Mormon), Kava/‘Awa (Piper Methysticum), Kakai Tonga (People of Tonga), Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian), Fonua (Land, Heritage, Land-connected People), Cobo (iTaukei/Fijian expresson for deep clap to indicate a call for kava to be served and to show respect), Lāhui (Hawaiian community/nation/people).   References: Historical and Contemporary Representation of Kava by Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Sione M. U. H. Funaki in Pacific Studies Doctoral Research on Contemporary Kava Practices in Hawai‘i featuring ‘Ulise Funaki Dr. Funaki’s thesis/dissertation, "Ko 'Emau Nofo Pē 'Eni la 'O Pukepuke Fonua" We Are Sitting Here, Tightly Holding Onto the Land: Kava and Fonua in Ko'olauloa

Isiah Cambridge (Ute/Núuch and Diné/Navajo) and Samoana Matagi (Tagata Sāmoa and Papalagi) join this episode to discuss culture, language, and relationships to place. We reflect on work we have done at the Nature Center at Pia Okwai where Isiah has taught Diné Bizaad (Navajo language) classes and Samoana continues to run a monthly Friday Fono (Faikava workshop) and regular Umu (underground earth oven cooking) demonstrations. We reflect on Indigenous knowledge projects as they introduce themselves and some of their background and experiences. Topics include communal lessons and collective insights within the worldviews we practice as well as critically engage with mainstream and Indigenous conservation perspectives. Themes include Indigenous relational consciousness, leave no trace, community, and meaningful relationships to place from across our unique positionalities and ancestries. Diné Bizaad (Navajo language) Terms: Leets’aa’ (Leezh = sand + ts’aa’ = bowl); Yíiyá (Fear); Naadą́ą́ʼ (Naa = enemy/constant + dą́ą́ʼ = it is eaten); Leeshibéézh (Leezh = sand +shibéézh = it is cooked, to cook under the sand/earth); Chʼil doo chójoołʼįįhígíí (The plant that one doesnʼt use, La planta que no se usa). Nuu'apagay/Nʉmʉ Tekwapi/Núu-'apaghapi̱/ Núuchi (Ute language) term: Tuuspani (Hurry). Gagana Sāmoa (Samoan language) terms: ‘Iate – (transliteration of yard, ‘Iate Truck = landscaping work truck); Umu – (underground earth oven, to cook with heated stones). Maya T’aan/Maya T’aam (Yucatec-Maya language) term: Píib (underground earth steam oven/sweat-steam bath or ceremony). Katzihob’al/Qatzijob’al/Kach’ab’al/Qach’ab’al (K’iche’-Maya language) term: Tuj/Tuh (underground earth steam oven/sweat-steam bath or ceremony). Runasimi (Quechua language) term: Pachamanka (underground earth steam oven). Newe Taikwa (Shoshone/Goshute) term: Pia Okwai – (big flow/river, Utah’s Jordan river).   References C.R.E.A.M by Wu-Tang Clan An Indigenous Perspective on the Global Threat of Invasive Species by Nicholas J. Reo and Laura A. Ogden Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez Sovereign Embodiment: Native Hawaiians and Expressions of Diasporic Kuleana by Kēhaulani Vaughn Charles Sepulveda    

This episode begins by attempting to tackle some bigger questions about religion, belief, and spirituality. I share some different approaches to analysing religion using thinkers like Talal Asad and Émile Durkheim, in order to explore concepts like ‘religion’ itself and the ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’. I also consider Indigenous Reflections on Christianity to explore the tensions and compromises with religion (Christianity) and Indigenous peoples, including ideas from Vine Deloria Jr. and John Trudell. The second half of this episode focuses in on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mainstream Mormonism; Latter-day Saints) and Indigenous peoples. This section is a response and extension to the Red Nation’s Unsettling Mormonism’s episode from a few years ago. I seek to highlight Indigenous scholars who have been and continue to interrogate questions at the intersection of Mormon and Indigenous Studies (see list below). I conclude with an introduction to some of my own analyses of “Lamanites” (Mormonism’s category of 'New World' Indigeneity). I position Mormonism and Indigeneity within larger structures and colonial contexts drawing from the articles A Divine Rebellion, and Pedro and Pita Built Peter Priesthood’s Mansion and Now They Work the Grounds.   Terms: Religion, Spiritual, Cult/us/ure, Collective Effervescence, Profane, Sacred.   Intellectuals who explore Indigeneity, race, and 'Lamanites' in Mormon Studies: Elise Boxer, Farina King, Gina Colvin, P. Jane Hafen, Angelo Baca, Hokulani Aikau, Hemopereki Simon, Robert Joseph, Darren Parry, Moroni Benally, Ignacio Garcia, Armando Solorzano, Cynthia Connell, Sujey Vega, Eduardo Pagan, Stephanie Griswold, Lacee Harris, Sarah Newcomb, Monika Crowfoot, Michael Ing.   Additional References: Rastafari as a Counter-Hegemonic Social Movement by Lianne Mulder Roots, Reggae, Rebellion by BBC Look to the Mountain by Gregory Cajete Why do people join cults? By Janja Lalich Music and Identity by Simon Frith In the Light of Reverence Film Transit of Empire by Jodi Byrd Lamanite Generations by Farina King

This episode features poet, author, and intellectual Moana ‘Ulu‘ave-Hafoka. The catalyst for this discussion was a recently released YouTube video by former Mormon author and YouTuber Alyssa Grenfell, titled Tonga is 60% Mormon??????, which has currently been viewed more than 200k times since being posted. This video references one of Moana’s articles, so as nerds of Tonga, Indigeneity, and Mormonism, we wanted to add further complexity to some of what was shared on that platform. We discuss nuance, blurred boundaries, historical and cultural context, as well as Mormon specificity, and even larger structures and systems of power. We shift mid-way through this episode to engage with Ryan Coogler’s film Sinners (spoilers). We discuss a variety of symbols in the film, including, the global impact of Black (African-American) culture, race, global Indigeneity, diaspora, spirituality, religion, sacred time-space, and more.   References: To be Young, Mormon, and Tongan by Moana ‘Ulu‘ave-Hafoka Kinikini, Lea Lani, Kepa Maumau, Moana Uluave-Hafoka, (2021).“Raise Your Pen: A Critical Race Essay on Truth and Justice”.  In Reppin: Youth Studies in Oceania. Ed. Keith Camacho. University of Washington Press. Tonga is 60% Mormon?????? By Alyssa Grenfell [Original video title listed, it was later changed to The Mormon Colonization of Tonga (60%???)] Church and State in Tonga: The Wesleyan Methodist Missionaries and Political Development, 1822-1875 by Sione Lātūkefu The “Glocalization” of Mormon Studies by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye Letter to Tangata Va ‘Ofi in the Tongan Mormon Family by Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu The Mana of the Tongan Everyday: Tongan Grief and Mourning, Patriarchal Violence and Remembering Va by Fuifuilupe ‘Alilia Niumeitolu Comment on Sarah Newcomb and Robert Joseph Indigenous Perspectives on the Meanings of ‘Lamanite’ by Tēvita O. Ka‘ili Marking Indigeneity: The Tongan Art of Sociospatial Relations by Tēvita O. Ka‘ili Tongan Crip Gang: A Tongan American Identity by ‘Esiteli Hafoka Oceania: Revisualizing the Pacific in American Religious History by ‘Esiteli Hafoka Withering as a Rose: Tongan Indigeneity, Mormonism and the Curse of the Lamanites by S. Ata Siu‘ulua Historical and Contemporary Representation of Kava by Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Sione M. U. H. Funaki Mormon masculinity, family, and kava in the Pacific by Arcia Tecun and S. Ata Siu‘ulua Tā, Vā, and Moana: Temporality, Spatiality, and Indigeneity by Hūfanga, ‘Okusitino Māhina Holographic Epistemology: Native Common Sense by Manulani Aluli Meyer In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition by Fred Moten Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday by Angela Davis A Philosophical Look at Black Music by Lewis Gordon

Dr. Kehaulani Fagatele-Folau joins this episode to introduce her doctoral research. We begin with Indigenous concepts and methods she used from the Madau-Moana to make sense of some of the colonial contexts Indigenous women of Oceania traverse in the academy. Some themes we discuss include Indigenous feminism, interconnectivity, sharing space, and relational ethics by using Niu/Neo/Knew Tā-Vā. Fagatele-Folau shares a re-imagined R.I.P. acronym, and deploys it as metaphor for laying to rest systems of power, as they work through the process of ‘becoming’ a Madau-Moana cosmopolitan. We reflect on the possibilities in being rooted and mobile, and continuing to learn confidence with care through a broad sense of kinship. “Not all the powers that be are all the powers that are” – Kehau Fagatele-Folau Terms with introductory definitions: Madau (Pohnpeian for Ocean/Thought); Moana (Ocean in Tongan); Talanoa (Critical relational dialogue); Iroir (reflection/beautiful view/to position yourself for a beautiful view); Hoa (pair/partner/companion/connection); Hoamālie (harmonious partnership); Hoatamaki (imbalanced partnership); R.I.P. (Relationality, Intersectionality, Positionality); Mana (honour, prestige, potency, authority).

This episode introduces an idea Dr. Hafoka and I have been working through and developing, inspired by and extending out of the undercommons. We reflect on intellectuals that remain connected to home communities or who emerge organically from communities. We also consider the re-framing of study as common knowledge or as a shared and subversive project grounded in the Black Radical Tradition, which is revealed in the multiple embodied identities we traverse. Undercommons/Undercurrents examples include the social networks of knowledge and even (im)material economic support that occur within marginalised communities based in their relationships that strive for liberation. We spend time focused on Hafoka’s personal and academic work with Kakai Tonga (Tongans) in the airline industry, which broadens the view of Moana-Oceanic and Tonga peoples beyond dominant narratives. This unique presence in this industry has also facilitated a space where cultural values are nurtured, enacted, and spread including the perpetual cultivation of a collective relational consciousness. The undercurrents is in one sense a synthesis of the undercommons with Moana-Oceania relational ethics that is introduced in this talanoa (discussion/dialogue/storying).   Additional references that further add context and insights to this episode can be found in the following resources: The Undercommons – Fugitive Planning and Black Study https://www.minorcompositions.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/undercommons-web.pdf From Navigating the Seas to Navigating the Skies:Unloading Tongan Knowledge through the Undercurrents of Airline Employment in the Ano Māsima https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0hn2p9kd Knew World Undercurrents https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365768129_Knew_World_Undercurrents

This episode begins with a reflection on this podcast project reaching its 50th episode. I share some additional background and future plans, including some of the symbolism behind the WAI logo. This episode introduces some ideas from the article, Indigeneity as a Post-Apocalyptic Genealogical Metaphor, which explores the metaphysics of indigeneity - Indigenous metaphysics through a global Indigenous consciousness. In conclusion, a diverse range of Indigenous experiences are presented in the constellation of Indigeneities identified as Elder/Local, Continental/Regional, Diasporic, Creole, Born-Again, Global/Trans-Indigenous, which are described in the artice, A Wīnak Perspective on Cosmovisíon Maya and Eco-Justice Education. Terms: Yamanik (Green Stone/Jade in K’iche’-Maya), Hoa/Soa (Partner/Companion – Pair in lea faka-Tonga and gagana Sāmoa). References mentioned or inspirational to this episode: ‘Tongan Hoa: Inseparable yet indispensable pairs/binaries’, by Lear, Māhina-Tuai, Vaka, Ka’ili, & Māhina Pasifika Webinar Series: Signature Event featuring Dr. Tēvita O. Ka’ili The Polynesian Iconoclasm by Jeffrey Sissons Indigenous science (fiction) for the Anthropocene: Ancestral dystopias and fantasies of climate change crises by Kyle P. Whyte Naming, A Coming Home: Latinidad and Indigeneity in the Settler Colony by Flori Boj Lopez The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in Seventeenth-Century North America and the Caribbean by Gerald Horne The Black Shoals: Offshore Formations of Black and Native Studies by Tiffany Lethabo King The University and the Undercommons: Seven Theses by Fred Moten and Stefano Harney The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study by Stefano Harney and Fred Moten The Empty Wagon: Zionism’s journey from identity crisis to identity theft by Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness by Paul Gilroy Creole Indigeneity: Between Myth and Nation in the Caribbean by Shona N. Jackson Sovereign Embodiment: Native Hawaiians and Expressions of Diasporic Kuleana by Kēhaulani Vaughn Trans-Indigenous: Methodologies for Global Native Literary Studies by Chadwick Allen

This episode seeks to share an understanding of coloniality as a global system by engaging with the Matrix film series franchise, focusing on the initial trilogy. The Matrix trilogy is applied as a metaphor to build critical consciousness of coloniality, settler-colonialism, and Indigeneity, while also exploring other social constructions. This compliments an early episode on modernity and Indigeneity and confronts the world as we know it.   References: Liliana Conlisk Gallegos – Thinking Coloniality of Power Tedx Jack Forbes – Columbus and Other Cannibals Sylvia Wynter – Unsettling the Coloniality of Being Nelson Maldonado-Torres – On the Coloniality of Being; Against War Anibal Quijano – Coloniality of Power Maria Lugones – Heterosexualism and the Colonial/Modern Gender System Ty Tengan – (En)gendering Colonialism The Red Nation Afropessimism – Frank Wilderson III John Trudell - Trudell David Graeber and David Wengrow – The Dawn of Everything

This episode focuses on ideas about critical thinking in systems of power. Topics include critical pedagogy, critical consciousness, belief, agnotology (study of ignorance), and aesthetics as ethics. Concepts mentioned include the banality of evil and the illusory effect with pop culture references to the films Don’t Look Up and The Lorax as well as the TV Series Barbaren (Barbarians). The reflection shared draws on historical perspectives and contexts to thoughtful questioning and remembering.   References mentioned include: Agustín Fuentes - Why We Believe, 2019. Lewis R. Gordon, Fear of Black consciousness, 2022. Simon Frith, Music and Identity, 1996. George Gmelch, Baseball Magic, 1971. Robert N. Proctor and Londa Schiebinger, Agnotology: The making and unmaking of ignorance, 2008. Adrienne Mayor, Suppression of Indigenous Fossil Knowledge, 2008. Ania Loomba, Colonialism/Postcolonialism, 2002. John Trudell, Trudell (2005); DNA:Descendant Now Ancestor (2001). Ty Kāwika Tengan, (En)gendering Colonialism: Masculinities in Hawai‘i and Aotearoa, 2002. Paulo Freire, Education for Critical Consciousness, 2005. Henry Giroux, On Critical Pedagogy, 2011. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951. Elizabeth Ellsworth, Why Doesn’t This Feel Empowering? Working Through the Repressive Myths of Critical Pedagogy, 1989. Alison Jones, The Limits of Cross-Cultural Dialogue: Pedagogy, Desire, and Absolution in the Classroom, 1999.

Lana Lopesi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon interested in Indigenous and Women of Colour Feminisms, Contemporary Art, and Global Indigeneities. We begin this episode by reflecting on both of our recent shifts in social and political context moving from Aotearoa-New Zealand to the continental United States. This episode covers terms and the differences of scale across societies, feminisms including Sāmoan perspectives, and an analysis of various systems of power from the macro level to the internal. We conclude with a reflection on ideas, community impact, as well as consider cultural values and their entanglements within an assumed system of morality, which is gendered in particular ways.   Bloody Woman by Lana Lopesi.   Terms: Karanga (a formal or ceremonial call); karakia (ritual chant, say grace), Nafanua (Guardian/Patron/Goddess of War), Salamasina (15th century paramount who held all four district titles as Tafa‘ifa), Vā Moana, Kaukalaikiiki/Tautalaitiiti (‘to speak above one’s age’, impudent, cheeky).

Indigenous Tongan scholars Dr. Ka‘ili and Dr. Hafoka join this episode of remembering the 2017 Rugby League World Cup and the impact of Mate Ma‘a Tonga. We reflect on the background to doing research at that time and thinking about the geopolitics of sport alongside an exploration of Tongan Indigeneity. One of the iconic moments we recall is the roll of diaspora and descendant populations having the opportunity to play for Tonga with an international rule change allowing overseas players to represent a heritage country. We discuss several topics including identity across borders, the philosophy behind faiva or performance in sport, and how nationalist boundaries of identity were transcended through Indigenous depths of fonua (land, country, heritage). We conclude by sharing some thoughts on deeper relationships to ancient Tongan sport such as kasivaki (an Indigenous Tongan underwater ‘rugby-like’ game), the unifying force of global sport that transcended common ideas about identity, and a symbolic meaning of Mate Ma‘a Tonga.   This podcast is intended to be complimentary to the article ‘Indigenous Performances of Tongan Identity in Global Sporting Events’, written by ‘Inoke Hafoka, Arcia Tecun, Tēvita Ō. Ka‘ili, and S. Ata Siu‘ulua.   Terms and Basic Interpretations: Kasivaki (underwater Indigenous Tongan game played with stones and coral posts), Tauhi Vā (performance art of social-spatial relations), Faiva (performance, to relate spatially), Mālie (bravo, exclamation of a beautiful performance), Māfana (warmth, exhilaration, spiritual phenomenon), Fonua (placenta, land, country, heritage), Sipi Tau (Tongan posture or ‘war’ dance/challenge), Hikifonua (Tongan concept for ‘diaspora’ meaning to lift and transport land represented by people), Punga Tea/Punga Kapa (coral stone posts used in Kasivaki), Tautai (sea warriors/seafarers), Ukuloloto (sea diving), Mate Ma’a Tonga (give your all for Tonga, literally ‘die for Tonga’).

Kehaulani Folau is a Madau-Moana (Oceanian) scholar and doctoral student of education, and Tino is a critical educator and activist. We discuss ‘diversity’ in the context of dominant schooling institutions, including its impact and limitations. Our talanoa/platica is inspired by recent legal acts to ban diversity initiatives, and Tino’s online commentary “DEI can’t save us, so why do we try so hard to save it?”. We critically reflect on the institutional limits of diversity initiatives, imagine a more robust political project of liberation, but also end with examples of how such initiatives despite their shortcomings have been beneficial.

This episode features Moana Iose who is an artist and Indigenous art policy consultant, as well as the founder of Salt Lake City’s Pasifika First Fridays and the Lost Eden Gallery. We begin with a look back to our global crossing of paths and our shared connections at Auckland Uni. Moana was involved in the ‘I too am Auckland’ project while she studied at Waipapa Taumata Rau (formerly Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau, a.k.a. University of Auckland), where she drew inspiration from Black student organising at Harvard to help catalyse discussions of race for Māori and Pacific students in New Zealand’s universities. We reflect on being from, living outside of, and then returning to Salt Lake City, and the complicated love we have for this place and the simultaneous frustration we have with this society. Moana shares her views and work with Indigenous art and responding to community and place, while challenging the dominant narratives that have been imposed on folks of colour. She also shares some of the story behind the fiercely local and yet internationally reaching Lost Eden gallery and the young Indigenous artists who are currently based there. We conclude with reflections on being critically conscious in our current moment, developing a sense of stewardship and connection to where we live, and valuing the significance of art in our world.

Building on an earlier episode about Critical Tongan Studies, Ata and I revisit this idea and discuss the various waves that make up a rich intellectual tradition based in the regions associated with Tonga. Acknowledging the social and national construction at a particular point in time we seek to localise and unpack the context where different philosophical traditions emerged by imagining both a pre- and post- Kingdom of Tonga context. We don’t cover everything, but we spend some time on the foundational shifts in thinking and questioning based in the era when Queen Sālote Tupou III reigned. This includes commissioning research of early Tongan scholars and scholars of Tonga who would be crucial in capturing a memory of Indigenous cultural practices and arts as well as further developing a critical intellectual tradition that asked important yet challenging questions. This includes scholars like Epeli Hau’ofa, Elizabeth Bott, I. Futa Helu and more, up through to the contemporary Early Tongan Scholars and Global Tongan Scholars’ networks of today.   References Mentioned: Women of Power Part 2 Tongan Society: Discussions with Her Majesty Queen Sālote Tupou Tales of the Tikongs Songs and Poems of Queen Sālote Queen Sālote of Tonga  

This episode begins with some reflections on my experience and relations to people of place and to being mindful of where one lives, especially if one’s immediate ancestral ties lie elsewhere. I think about responsibilities and possibilities of relating differently and better to where I currently reside by digging deeper beyond the dominant understandings of Indigenous people and issues here in Utah. I highlight a variety of sources by Indigenous folks in order to respect their capacity and listening to what they have already shared by reading what is already available and putting in some work to better understand it. Topics include remembering Soonkahni (Salt Lake Valley), Indigenous identities and cultural politics in this place and remembering a more complex and nuanced reality outside of our current cultural climate crisis. I work through different words and terms and where they derive from along with a range of meanings. This episode concludes by thinking about Farmer’s historical observation of a shift from an aquatic age to a hydraulic one that underpins various issues currently faced right now in this place. An overarching theme is a practice of respecting elder cultures and perspectives in order to more meaningfully relate to place. Terms: Soonkahni (Salt Lake Valley in Newe Taikwa-Shoshoni Language), Piapaa (Big Water, Sea, a name for the Great Salt Lake in Newe Taikwa), Pia Okwai (Big Flow/River, a name for Utah’s Jordan River in Newe Taikwa), Newe (The People), Neme (The People), Nuuchiu (The People), Nuwuvi (The People), Diné (The People), Awahko (Sucker fish in Newe Taikwa), Paa Kateten (One name for Utah Lake in Newe Taikwa). Suggested Reading List: History and culture - Darren Parry’s Bear River Massacre; Forest Cuch’s (Ed) A History of Utah’s American Indians; We shall remain – Utah documentary series; Dora Van et. al’s History of Unita Valley Shoshone Tribe of the Utah Nation. Non-Indigneous writers/producers - Black hawks mission of peace by Philip Gottfredson and The Black Hawk War Utah’s Forgotten Tragedy documentary film; Utah’s Black Hawk War by John Alton Peterson; On Zion’s Mount by Jared Farmer; Place and Personal Names of the Gosiute Indians of Utah by Ralph V. Chamberlin. Linguistic – Drusilla Gould and Christopher Loether’s An Introduction to the Shoshone Language; University of Utah’s Shoshoni Language Project.

Ata and I have just published a paper on Tongan Coloniality which this episode provides a brief introduction to as well as a bit of background behind this research project.  Prior to successfully publishing this paper we were getting blocked within academia when making attempts to discuss Indigenous issues from a Tonga context in relation to global perspectives. Questions of Tongan Indigeneity have regularly been raised due to the dominant idea and definition of Indigeneity based on minoritized people within ancestral homelands, predominantly in settler-colonial nations. Tonga also has a popular narrative of ‘never being colonised’ so this project initially confronted the scholarly audience in Pacific Studies, Pacific Anthropology, and Indigenous Studies in order to be able to eventually do the work we want to and have the conversations we’d like to in that arena. However, this episode is aimed at a broader and more public audience in mind. We explain why we are challenging popular assumptions and ideas directly by drawing from Tongan scholars and scholars of Tonga and the Oceanian region, while making links to ‘Global South Third World’ perspectives. Topics include coercion into British protectorate status, the role of Christianity, capitalism, and nation-state formation. We end with a teaser on Tongan Indigeneity from Ata’s current doctoral research and insights of how critical consciousness is a long-standing tradition in Tonga. Terms: ASAO (Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania), Cognitive Dissonance (a concept from the field of psychology to identify the mental stress of paradox or contradictions, by altering how one processes information to make a contradiction fit within the consistency or belief one is socialised or accustomed to already, despite evidence from new information that is contrary to it), TRA (Tongan Research Association, formerly the Tonga History Association), Bad Faith (Lewis Gordon draws from Sartre’s concept of ‘bad faith’ and applies it to anti-blackness such as the bad faith practiced in the modern fears of Black consciousness; we apply it in this podcast in the principle of avoiding personal torment by ignoring evidence that reveals a reality contrary to a cherished belief; related to cognitive dissonance), Wansolwara (Tok Pisin, Bislama, Pijin for the Salt Water Continent of Oceania), Tåsi (Sea or Ocean in Chamorro, the Indigenous language of Guåhan/Guam), Moana (Big or Deep Ocean, Oceania in eastern Oceanic languages from the ‘Polynesian’ region), ‘Uta (plantation or commonly interpreted as ‘the bush’ in lea faka-Tonga), Kolo (town, city, or dense settlement in lea faka-Tonga), Motu (island, at times in reference to ‘outer island(s)’ in lea faka-Tonga), tu‘a (later in time, periphery, outer/outside/marginal, or else in reference to lower ranking people currently also conflated with 17th century British notions of class and interpreted as ‘commoner’).

This episode takes a sneak peak into one of our whānau hui (family meetings/gatherings) where we reflect on a recent move we have made. The tamariki (children) share some insights and observations of living in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) and now in Soonkahni (Salt Lake), including nationalism in schools, political ideologies, language, and foods. My partner and I reflect on their comments further and share some thoughts about accessing and living in these different places. We conclude with some observations about inequity between these places and differing societal values and culture(s).

This episode features post graduate student Dorothy Savieti who has been interested in and researching fahu (chiefly sister, aunt, relative, etc.) within Tongan culture and society. She shares an introduction to thinking about this significant identity and role within family clans that are commonly known for their ceremonial position and function in life events. We discuss how there are a variety of perspectives and understandings throughout time, as well as ongoing changes occurring, while highlighting some of the debates over defining fahu in our contemporary context. Fahu remain significant despite various views and Dorothy’s early stages of research reveals complexity and additional considerations to continue to explore. She concludes with some summarising thoughts and reflections on different sources to consider when researching culture. Terms: Mehekitanga (fathers sister – paternal auntie); ‘Ilamutu (brother’s term for his sisters children who are genealogically superior in chiefly rank as nieces/nephews); Fakafotu (we didn’t use this term in the podcast, but it is the sisters term for her brothers children who are genealogically inferior in chiefly rank as nieces/nephews); Fahuloa/Lohuloa (paternal grandfather's sister, one’s father's mehekitanga, paternal great auntie); Koloa (treasures made by women like tapa – fine mats); ‘Eiki (Chief/ly, high ranking person); ‘Eikiness (Tongan English vernacular for chiefliness/chief/chiefly, high ranking); Tu‘a (Peripheral or lower ranking, associated with being younger in rank, contemporarily often interpreted through classed conflations with rank with terms like ‘commoner’); Liongi (lower ranking relation in a particular context); Ta'ovala (waist mat of which there are different kinds that have different meanings). Note: In Tonga(n) cultural phenomena someone may be in a chiefly or higher ranking position where they receive gifts, tributes, and are served in one context - while in a different context may find themselves in a non or less chiefly role that makes offerings, tributes, and is in service to other chiefs or higher ranking positions. Chiefly rank is important, but its manifestation is often dependent upon contextually specific relationships in particular moments.

Yucatec Maya Anthropologist Genner Llanes-Ortiz joins this episode from his current position as research chair of digital Indigeneities at the Bishop’s university in Canada. He shares some of his background in anthropology, Indigenous rights, and linguistics throughout the world. We discuss Dr. Llanes-Ortiz article Cos-Maya-Politan Futures where he coins this term to identify cultural and historical heritage that is contemporarily mobilised in the Maya region and transcends modern national borders through (re)connections. While a sense of ‘cosmopolitanism’ for Maya is not something novel with a long history of being open and connected to larger worlds, this is a response to the 21st century moment, and the digital circulation of music and film that contemplates what it means to be Maya today. This leads into a discussion on Yucatec-Maya representation in the film Wakanda Forever. There are some spoilers, but we reflect on this film within a larger context of some previous Maya representation in pop culture, the opportunities that have emerged at this time, as well as some ongoing structural limitations that leave us wanting for more. The significance of the representations in this film in multiple contexts are considered along with hopes that it will inspire more questions. Terms: Maya T’an (Yucatec-Maya spoken language); Cos-Maya-Politanism (term coined by Dr. Llanes-Ortiz referring to a Mayan based perspective that is open to a bigger world); Milpa (derived from Nahuatl meaning cultivated field or corn field); Cenotes (deep hole that results from collapsed limestone bedrock that  exposes ground water at the bottom); Chaj Chay or Pok ta’ pok (Mesoamerican ball game); Mexica (Aztec/Nahuatl); Nantat (ancestors in Highland Maya languages such as K’iche’); Palenque/Maroon (autonomous communities throughout Central America and the Caribbean of primarily formerly enslaved Indigenous Africans who freed themselves, who at times lived with or in relation with local Indigenous Amerindian peoples).

David Fa‘avae joins this episode bringing with him his experience as a Tongan/Sāmoan with ties to Niue, and as a founder of the early Tongan scholars network, a Senior Research Fellow at Waipapa Taumata Rau (University of Auckland), and Senior Lecturer at Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato (University of Waikato). Ata and I discuss with Dave some of his intellectual background that seeks to respond to community needs, as well as some of his research interests with intergenerationality, education, and developing critical depth in the terms and concepts we use. Dave shares the positive and important aspects of intergenerational relationships that can alleviate tensions and provide worthwhile wisdom and practices that provide grounded pathways for future generations. We discuss challenges in dominant institutions of schooling as well as their legacies, and the significance of education. We consider Epeli Hau‘ofa’s scholarship and the importance of engaging with messy intellectual terrains, facing a greater complexity that requires multiple lenses, while also upholding Indigenous relational ethics, which are also critically confronting external and internal power dynamics.   Terms: Hohoko 'a e To'utangata (inter-generationality, intergenerational and genealogical consciousness); Loto Tonga (in Tonga, the center of Tonga, term that refers to Tongans positioned in the Kingdom of Tonga); Tu’a Tonga (outside of Tonga, the periphery of Tonga, term that refers to Tongans positioned outside of the Kingdom of Tonga in NZ, AUS, US, etc.); Mokopuna (grandchild); Tauhi Vā/Tauhi Vaha‘a (Mediating relationships, upholding kinship/clan and socio-spatial points of relation); Mamahi‘i Me‘a (passion and devotion – both Tauhi Vā and Mamahi‘i Me‘a are among the Faa‘i kaveikoula ‘a e Tonga or Four golden pillars of Tongan culture and society as emphasized by HRH Queen Sālote Tupou III); ‘Eiki Mokopuna (chiefly grandchild or chiefly grandchildren, a unique intergenerational relationship); Tapu (protections, restrictions, commonly considered as ‘sacred-ness’); Ha‘a (lineage, clan); Vā (relation, point between/of relation/connection); Mānava (to breathe, give life); Manava (womb); Mana (potency, honour, prestige); Whakapapa (platformed layers of connection, origin, genealogy); Si‘ota‘aki (harmful criticism, harmfully taking apart another’s views or stories); Si‘o (to see or perspective); Ta‘aki (to unpack or take apart); Si‘o-Ta‘aki (reconceptualized as “to deconstruct perspectives, reveal underlying causes, and change understandings”); Post-humanism (a field of studies that looks beyond the human or anthropocentrism/humancentrism, may also confront the assumed universals or presumed hierarchy of humanity and/or the concept of the human); Hoa (partner/companion in both lea faka-Tonga and te reo Māori), Hoa-Haere (close friend, partner, or comrade in te reo Māori), Hoariri (enemy/antagonist in te reo Māori, comprised of partner/companion and anger, sometimes interpreted as angry friend).