Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 6, 1 June 2021 — Beamer to Serve as Inugural Endowed Chair [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Beamer to Serve as Inugural Endowed Chair

Kamanamaikalani Beamer

IUH Mānoa's Hawai'inuiākea School of H a w a i i a n Knowledge has | named Kamanamaikalani Beamer as its inaugural Dana

Naone Hall Endowed Chair in Hawaiian Studies, Literature, and the Environment effective

August 2021. The newly established position is named in honor of the revered poet and Kanaka Maoli environmental activist. Beamer is a professor at Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies and at the William S. Richardson School of Law. The Endowed Chair position was created to teach and inspire students to perpetuate Hawaiian knowledge and contribute Indigenous land and resource management research in Hawai'i to push for policy change. Naone

Hall, the chair's namesake, has worked for decades to protect Hawaiian burial sites, primarily on Maui. Bipartisan Bill lntroducedtoSupport Native Languages The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, headed by Hawai'i's Sen. Brian Schatz, introduced the Durbin Leeling Native American Languages Act of 2021. This bipartisan legislation

marks the 30th anniversary of the Native American Languages Act by ensuring federal efforts meet the goal of respecting and supporting the use of Native languages. Named after Durbin Leeling, a renowned Cherokee linguist and Vietnam veteran who passed away on Aug. 19, 2020, the bill would improve federal agencies' coordination in support of Native American languages. It would also authorize a federal survey of native language use and programmatic needs every five years to serve as "heahh checks" to allow native communities and Congress to target federal resources for Native American languages more effectively. Trask Elected to Prestigious National Society

One of aeademia's highest I honors has been awarded to UH Mānoa Professor Emerita Haunani-Kay Trask, who was

recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. Lounded in 1780, the academy recognizes extraordinary people who help solve the world's most urgent challenges and contribute to the eommon good. Trask will join other notable individuals, including Charles Darwin, John L. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and more than 250 Nohel and Pulitzer Prize winners. Trask started her academic career at UH Mānoa in 1981 as an assistant professor in the Ameriean studies department. She is credited with co-founding the SEE NEWS BRIEF ON PAGE 22

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contemporary field of Hawaiian studies and heeame the founding director of the UH Mānoa Center for Hawaiian Studies. She retired in 2010. Throughout her career, Trask made it her mission to fight for Kānaka Maoli rights and lands, while encouraging the younger generation to embrace their heritage. Trask will be inducted into the academy in spring 2022. Among the more than 250 scholars selected this year, she is one of eight in the field of political scienee, joining elected scholars from Ivy League schools, including Yale and Columbia University. Civil Beat Translating Select Stories lnto Hawaiian i Loeal news site, Civil Beat, has : created a new section featuring : articles and opinion pieces writ- 1 ten in Hawaiian in an effort to i connect with Indigenous readers. 1 The new section, called Ka i Ulana Pilina, seeks to share under- ' reported stories and improve engagement with the Hawaiian I community. Civil Beat hopes I that Hawaiian language speakers I will have the opportunity to read news in their language and share perspectives that might otherwise go overlooked. Civil Beat will translate one new story eaeh : week with the help of translators i at UH Mānoa, and have started . by translating a small archive of : previously published Civil Beat j stories. Ākea Kahikina, a graduate i teaching assistant at the UH i Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language, is one of the ] translators assisting Civil Beat. ] He helped eome up with the new 1 section's name. I "Ka Ulana Pilina describes j the role Civil Beat plays within I .

Hawai'i's communities," Kahikina said. "Ulana means weave, and pilina means relationship, so Civil Beat, through highlighting and amplifying loeal voices and stories, acts as a weaver of relationships that binds together our experiences as Hawai'i residents to create a more informed, more empathetic and more unified Hawai'i." Helping Hawaiian Organizations UnderstandtheSection 106 Process A free e-Learning course is now available to help Native Hawaiadvance their understanding of the Section 106 review process, and increase awareness of strategies for engaging in consultation. Section 106 regulations require federal agencies to consult with Hawaiian organizations whenever a proposed federal project might affect historic properties of religious and eultural significance to them. The Section 106 review process gives Native Hawaiians a unique opportunity to influence federal

decision-making. The course was developed by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's (ACHP) Office of Native American Affairs in partnership with the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Native Hawaiian Relations and the Historic Hawai'i Foundation. The online course is also intended to enhanee the abilities of the Native Hawaiian Community, through Native Hawaiian organizations, to effectively interact and work with federal agencies during the Section 106 review process and project implementation. The course provides step-by-step guidance about the review process, the rights of Native Hawaiians in the process, and includes tips and strategies for more effective consultation. The course is also a useful refresher for longtime Section 106 practitioners. It is free and accessible any time at https://www.achp. gov/training/elearning. ■

Haunani-Kay Trask