Changes in Kanaka Maoli men's roles and health: healing the warrior self.

In the 225 years of contact with the Western colonial powers, the health and well-being of Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian) men has declined dramatically. Studies seeking the causes for these adverse changes in morbidity and mortality do not demonstrate specific physiological or environmental sources for these declines in vitality. This paper describes pre-contact cultural structures that shaped and guided the lives of these men toward constructive and healthy ends. The authors pose an argument for sociocultural factors that may be noteworthy in understanding lifestyle choices made by pre-contact Maoli males. Some of these practices are considered for possible revival since they may produce positive changes in current negative health realities for modern Kanaka Maoli men.

Keywords: Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian) men, men's health, cultural trauma, cultural trauma syndrome, cultural wounding, male warriors, colonization, rituals

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   The survival of a culture depends as much, if not more, on the
   continued existence, recognition, and celebration of a coherent
   self-perception--on the preservation of a cultural identity--as it
   does on the continued existence of a sustained population or physical
   boundaries ... a culture can be destroyed or supplanted by
   other means than genocide or territorial conquest. A culture's
   identity is defined by its deepest values: the values its citizens
   believe are worth defending, worth dying for.... And it is that
   "way of life" that warriors fight to maintain. (French, 2002)

Early European explorers arriving in what today is called Hawai'i remarked on the amazing health and vigor of the indigenous Kanaka Maoli population (Beckwith, 1932, p. 74). In the 250 years since its first contact with Western colonial powers, the resident culture of the Hawaiian archipelago has undergone a series of traumatic changes; some initiated by the indigenous population, but most forced upon it by contact with the modern world. The loss of an indigenous sense of self, one with a clear sense of traditional roles and responsibilities for native men, has removed Kanaka Maoli males from connection to values and practices that once sustained their vitality and well-being at the highest level. One marker of these changes is that modern Hawaiian men are consistently categorized by the most grievous of health status indicators. Studies in environmental factors and genetics have not fully answered questions as to why these declines have occurred and why increases in morbidity and mortality are so virulent in this specific population demographic.

In this paper an explanatory model for understanding how social history impacts group health and well-being--cultural trauma syndrome--is presented. Special attention is given to pre-contact Kanaka Maoli men's roles as the physical and spiritual protectors of their society. Through examination of changes in these roles, with special attention to indigenous warrior values and practices, the reader is introduced to a plausible cause for the decline in health and well-being of Kanaka Maoli men in the colonial period (1778 to present). Also, the way back to health through a process of healing education and cultural renewal is examined.

While focused on the warrior archetype and role, this paper is not a call for a revival of the ways of war making by modern Hawaiian men, for they already swim in an ocean of anger and grief. This paper is instead a call for restoring the fullness of the values underpinning pre-contact Kanaka Maoli warrior traditions. These traditions encompass education, moral development, physical health, and social responsibility, all within the borders of a structure of life-giving values. Amplification of these practices and values will allow present-day Hawaiian men to re-establish a state of personal and collective wholeness and allow them to once more be Maoli, spiritually true. As was done in the past, following these traditions is likely the most efficacious path for modern Hawaiian men to realize their journey out of dire circumstances to a fullness of health and vitality.

MODERN HAWAIIAN MALE HEALTH

   These Indians, in general, are above the middle size, strong, and
   well made, and of dark copper colour, and are, on the whole, a fine
   handsome set of people. (Beaglehole, 1999, p. 1178)

Prior to contact with Western civilization, there was an indigenous population somewhere between 250,000 and 1,000,000 individuals (Jurvik & Jurvik, 1989, p. 164) in the lands now known as the Hawaiian Islands. Current population statistics describe a completely different picture of the native population. In the year 2000 census, Hawaiians made up only 19% of the population or 239,655 individuals, of which fewer than 5,000 self-identified as full-blood quantum Hawaiian. From the start of contact with colonial powers in 1778, Native Hawaiians have faced significant challenges to their health. They have the highest rate of infant mortality in the state at 8.9/1,000 live births, compared to 7.6/1,000 live births statewide (Office of Hawaiian Affairs, 2002). Although Hawaiians make up only 19% of the population, 45.7% of the live births are to an unmarried mother of Hawaiian descent. Hawaiians are almost twice as likely to have asthma as all other races in the state (Office of Hawaiian Affairs, 2002). On average, Hawaiian children are physically hurt by an adult at twice the level of all other populations, and male children are abused more frequently than females (13.9% compared to between 3.2 and 9.3% of other ethnic groups in Hawai'i (Hawai'i State Department of Health, 2002).

The disproportionate burden of illness only increases after childhood. Diabetes rates in Hawaiians are 2.5 times those of the general population of Hawai'i (CDC, 2004). Hawaiians also have higher rates of hypertension and death or disability from stroke than all other ethnic groups in Hawai'i (Hawai'i Primary Care Association, 2002). In a study that indicates a possible genetic factor in these statistics, full-blooded Hawaiians have a heart disease mortality rate of 375.9/100,000 population, part-Hawaiians have a mortality rate of 146.8/100,000 population, and non-Hawaiians living in Hawai'i have a rate of 68.2/100,000 (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2004). In other words, full-blooded Hawaiians have a mortality rate from stroke 382% higher than non-Hawaiians (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2004). A question for future research is how the blood quantum issue is tied to lifestyle choices affected by factors of historical and social disenfranchisement.

In addition, Hawaiians have the highest rates of age-adjusted cancer mortality in Hawai'i when compared to other ethnic groups and the second highest mortality rate from all cancers combined for all racial/ethnic groups in the United States (Hawaiians at 207.2/100,000 are second, and African Americans are first at 209.8/100,000; see Intercultural Cancer Council, 2001). Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment of cancer, mortality rates for Hawaiians have increased, not decreased (by 62% for men and 123% for women between 1967 and 1990) (Intercultural Cancer Council, 2001). Cancer outcomes are also worse for Hawaiians, as their five-year relative survival rate is 18% lower than Caucasians and 15% lower than the U.S. population for all cancers combined (Intercultural Cancer Council, 2001). It has been hypothesized that this is due to late detection, lack of seeking care, lower rates of being medically insured, and lack of trust in Western medicine.

Hawaiians also have the highest rates of many risky behaviors, demonstrating a probable lack of value placed upon health and life. Statewide surveys demonstrate that 75.6% of Hawaiians are overweight or obese based on Body Mass Index, a number 50% higher than the other population groups in the state (Hawai'i State Department of Health, 2002). Hawaiians smoke cigarettes at an average rate of almost 60% higher than all other population groups, 33.8% compared to 15-21% (Hawai'i State Department of Health, 2002). Hawaiian children from 12 to 18 years of age far outstrip their peers of all other races in use of tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, inhalants, methamphetamines, ecstasy, and steroids (Office of Hawaiian Affairs, 2002). Hawaiians have the lowest seatbelt usage, with 6.8% seldom or never utilizing seat belts compared to between 0.9% and 2.8% for other groups in the state (Hawai'i State Department of Health, 2002). Hawaiians, who make up 19% of the population of Hawai'i, make up 39% of the male prison population and 44% of the female prison population (Hawai'i State Department of Health, 2002). Further, Hawaiians constitute 29% of the homeless population (Hawai'i State Department of Health, 2002).

When examining overall health status, Hawaiians have the highest rate in reporting that their general health status is fair or poor: 15.7% compared to 8.8% for Caucasians, 10.5% for Filipinos, 13.9% for Japanese, and 11.5% for all others (Hawai'i State Department of Health, 2002). Hawaiians report the highest number of unhealthy days per month, citing a rate of 5.3 days in the prior 30 days at the time of the survey (see Hawai'i State Department of Health, 2002; Pobutsky, 2003, pp. 65-82). They also have the highest rates of disability for working age individuals, and they experience the most severe levels of disability in the state (Pobutsky, 2003, pp. 65-82).

Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and powerlessness prevent people from taking proactive steps to improve their lives. The data listed above demonstrated that these feelings dispose them to choose the option of more negative lifestyle choices more frequently than other populations. While there is little research demonstrating a causal relationship between a person's reported level of self-worth and impact on health, there is adequate evidence to support a subjective impression that frailty in one's self-esteem is tied to deterioration in vitality, leading to early mortality (Aboriginal Corrections Policy Unit, 2002, pp. 23-24, 78). It is the authors' hypothesis that political and cultural repressions faced by indigenous and other disenfranchised populations are probable contributing factors disposing portions of communities to increased levels of disease and earlier onset of mortality. With the loss of indigenous cultural mechanisms to support the formation of a positive self-image through expression of traditional men's roles, modern Hawaiian men are lacking critical guidance in their pursuit of personal vitality. Self-image, self-esteem, and similar terms--descriptors of structures by which one judges one's worth in the world--have emerged in the psychosocial lexicon to describe a person's self-perception.

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL TRAUMA

In order to understand how indigenous populations may have sunk to the bottom of most health status indicators, it is necessary to demonstrate a causal link between cultural health and physical health. For indigenous peoples who have been displaced, either physically or politically, in or from their traditional homelands, specific forms of psycho-physical trauma can now be described. Studies by the Canadian Aboriginal Corrections Policy Unit in cooperation with First Nations communities and private agencies indicate that aggression against a person's ethnic identity and community culture forms the basis for a recognizable trauma condition, producing discernable impacts on health and social development (Aboriginal Corrections Policy Unit, 2002, pp. 7-8, 23-24). Brave Heart (1999) coined the term Historical Trauma Response to describe the violation of selfhood, how a classified group feels in relation to being identified by self or others as part of a historically disenfranchised population. These violations are perpetrated when individuals and their group are described as different in race, culture, and/or creed from the peoples of the incoming colonial power.

Cultural trauma syndrome (CTS) is a structure for describing the dynamic link between cultural identity and personal well-being. The entwined formations of CTS bring to light distinguishing social traits that may authenticate a causal relationship between ethnic identity and long-term health. Significantly, CTS is designed to account for individuals who may not have lineal origins in a targeted culture but whose sense of personal identity is rooted in a specified, disenfranchised culture. CTS specifically addresses the trauma of individuals whose familial lineage is genetically linked to the communal history of an subjugated culture. Cultural trauma syndrome can be seen in a series of defining formulations:

* This injury is a process of cultural genocide targeting cosmology, epistemology, pedagogy, and social structures as objects for repression. It is not necessarily linked to declines in population. However, rapid declines in cultural population numbers usually correspond with actions of cultural assault.

* Attacks on indigenous social norms bring breakdowns in many normative cultural social structures. Breakdowns occur in traditional religious and spiritual boundaries, forms of community leadership, family configurations, and gender-specific social roles. Lack of continuity and understanding of traditional social structures slows cultural renewal.

* Trauma-related events and perceptions of their intensity do not, by necessity, have temporal continuity. What may not have been felt as injurious by one generation of a population may be experienced as an offense by later generations. Cycles of severity may correspond to modifications in political efficacy.

* Sources for injury may come from within as well as outside a defined cultural group. Disenfranchised individuals and subgroups take on the role of perpetrator of cultural wounds as an adjunct to violations originating from outside the cultural group. Internal divisiveness reduces advocacy for healthy relationships with other cultural groups.

* Incidents of traumatization have intergenerational transference. The mechanisms of cultural wounding keep the insult of a trauma event activated across time. Insults may remain dormant for long periods of time, only to be rejuvenated by recent events.

Cultural wounding is a term distinguishing specific incidents of violation to a person's sense of culturally centered self. These insults are tied to some form of cultural, ethnic, or racial artifact. These artifacts might include one or more of the following: (a) physical characteristics, (b) family genealogy, (c) indigenous intellectual or aesthetic property, (d) geographical place of origin, (e) traditional religious practices, (f) forms of indigenous government or commerce, (g) traditional social practices, gender roles, family patterns, etc., and (h) distortions of the historical record.

Cultural wounding is a confrontation, an incident of psychological, spiritual, and/or cultural injury. It is the mechanism by which the historical cycle of trauma is revisited upon an individual or community. It is the means by which the wound of a previous generation is made fresh in the minds and spirits of those living in the present. Cultural wounding is the mechanism that accounts for the power of social and cultural trauma to last for several generations. Cultural wounding is the way contemporary persons are linked into the continuum of cultural trauma syndrome suffered by their people.

THE WAY IS LOST--THE COLONIAL PERIOD: THE VEIL OF ISOLATION IS PIERCED

Now it is possible to more fully understand the dynamics of change that caused the once healthy and vital Kanaka Maoli male population to descend to the unfortunate state in which they are found in modern society. In the late-18th century, the indigenous Hawaiian society was in an advanced stage of development, rapidly changing from a multi-island tribal society to a protostate. The people of this land, the Kanaka Maoli, lived their lives in accord with a philosophy founded in an intrinsic balance of opposites--in all things, for all cultural functions. Men and women had corresponding and sometimes contrasting responsibilities in many areas of community development and function. Kanaka Maoli men were responsible not only for their gender-based tasks but also for preserving the integrity of Loina Kane, the Male Aspect of the Kanaka Maoli Sacred Law, the 'Ihi Kapu. In the last 250 years, Kanaka Maoli men have lost essentially all of their traditional social and religious responsibilities, thereby losing a functional source point for much of their native sense of self. This loss of selfhood is a point for examination in determining causes of significant health disparities present in modern Hawaiian men.

When the ships of European explorers arrived in the Hawaiian archipelago in the late-18th century, an all too familiar set of social and cultural transformations, changes common for many colonized indigenous peoples, were set into motion. Arrival of these strangers was, from the perspective of cultural sustainability, unfortunately coincidental with local events that had been unfolding for almost 100 years. A long-standing internal war between several powerful tribal groups in the archipelago was coming to a decisive moment. The balance of local political power had been contested in a series of regional conflicts with the center of preeminent power shifting from one island to another, cycling back and forth across the island chain. Warfare had progressed from isolated, low-intensity intertribal conflicts to inter-island rivalries of armies numbering thousands of combatants.

NEW WAYS OF WAR MAKING

Contrary to popular images of surprised natives, even at Cook's arrival in the islands in 1778, local chiefs were not intimidated by displays of Western war technology. In truth, these leaders were quick to grasp the potential benefits to their cause and seek to harness these weapons for their own needs. Alliances with Western ship captains were quickly sought, with several chiefs adapting their war-making potential by integrating the new weapons. New weapons necessitated new tactics. Western advisors and allies were sought to adapt Kanaka Maoli military tactics to deploy the new weapons systems to maximum effect. These alliances were not relationships built on a shared sense of political idealism; they were largely predatory in nature. Each side sought to gain ascendancy for its personal political and commercial interests.

The new weapons brought with them the advantage of distance in making war. Except for the Ka ma'a, the sling, the Kanaka Maoli traditional technique for making war upon others was an intimate affair, hand-to-hand combat supported by slashing, piercing, and impact weapons, plus sophisticated systems of grappling arts. Because of their increased killing range, the new weapons' technology allowed for depersonalizing the violence of war. These new methods also increased the numbers of dead and wounded in battle. And, most important, this increased, depersonalized violence was accomplished without the traditional and spiritual warrior's bond between perpetrator and victim.

The new weapons and tactics allowed a common foot soldier to take the life of the most sacred chiefs, highborn men that were the most highly trained and skilled in the warrior arts. This killing could occur anonymously and outside the credence of honor-centered values seen in the previous period of more intimate forms of combat. In the traditional Kanaka Maoli approach to war, significant import was given to the spiritual ties binding combatants to one another through the relationship of combat. Combatants became bonded to one another through the hazards of falling at each other's hand. The Kanaka Maoli believed that a life taken in battle belonged to the victor forever; that the soul of the vanquished would remain the relic of the victor's until his own death. With the new weapons no one might ever know who had killed any one person lying dead upon the field. No one was then held responsible for the release of the fallen warrior's spirit into the nether world of Po, the Kanaka Maoli source of origin. No one could then properly usher the released spirit through its proper transition from this plane of existence to the next.

In a battle where weapons allow violence to be conducted at great distances, it is almost impossible to know in any specific way who perpetrated violence on whom. In traditional Maoli warfare it was vital to know who had killed whom. For the Kanaka Maoli there was a tie between combatants, a relationship that demanded proper social observation; for example, after the battle, who could claim the chief's Mana, his spiritual strength? And then who should assist his spirit to transition from this plane of existence to the next? And, most important, when confronting the issue of war trauma, with the new distance-oriented weapons, how would any individual account for his specific actions in the post-battle rituals for washing away spiritual profanity taken on by the commission of violence?

The release of violence and the spiritual malaise that accompanied war was a psychospiritual matter the Kanaka Maoli addressed in pre- and post-battle rituals. The violent release of a person's spiritual power in battle brought significant psychic burdens to bear. The psychic stain upon the soul of the survivor was expiated through post-battle rituals lasting for several days, culminating with the ritual rebirth of the warriors in a temple site specific to the female principle. Through rituals common to many Maoli tribal groups throughout the Pacific, warriors were cleansed of the stain of war violence, reborn into the world through ritual protocol, through ceremonies initiated at the women's shrine, the Hale 'O Papa. Fornander (1974) provides one illustration for the Kanana Maoli vision of life/death/rebirth in a translation of a prayer that was recited at the Hale 'O Papa:

   'E ua maika' i aene' i kiia po ko Akua Wahine.
   'A' ole eola na wahine waha hewa mai ia 'oe
   E make 'ia i ko Akua Wahine.

   This night has been favorable because of your female Ancestors,
   Life is not granted to those before you by the Female Ancestors
      with satiated mouths.
   They (the warriors) will die at the hands of the Female Ancestors.
   (pp. 26-29)

After the abrogation of the native religious system in 1819, a change perpetrated by a narrow segment of the conquering elite, ritual renewal was no longer available to provide relief from the psychospiritual stains acquired in life. This potent structure for reconciliation of violence, one that renewed health and order in Kanaka Maoli post-battle society, was not replaced by a correspondingly powerful Western system. Without these rituals and their supporting moral structures, post-modern Kanaka Maoli men lost important social and spiritual support for self-identity and a vital release from the afflictions of violence.

ADDITIONAL CHANGES IN SOCIAL STRUCTURES, AUTHORITY, AND GOVERNANCE

With the completion of Kamehameha Pai'ea's campaign of conquest and consolidation of the islands into a single administrative entity in 1805, the region entered a new period of social control. Until this time the islands were largely ruled by individuals born to Ali'i--chiefly families from regional tribes, 'oiwi. Pre-1780, a single island might have dozens of people fulfilling a variety of community leadership roles. Under the political regime of Kamehameha Pai'ea, a smaller group of people, largely from Hawai'i and Maui islands, ascended to rule the archipelago. With the death of Kamehameha Pai'ea, his son and heir Liholiho (also known as Kamehameha II), instituted the beginning of a monarchical government in the style of the European courts. Under his rule the government of the island chain evolved from chiefdom to modern kingdom. The form and shape of governance continued to evolve in form and structure throughout the 18th century. The native government eventually became a modern constitutional monarchy with treaty relations with all of the major colonial powers. This government continued until 1893, when it was conquered by immigrant and military forces of the United States, eventually becoming a Western-style democracy under the flag of the United States.

LOSS OF WARRIOR/SPIRITUAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Kanaka Maoli tradition held that men of the Ali'i ruling class would have concurrent religious and military responsibilities. Following conquest of the island chain by Kamehameha Pai'ea, except for a small force loyal to the king, all established military groups were disarmed and disbanded. Therefore, from 1805 onward, Kanaka Maoli warriors as a distinct social class ceased to exist in any functional manner; either as war fighters or as protectors of the spiritual life of the community. Traditionally Kanaka Maoli males were the warrior/protectors of their physical society, but, more important, they were also the protectors of its spiritual well-being. Kanaka Maoli warriors maintained the subliminal will that sustained the mystical glamour of ritual, protected rites that would forever shield Maoli-kind.

In 1819 the state religion of the Kanaka Maoli was dismantled by the ruling elite, bringing further decline in men's social and spiritual responsibilities. On the death of Kamehameha Pai'ea, his primary wife, Ka' ahumanu, declared herself Kuhinanui, regent, to the heir. She then ordered the new chief, Liholiho, to join her and his mother, the sacred chiefess Kapi'olani, in disbanding the existent Maoli religious system. Her motivation for this radical decision appears to be solely concerned with the preservation of war booty, primarily in the form of land holdings for her family. With this pronouncement, all of the spiritual foundations that balanced the violence of the warrior with efforts of moral rectitude and all of the ceremonies providing for reconciliation and redemption from violence were removed from society at large. This edict effectively ended the uniquely Kanaka Maoli tradition linking spiritual and warrior practice. Coincidentally, less than one year after the abrogation of the indigenous religion, Calvinist Christian missionaries landed in the islands to begin a campaign of spiritual conquest on behalf of their religious ideals.

Removing men's function as the warrior/protectors of the society, while also removing their ritual and cosmological basis for developing meaning, is a case in point of a powerful process of cultural wounding. This twofold loss for indigenous men has been seen in other populations.

   Warriors are supposed to repel the enemy and insure the safety of
   the community; when this is not possible, defeat has deep
   psychological ramifications. Add to this the destruction of men's
   roles in the traditional economy, and you have men divested of
   meaningful cultural roles. (Duran & Duran, 1995, p. 35)

DEPOPULATION AND THE NEW RELIGIONS

Beginning with the arrival of the first European ship in 1778, with its cargo of new diseases, and continuing through the end of the 19th century, the native population in the islands was reduced to 10-20% of its pre-contact size (Stannard, 1989). This traumatic decrease in aboriginal census led to striking changes in communal patterns and led to an increase in Western values arriving with immigrants into the kingdom. In large part due to this massive loss in population, norms for social relations and family structures were set aside. For example, in pre-contact times when seeking a mate, a Kanaka Maoli individual would have been quite conscious of class distinctions based on genealogical implications. With the loss of so many and the loss of the defining philosophical structure of the state religion, families intermarried in patterns not usually existing before the loss of so much life.

Ancillary to the devastation from disease was a corresponding loss of confidence in royal control over the physical world (Kame'eleihiwa, 1992, p. 82). Even though the Kanaka Maoli religion, whose cosmology confirmed the ideology of spiritual rectitude affirmed by physical presents, had long been put aside, longstanding core beliefs did not die off so readily in the minds of the populace. Without the support of the indigenous religion, those of the pivotal Ali'i class were no longer able to confirm for the populace their spiritual efficacy through ritual or manifestation. No longer could the masses turn to their leaders, assured that they stood in good stead with the Divine. The rampant spread of diseases and the massive die-off of the Kanaka Maoli was a powerful message, a spiritual affirmation telling the indigenous people of the islands that their time on this plane of existence was in decline. Calvinist missionaries brought the religious concept of "original sin" to the islands. The presence of so much death and disease in their population could only confirm for the Kanaka Maoli that they were somehow guilty of some great offense to the Divine--a belief affirmed by the immigrant religion. As the royal leadership moved to embrace the new religion, the people could only follow suit in order to regain some measure of religious rectitude. This conversion to Christianity would in effect move many of the people closer to the new religious leaders and farther from their traditional chiefs as their temporal and spiritual loyalties were realigned.

LAND TENURE

Another social change factor unfolding during this period of time was introduction of the notion of land as a commodity, something that could be owned by an individual. As in other high-context, aboriginal societies, individual Hawaiians drew upon their local environment for certain aspects of identity. Place names were often actually clues or markers that were about the ancestral antecedents of those living in the locality. For the ruling classes, limited-term stewardship of locations was a direct way to acknowledge their community responsibilities and social import. In the 19th century, the island kingdom experienced dramatic changes in local practices concerning land tenure and ownership. Some of these changes came from within the native culture, and others were motivated by colonial political and commercial pressures. The first of these changes came from the way some Ali'i families violated traditional protocols in the distribution of land stewardship at the death of Kamehameha Pai'ea. Eventually these concerns were intertwined with the imperialist interests of immigrant and foreign entities.

In 1848 Kamehameha III decreed the Great Mahele, an edict enacted to resolve questions of land title being pressed by foreign interests. While the decree was authored to provide property and economic stability for the indigenous population, in actuality the edict allowed the ownership of land among immigrants to increase so rapidly as to leave most of the indigenous population effectively landless. Unfamiliar with Western land title laws and procedures, many Maka'ainana class persons lost their opportunity to gain ownership of traditional lands. The Mahele allowed immigrant business interests to acquire and consolidate large tracts of plantation lands for agricultural markets in foreign ports. For the Ali'i leaders, many of whom were not allowed to assume tenure over lands at the death of a great chief, these changes meant they were unable to grow and develop in their responsibilities as community leaders. The land-based Maka 'ainana class became a displaced people, shifting from a largely agrarian lifestyle to an urban one, regardless of their needs or desires. For a high-context oriented society like that of pre-contact Hawai'i, these changes in land tenure had significant and detrimental impacts on the self-identity of the Kanaka Maoli people, the echoes of which may still reverberate through the psyche of the modern Hawaiian community.

THE WAY Is WELL AND TRULY LOST

By the middle of the 18th century, most of the native population who had survived the initial onslaught of colonial diseases found themselves in poor health and landless. By royal decree, conversion to Christianity, and inundation by Western educational practices, the Kanaka Maoli population had been almost entirely stripped of the means for teaching and reinforcing traditional cultural values and practices; endemic social norms used to establish a healthy indigenous self-identity. Within the span of one generation, they were dispossessed of their spiritual foundation and the ways for understanding the intrinsic meaning of cultural norms that had sustained them for millennia. The Kanaka Maoli had even lost their traditional self-identifying name. By this time they were being called "Hawaiians" to fit with Westerns notions of geopolitical naming of populations. Due to lack of an indigenous spiritual structure to guide their maturation as Kanaka Maoli men or women in a modern world, this alteration of native identity remains in place to this day. At this point in history, Hawaiian men, as warriors, leaders, and beings, are almost entirely estranged from traditional sources that might guide them through the storm of cultural change that was the colonial movement of the past 225 years.

HEALING THE WARRIOR: CULTURAL HEALING--AN EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

For modern Kanaka Maoli men to make headway against the negative health status profile they currently epitomize, they must begin to feel worthy of basic goodness. In order that they avoid any comparison to earlier colonialist attempts to "civilize the savage," cultural healing interventions must not take on the methods or philosophy of a social rescue initiative--either for individuals or communities. A disenfranchised person does not benefit from a remedial approach that first requires them to accept an image of themselves as a victim of some larger power before allowing them to find their sense of personal power.

Healing through education is a useful approach for improving the health of populations that have suffered the rigors of colonial oppression. Different from conventional health education initiatives, healing through education, especially for disenfranchised populations, brings into account cultural factors not found in curricula produced by government health agencies. Most health education efforts do not acknowledge the specific pedagogical or epistemological basis used in the construction of their approach to knowledge and human change. Molded by Western concepts of health and learning, the approach of such unexamined curricula can be posited as a direct form of cultural wounding, making them counterproductive in the effort to improve the self-image of indigenous populations seeking greater health and well-being.

Education for purposes of healing is a pedagogical construct largely missing from the traditions of Western education. Contemporary societies are more apt to separate the concerns of education and healing into discrete fields of discipline. In modern capitalist societies, the role of teacher is to pass along knowledge and information, largely bounded by the values of commercialism. In contrast the task of the healer is to address the traumas of mind and body. The modern priest is the one usually called upon to treat wounds of the soul. Separation of these roles and responsibilities is not as distinct in many indigenous populations--especially those who still live in a high-context orientation with regard to human and community development (Meyer, 2003). Division of an individual's life into discrete, isolated compartments is in direct opposition to models of reality used by many environmentally centered, indigenous populations. Observation of the natural environment has led them to a philosophical structure that is inherently interdisciplinary.

Education for healing is a pedagogical approach that accepts a philosophical position that the processes and goals of education are to move the individual and the collective learning community beyond knowledge and information, entering the province of wisdom in both intention and practice. For many people education is the acquisition of knowledge. In contrast the pedagogy of healing education targets wisdom and is therefore concerned with the production of meaning in the lives of learners. In the development of wisdom, it is necessary to learn to constructively embrace the wounds of life. Traumas are examined to reveal process. Pain is uncovered to show the interconnected contributions each party may have made to the pain felt and each person's responsibilities to the collective journey of healing. This process of examination is undertaken to allow the dynamics of relationship to be revealed. Being thus informed, armed with insight and wisdom, a person can begin to move more confidently into an uncertain future.

KANAKA MAOLI HEALING PROCESSES

The process of educational healing for Kanaka Maoli men is of necessity an initiative that must acknowledge the importance of cultural renewal. Present-day Hawaiian men are learning to recognize and reclaim the value of the Maoli philosophy--an indigenous epistemology based in a meticulous cosmology common to native people throughout the Pacific. It will be through the 'Ano, moral integrity of their Kupuna, wise Ancestors, that these men will once more reclaim their right to the ways of healthy living. The 'Ihi Kapu, the Sacred Law, was what kept countless generations of Kanaka Maoli whole and healthy during their great migrations across the Pacific. Far from being a precolonial anachronism, the 'Ihi Kapu retains capacities that-may be used to assist modern Hawaiian men in regaining their selfhood in the world.

The ultimate aim of educational healing is to free people from fear, shame, and doubt. As Hawaiian men come to understand the circumstances and forces influencing their lives, they will be afforded access to knowledge about cultural dynamics that have led them to a negative sense of self-worth. Awareness of these multigenerational influences holds the potential to free them from the cycles of suffering that have constrained their power. In the pedagogy of education for healing, forgiveness is a key quality--forgiveness for self and for others. Eventually, through engaging in many cycles of insight, forgiveness, and wisdom, a person or community can develop options for living a healthy and powerful life. Options are freedom. Freedom allows for graciousness and peace to emerge.

WARRIOR CULTURE AS HEALING AGENT

Almost paradoxically, the way to healing for Kanaka Maoli males as warriors lies in the world of warriorship. Traditionally, for Asian and Pacific peoples, war-making skills were counterbalanced by strict and demanding social and spiritual obligations. Recognizing the trauma for all parties due to the expression of their vocation, indigenous warrior societies integrated healing traditions and cleansing rituals into their human and warrior development practices.

In most instances, cultural definitions of the warrior self are constrained to associations with violence and death. In Asia and Polynesia, where native philosophical constructs require the harmonious balance of opposites, the warrior archetype is as much a figure for the generation of life as it is for death. In the Japanese warrior traditions of Budo, two images are contrasted: Satsujinto, the sword that gives death, and Katsujinken, the sword that gives life. For the Kanaka Maoli there were corresponding structures allowing for differentiation between warrior intentions leading to death and those that were associated with healing and life-giving: Lawe Ola, death without conscience, and Malu Ola, a tradition that safeguards life. Also, in the Kanaka Maoli pantheon of deities, the male entity Ka is most often associated with war. His more than 70 named aspects include Kuka'ilimoku, the Island Snatcher; Kukapono, the Beneficent; Kukaloa'a, the life giver; Kukaha'awi, the Bestower; and Kukipa'a, the Steadfast. The Kanaka Maoli a warrior could only be true to his warrior self if his vocation balanced making war with generating life.

An inherent obligation for the pre-contact Kanaka Maoli warrior was to enter the ways of ritual practice to balance the pain of violence with the relief of healing practices. Unfortunately, many of these skills and obligations were largely set aside as colonial powers swept into the region. Warrior healing values and their associated ritual/educational systems represent native forms of healing education. If properly revived, these values and practices may once again be useful in serving Hawaiian men who wish to orient their lives to traditional Maoli ways.

SANCTUARIES FOR MOURNING AND REENTRY

In pre-contact Kanaka Maoli society, specific locations were designated for rituals to expiate the stains of war. These sites allowed returning fighters to be cleansed of the emotional and spiritual profanity taken on in battle before reentering the society at large. Setting aside a period between the battle and reentry into common society is a critical interval for initiation of a warrior's healing. Some form of considered reentry into civil society is common to many indigenous warrior societies. Before the age of modern air travel, armies were allowed a period of transitional grace on the long walks home and then on ships. This allowed soldiers to adjust from the rigors of war before again entering the measured pace of civilian life. During periods of reentry it is possible for the psychological and spiritual processes of cleansing to proceed with a rhythm of graciousness. Storytelling, bouts of celebration, and times to laugh and cry all are ways veterans use to begin the cleansing needed to assist their return to normative society.

In pre-contact Hawai'i, Pu'uhonua, places of refuge, and Heiau, the temples, were locations where such reentry work would originate. In part, these sanctified places were used to affirm a person's sense of responsibility for his contribution to social decency. These locations allowed the Kanaka Maoli warrior to proceed into normal life cleansed and free from guilt--reborn to a settled conscience. The places of refuge and temples were in essence the Eternal Womb, a symbolic location from which warriors could reemerge cleansed of the taint of death, sacrifice, and metaphysical trauma. They were places for spiritually rebirthing Kanaka Maoli warriors to normalcy. Such places of healing and wisdom are echoed in the halls of educational institutions and in the treatment rooms of healers. Unfortunately, nowhere in present-day Hawai'i is there a consistent place for modern Kanaka Maoli men to gather to integrate healing lessons in the manner of their ancestors.

WALKING THE HEALING PATH

For substantial change in the health status of the present population of Hawaiian males, it will be necessary to understand the nature of the violation of self embodied in the hearts of modern Hawaiian men over the past 225 years. Only when the scope and scale of the malaise filling their hearts and minds is understood and accepted will Western healthcare professionals and policymakers be able to support a culturally appropriate return to health and well-being. Using the structure of cultural trauma syndrome, research into the processes of pain and injury felt by Hawaiian men is already opening the way to a greater understanding of the scope and scale of their cultural wounding. Ultimately the task of healing must be motivated, controlled, and activated by these men themselves--no one can fully heal another without leadership from those to be healed.

Modern Hawaiian men need to regain a sense of cultural wholeness missing since the abrogation of the sacred laws in 1819, a loss of selfhood exacerbated by many forces in the colonial period. Their healing must be supported by the psychological, social, and spiritual elements of ritual cleansing and rebirth. The progress of cultural healing and renewal will set a healthy social and spiritual precedent for modern Hawaiian men to adhere to in their lives. The presence of a viable structure of moral regulations and guiding values is necessary to support the indigenous men of Hawai'i on a journey of self-healing.

The road to recovery may take many generations to complete, but what great task is ever easy? The reason for undertaking such an arduous task is simple: to not do it means to die--as men, as a people.

"'Ammama, 'Ua noa."

"It is complete. It is free."

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Bud P. Cook, Ph.D., Ka Maluhia Learning Center, 1266 Kamehameha Avenue, Suite C, Hilo, HI 96720. Electronic mail: [e-mail].

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BUD POMAIKA'I COOK

Ka Maluhia Learning Center

Hilo, Hawai'i

LUCIA TARALLO-JENSEN

Hale Naua III

Kea'au, Hawai'i

KELLEY WITHY

John A. Bums School of Medicine

Honolulu, Hawai'i

SHAUN P. BERRY

John A. Bums School of Medicine

Honolulu, Hawai'i