The study of life and food systems for Native Hawaiians based on their environment

Abstract

Health and well-being are a function of familial relationships between Native Hawaiians and their land. As a result of settler colonialism, Native Hawaiians face systemic and social barriers, which impede their relationship to land, with implications of adverse health outcomes. This qualitative study explores changes in health among Native Hawaiians, with a specific focus on food systems and the environment. Community-engaged research approaches were utilized to recruit 12 Hawaiian adults. The major themes include the following: (1) health as holistic and a harmonious balance, (2) nutrition transition and current connections to ‘āina (land extending from the mountain to the sea; that which feeds or nourishes), and (3) food sovereignty and community solutions to uplift the Lāhui (Nation of Hawai‘i). Consideration of cultural values, community strengths, and traditional lifestyle practices may address health inequities and changes in food systems related to health that stem from colonization, determinants of health, and environmental changes.

Keywords

community solutions health Indigenous nutrition qualitative

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andrade

N. N.

Bell

C. K.

(2011). The Hawaiians. In McDermott

Andrade

(Eds.), People and cultures of Hawaiʻi: The evolution of culture and ethnicity (pp. 1–31). University of Hawaiʻi Press.

Antonio

M. C. K.

Keaulana

Chung-Do

J. J.

Ho-Lastimosa

H. I.

(2020). (Re)constructing conceptualizations of health and resilience among Native Hawaiians. Genealogy, 4(1), Article 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy4010008

Arthur

Porter

(2019). Restorying Northern Arapaho Food Sovereignty. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(B), 69–84. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.012

Beebe

J. K.

Amshoff

Ho-Lastimosa

Moayedi

Bradley

A. L. C.

Kim

I. N.

Casson

Protzman

Espiritu

Spencer

M. S.

Chung-Do

J. J.

(2020). Reconnecting rural Native Hawaiian families to food through aquaponics. Genealogy, 4(1), Article 9. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy4010009

Blaisdell

R. K.

(2001). The impact of disease on Hawaii’s history. Hawaii Medical Journal, 60(11), 295–296.

Charmaz

(2003). Grounded theory. In Lewis-Beck

Bryman

Liao

T. F.

(Eds.), The SAGE encyclopedia of social science research methods (pp. 440–444). SAGE.

Chun

M. N.

(2008). Ola: Traditional concepts of health and healing. Curriculum Research & Development Group, University of Hawai‘i.

Damman

Eide

W. B.

Kuhnlein

H. V.

(2008). Indigenous peoples’ nutrition transition in a right to food perspective. Food Policy, 33(2), 135–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2007.08.002

Datta

(2018). Traditional storytelling: An effective Indigenous research methodology and its implications for environmental research. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 14(1), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/1177180117741351

10.

Delormier

Horn-Miller

Mccomber

Marquis

(2017). Reclaiming food security in the Mohawk community of Kahnawà:ke through Haudenosaunee responsibilities. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 13(s3), Article e12556. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12556

11.

Elliott

Jayatilaka

Brown

Varley

Corbett

K. K.

(2012). “We are not being heard”: Aboriginal perspectives on traditional foods access and food security. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2012, Article 130945. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/130945

12.

Evans-Campbell

(2008). Historical trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska communities: A multilevel framework for exploring impacts on individuals, families, and communities. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(3), 316–338. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260507312290

13.

Fujita

Braun

K. L.

Hughes

C. K.

(2004). The traditional Hawaiian diet: A review of the literature. Pacific Health Dialog, 11(2), 250–259.

14.

Gon

Tom

Woodside

(2018). ʻĀina Momona, Honua Au Loli—Productive Lands, Changing World: Using the Hawaiian Footprint to Inform Biocultural Restoration and Future Sustainability in Hawai‘i. Sustainability, 10(10), Article 3420. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103420

15.

Gracey

King

(2009). Indigenous health part 1: Determinants and disease patterns. Lancet, 374(9683), 65–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60914-4

16.

Halweil

(2004). Eat here: Reclaiming homegrown pleasures in a global supermarket (1st ed.). W.W. Norton.

17.

Hiraishi

(2017). What if the Great Māhele wasn’t a foreign imposition? https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/post/what-if-great-m-hele-wasnt-foreign-imposition#stream/0

18.

Ho-Lastimosa

Chung-Do

J. J.

Hwang

P. W.

Radovich

Rogerson

. . . Spencer

M. S.

(2019). Integrating Native Hawaiian tradition with the modern technology of aquaponics. Global Health Promotion, 26(3_suppl), 87–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757975919831241

19.

Ho-Lastimosa

Hwang

Lastimosa

(2014). Insights in public health: Community strengthening through canoe culture: Ho‘omana‘o Mau as method and metaphor. Hawai’i Journal of Medicine & Public Health: A Journal of Asia Pacific Medicine & Public Health, 73(12), 397–399.

20.

Hope

B. E.

Hope

J. H.

(2003). Native Hawaiian Health in Hawaii: Historical highlights. Californian Journal of Health Promotion, 1(SI), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.32398/cjhp.v1iSI.553

21.

Hosen

Nakamura

Hamzah

(2020). Adaptation to climate change: Does traditional ecological knowledge hold the key? Sustainability, 12(2), Article 676. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12020676

22.

Ingram

(2011). A food systems approach to researching food security and its interactions with global environmental change. Food Security, 3(4), 417–431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-011-0149-9

23.

Johnson

Beamer

(2013). Chapter 8. An Indigenous narrative of resilience: Malama ko Aloha. Substance Use & Misuse, 48(13), 1369–1376. https://doi.org/10.3109/10826084.2013.814998

24.

Kaholokula

J. K.

(2017). Mauli ola: Pathways to optimal Kanaka ‘Ōiwi health. In Look

Mesiona-Lee

(Eds.), Mauli Ola: Hawai‘inuiākea monograph (pp. 1–25). University of Hawai‘i Press.

25.

Kaholokula

J. K.

Hermosura

A. H.

Antonio

M. C. K.

(2017). Physical wellbeing of Native Hawaiians, the Indigenous People of Hawai‘i. In Flemin

Manning

Miller

(Eds.), Routledge handbook of Indigenous wellbeing (Chapter 6, pp. 44–57). Routledge.

26.

Kaholokula

J. K.

Miyamoto

R. E. S.

Hermosura

A. H.

Inada

(2020). Prejudice, stigma, and oppression on the behavioral health of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. In Benuto

Duckworth

Masuda

O’Donohue

(Eds.), Prejudice, stigma, privilege, and oppression: A behavioral health handbook. Springer Publishing Co.

27.

Kaholokula

J. K.

Nacapoy

Dang

(2009). Social Justice as a public health imperative for Kānaka Maoli. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 5(2), 116–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/117718010900500207

28.

Kame‘eleihi‘a

(1992). Native land and foreign desires: How shall we live in harmony? Ko Hawai‘i ‘eina a me na koi pu‘umake a ka po‘e Haole: Pehea la e pono ai? Bernice P. Bishop Museum Press.

29.

Kana‘iaupuni

S. M.

Malone

(2006). This land is my land: The role of place in Native Hawaiian identity. Hūlili, 3(1), 281–307.

30.

Kawelo

(2014). Fishponds, food, and the future in our past: Loko I‘a. In Aiko

Goodyear-Ka‘opua

(Eds.), The value of Hawai’i (Vol. 2, pp. 163–170). University of Hawaii Press.

31.

Keli‘iholokai

Keaulana

Antonio

M. C. K.

Rogerson

Deitschman

Kamai

J. A.

. . . Ho-Lastimosa

H. I.

(2020). Reclaiming ʻĀina Health in Waimānalo. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(14), Article 5066. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17145066

32.

King

Smith

Gracey

(2009). Indigenous health part 2: The underlying causes of the health gap. The Lancet, 374(9683), 76–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60827-8

33.

Kuhnlein

(2012). Indigenous peoples’ food systems and well-being: Interventions and policies for healthy communities. Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

34.

Kuhnlein

Receveur

(1996). Dietary change and traditional food systems of indigenous peoples. Annual Review of Nutrition, 16, 417–442. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.nu.16.070196.002221

35.

Kūkulu Kumuhana Planning Committee. (2017). Creating radical and new knowledge to improve Native Hawaiian wellbeing. https://onipaa.org/pages/culturally-sustaining-r-e-practice

36.

Lemke

Delormier

(2017). Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, nutrition, and gender: Conceptual and methodological considerations. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 13(S3), Article e12499. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12499

37.

Loke

Leung

(2013). Hawaii’s food consumption and supply sources: Benchmark estimates and measurement issues. Agricultural and Food Economics, 1, Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-7532-1-10

38.

Look

M. A.

Trask-Batti

M. K.

Agres

Mau

M. L.

Kaholokula

J. K.

(2013). Assessment and priorities for health & well-being in Native Hawaiians & other Pacific Peoples. Center for Native Hawaiian Excellence.

39.

Massey

Kirk

(2015). Bridging Indigenous and Western Sciences: Research methodologies for traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine systems. SAGE Open, 5(3), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015597726

40.

Mau

(2010). Health and health care of Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander older adults. https://geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/hawaiian_pacific_islander.html

41.

McGregor

D. P. I.

Morelli

P. T.

Matsuoka

J. K.

Rodenhurst

Kong

Spencer

M. S.

(2003). An ecological model of Native Hawaiian well-being. Pacific Health Dialog, 10(2), Article 106.

42.

Mohatt

N. V.

Thompson

A. B.

Thai

N. D.

Tebes

J. K.

(2014). Historical trauma as public narrative: A conceptual review of how history impacts present-day health. Social Science & Medicine, 106, 128–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.01.043

43.

Mokuau

DeLeon

P. H.

Keawe’aimoku Kaholokula

Soares

Tsark

J. U.

Haia

(2016). Challenges and promise of health equity for Native Hawaiians. NAM Perspectives, 6(10). https://doi.org/10.31478/201610d

44.

Niheu

Turbin

L. M.

Yamada

(2007). The impact of the military presence in Hawai‘i on the health of Na Kānaka Maoli. Pacific Health Dialog, 14(1), 205–212.

45.

Office of Planning-Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. (2012). Increased food security and food self-sufficiency strategy. http://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/op/spb/INCREASED_FOOD_SECURITY_AND_FOOD_SELF_SUFFICIENCY_STRATEGY.pdf

46.

Paglinawan

Kauahi

Kanuha

Kalahele

(2020). Nānā i ke kumu. Helu ʻekolu. Liliʻuokalani Trust.

47.

Petzold

Andrews

Ford

Hedemann

Postigo

(2020). Indigenous knowledge on climate change adaptation: A global evidence map of academic literature. Environmental Research Letters, 15(11), Article 113007. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb330

48.

Popkin

B. M.

(1998). The nutrition transition and its health implications in lower-income countries. Public Health Nutrition, 1, 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1079/PHN19980004

49.

Pukui

(1983). ‘Olelo No‘eau: Hawaiian proverbs and poetical sayings (D. Varez, Illus.). Bishop Museum Pr.

50.

Ramirez

Hammack

(2014). Surviving colonization and the quest for healing: Narrative and resilience among California Indian tribal leaders. Transcultural Psychiatry, 51(1), 112–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461513520096

51.

Saunders

Sim

Kingstone

Baker

Waterfield

Bartlam

Burroughs

Jinks

(2018). Saturation in qualitative research: Exploring its conceptualization and operationalization. Quality & Quantity, 52(4), 1893–1907. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0574-8

52.

Siapush

Spittal

Singh

G. K.

(2008). Happiness and life satisfaction prospectively predict self-rated health, physical health, and presence of limiting, long-term health conditions. American Journal of Health Promotion, 23(1), 18–26.

53.

Smith

Ahmed

Dupuis

Running Crane

Eggers

Pierre

Flagg

Byker Shanks

(2019). Contribution of wild foods to diet, food security, and cultural values amidst climate change. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(B), 191–214. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.011

54.

SMS Research. (2008). DHHL Lessee Survey ( SoHDoH

Homelands

, Ed.). SMS Research Marketing Services, Inc.

55.

Sotero

(2006). A conceptual model of historical trauma: Implications for public health practice and research. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, 1(1), 93–108.

56.

Sowerwine

Sarna-Wojcicki

Mucioki

Hillman

Lake

Friedman

(2019). Enhancing food sovereignty: A five-year collaborative tribal-university research and extension project in California and Oregon. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(B), 167–190. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.013

57.

Sproat

D. K.

(2016). An indigenous people’s right to environmental self-determination: Native Hawaiians and the struggle against climate change devastation. Stanford Environmental Law Journal, 35(2), Article 220.

58.

State of Hawai‘i, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. (2021). Department of Hawaiian Home Lands: Established by Prince Kūhiō & the U.S. Congress. http://dhhl.hawaii.gov/

59.

Stephens

Porter

Nettleton

Willis

(2006). Disappearing, displaced, and undervalued: A call to action for Indigenous health worldwide. The Lancet, 367(9527), 2019–2028. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68892-2

60.

Steptoe

(2019). Investing in happiness: The gerontological perspective. Gerontology, 65(6), 634–639.

61.

Strauss

A. L.

Corbin

J. M.

(1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. SAGE.

62.

Sumner

Tarhan

M. D.

McMurtry

J. J.

(2019). Eating in place: Mapping alternative food procurement in Canadian Indigenous Communities. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(B), 239–250. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.016

63.

Werner

K. K.

Lee

W. K.

Kamaka

(2018). Medical school hotline: Mala La‘au Lapa‘au—John A. Burn School of Medicine’s Hawaiian Healing Garden. Hawai‘i Journal of Medicine & Public Health: A Journal of Asia Pacific Medicine & Public Health, 77(5), 118–120.

64.

World Health Organization. (2003). Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases (World Health Organization technical report series 916).

65.

Uchima

Browne

Braun

(2019). Healthy life expectancy in 2010 for Native Hawaiian, White, Filipino, Japanese, and Chinese Americans Living in Hawai’i. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, 31(7), 659–670. https://doi.org/10.1177/1010539519875614