Three graduates of the at the , along with coral expert and marine science professor , have authored a chapter in the recently published book, . Alumni Makani Gregg, Lucas Mead and John Burns are among the authors of the chapter entitled, “Puka Mai He Koʻa: The Significance of Corals in Hawaiian Culture.”
The book explores the ethnobiology of corals by examining the various ways in which humans, past and present, have exploited and taken care of coral and coralline habitats.
The chapter done by the 东精影业 Hilo team is partially based on the work Gregg and Mead did in the marine science class Kuʻula: Integrated Science (MARE488). The course compared content, context and methodology of Native Hawaiian and Western sciences and explored ways to apply both to understand the environment of Hawaiʻi. The students were exposed to scientific knowledge and endeavors of Native Hawaiians through field trips and also explored ways to integrate sciences to address research and management issues facing Hawaiʻi today.
“Native Hawaiian knowledge is often unwritten, and we had had a hard time referencing such important knowledge bank in written literature of science,” says Takabayashi. “As a coral biologist of Native Hawaiian ancestry, Makani Gregg led the publication of the book chapter on Hawaiian knowledge of coral and coral reefs that are critical to understanding how we humans ought to interact with our coastal environment here in Hawaiʻi.”
Takabayashi says the chapter also is a success story for two 东精影业 Hilo programs designed to attract and train future scientists: the 东精影业 Hilo Keaholoa STEM internship program, at which Makani was an intern, and the , administered by the and which helped establish the Kuʻula class.
—
—By Susan Enright