Rediscovering Hawai‘i's Soul: Transformative collaboration to shape the future of Hawai‘i

In this exclusive interview, leaders from the initiative Rediscovering Hawai‘i's Soul, or RHS, share their insights and experiences of building a collaborative movement that aims to shape the future of Hawai‘i. Featuring Māpuana de Silva, Kamana‘opono Crabbe, Shelee Kimura, and Duane Kurisu in conversation with Brenna Atnikov of Reos Partners, the discussion delves into the vital need for inclusive dialogue to bridge gaps between Native and non-Native Hawaiians, the role of cultural values in addressing critical issues, and the urgency to protect Hawai‘i’s natural and cultural heritage.

This article, accompanied by a video of the interview, illuminates the transformative journey these leaders are undertaking together for the future of Hawai‘i.

Uniting to explore the possible futures of Hawai‘i 

When Māpuana de Silva, kumu hula at the Hālau Mōhala ‘Ilima, walked into the room for the first scenario workshop, she didn’t know what to expect. An invitation from a respected acquaintance had brought her to the convening, which would consider the multiple possible futures of Hawai‘i — a complex topic with the potential to be divisive. 

The meeting included 43 leaders from diverse sectors and backgrounds in Hawai‘i: Native and non-Native Hawaiians, cultural practitioners, the business community, community organisations, and individuals from philanthropy, education, housing, legal, social services, and tourism sectors. De Silva admitted that initially, she was skeptical, but the relationship behind the invitation had brought her through the door. Now, she says the more skeptical someone feels, the more she would encourage them to participate in a process like Rediscovering Hawai‘i’s Soul, which utilised transformative scenario planning to catalyse the network.

A photo of De Silva and other Hawaiian leaders engaged in LEGO Serious Play to help them create a shared understanding
of challenges and opportunities Hawai‘i faces.

“If you asked me before COVID if any of this would happen, I would have probably laughed,” de Silva says. “But for some reason, the stars were aligned, and everybody was invited in the right way, with the right intentions, with the right humility. That's a big part of it. There could have been a lot of egos in that room, but everybody put that aside and came in very humbly because we all understand the challenging situation that we're so close to being in.”

Building a movement guided by shared understanding

In 2022, at the invitation of the Hawai‘i Executive Collaborative, or HEC, and with the guidance of Reos Partners, 43 leaders met to develop a set of scenarios that imagine different possible futures for Hawai‘i. Over time additional people and organisations have joined the Rediscovering Hawai‘i’s Soul network, or RHS, which has since grown to include more than 100 organisations and 600 individuals. The network seeks to build a movement guided by a shared understanding of Hawai‘i's depth of meaning, history, and value — the Soul of Hawai‘i. In 2023, the inaugural RHS network gathering included more than 250 individuals invited to co-create an agenda to identify questions, or choice points, that people living in Hawai‘i must grapple with as they collaborate to create a better future. The network identified 13 of the most important choice points confronting Hawai‘i.  

A photo listing the 13 most important choice points. 

Despite her reservations, de Silva said she found a group of people who, regardless of their varying perspectives and strong differences of opinion, had shown up with an openness crucial for the conversation to take place. De Silva’s fellow RHS Scenario Team member Kamana‘opono Crabbe of HEC said the convening came at a time following the highly controversial and divisive issue of telescopes on Mauna Kea when Native Hawaiians were feeling alienated. Crabbe says that getting community leaders, especially kuma hula such as de Silva, to the table to contemplate the future of the islands has been foundational to the journey of Rediscovering Hawai‘i’s Soul. 

“I think it would be fair to say that Hawaiians in our homeland are feeling alienated and like strangers,” Crabbe said. “So we needed to be an active voice, but we also needed to share and to be part of the growth, the solution of making Hawai‘i a better place for future generations. We sat down with Reos Partners and went down a list, and part of our challenge was getting leadership from the Native Hawaiian community.”

The power of relationships to drive systems change

Another member of the RHS Scenario Team, Shelee Kimura of the Hawaiian Electric Company, also spoke to the feeling of urgency about what is at stake. Kimura says that whether someone is Native Hawaiian or has come to call the islands home, there is a sense of being cared for that feels threatened, and people want to protect and see flourish. Kimura spoke about the value of creating a space that could bring together the contributions, knowledge, and hearts of so many people where they could discuss what they value and want to protect about Hawai‘i. She says while just having that space can be a catalyst for things to happen, the real transformational power is the trust and relationships that are created and what that can mean for the community more broadly. 

A photo of RHS leaders and stakeholders discussing choice points. 

“Even if it doesn't happen in that room, you've now created a relationship where people feel like they can have a conversation, and they don't have that story in their head of who that person is, that they're not approachable, that they're against all these things,” Kimura says. “You realise people are genuinely trying to solve problems together, and it opens up the door for those conversations to continue to happen. I think once two people do that, it just starts to spread through our community.” 

RHS Scenario Team member Duane Kurisu of the Hawai‘i Executive Collaborative said that among the diverse groups and interests represented, there was a shared commitment to making Hawai‘i a better place. However, Kurisu noted there was a deliberate absence in the room: the Hawaiian government. That absence, he says, provided an opening to stand together. 

“We didn't want to politicise what we were doing,” Kurisu says. “When we have an issue for policy, we're all going to go in together. Not as Native Hawaiians, not a business, not as education — we're all going to go in together to get new policies made. We had all these different, diverse groups of people and leaders. But the amazing thing is, without government, we all found that we're actually in alignment with almost everything. We have different ways of getting there, but we're in alignment.”

‘We gravitate to Aloha’

Crabbe says part of Rediscovering Hawai‘i’s Soul is discovering that alignment — that within the social fabric of Hawai‘i’s multi-ethnic community, there is mutual care for the islands and a desire to leave a legacy to their children, grandchildren, and seven generations down the line. He says the process has helped develop a common path among Native Hawaiian elders and community leaders, private sector business leaders, civic leaders, and other diverse groups for what would make Hawai‘i better. He says it’s a framework that resonates with the spirit of Aloha, which is familiar to many. 

“We gravitate to Aloha because we know what it is to be respectful, to honour, to help support, to care for one another,” Crabbe says. “And so, therefore, we all got in this canoe together. We're paddling the canoe as we’re building our common knowledge together, on our own destiny for rediscovering Hawai‘i's soul.”

The scenarios the team developed tell the stories of four possible futures for Hawai‘i and Hawai‘i’s Soul: Iwa, Nēnē, Manu O Kū, and Ua‘u. ‘Iwa is the great frigatebird whose appearance warns of incoming storms; in this scenario, Hawai‘i’s soul is lost. Nēnē is the Hawaiian goose known to fly in pairs; in this scenario, Hawai‘i’s soul is split in two. Manu O Kū is the white tern, a native Hawaiian bird that thrives in both ocean and urban environments; in this scenario, Hawai‘i’s soul is transformed. Ua‘u is the Hawaiian petrel that guides voyagers to unknown lands; in this scenario, Hawai‘i’s soul is tested. The team envisioned possible futures for Hawai‘i’s Soul through the lens of the following key structural uncertainties, or simply put, crucial questions the team was holding about the future:

• How is Hawai‘i governed?
• How does the world see Hawai‘i?
• Who controls access to power?
• How is healing facilitated?
• Who is considered Hawaiian?
• What is the nature of Hawai‘i’s economy?

The narratives for each question depict potential outcomes for Hawai‘i from 2022 to 2050, giving specific outcomes that illustrate Hawai‘i's possible futures. The process has shown de Silva the importance of coming to the table. For others hoping to accomplish something similar, she says there needs to be many people in the room. She says this is not to say everyone must buy into the idea right away, but there should be hope things can improve. 

“If you really want to work together to survive, to figure things out, then you have to be present,” de Silva says. “If you're not present, then you're not going to be part of the process and part of the solution. If you allow yourself to be open to other people's participation, then you never know what could happen.” 

This article is drawn from a discussion between the Rediscovering Hawai‘i’s Soul scenario team members and Brenna Atnikov, principal at Reos Partners. Watch the full video of the conversation here:

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