Report Title:

Niihau Oral History Project; Appropriation

 

Description:

Appropriates money for a Niihau oral history project.

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1223

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

making an appropriation for a niihau oral history project.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Niihau is uniquely important among the inhabited islands of the Hawaiian archipelago. Its historical and cultural properties are, thus far, relatively undisturbed and the connection of the Niihau people to traditional practices and actual usage of specific sites remains intact and available for a present day ethnographic survey. In the near future, projects and development activities will most likely bring dramatic changes which may affect the traditional cultural properties and practices of the island and people of Niihau. Many of the most knowledgeable ethnographic resources are elderly and seriously at risk from diseases that have threatened Hawaiians since western contact. Their indigenous knowledge must be recorded before these resources disappear.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate moneys to develop and implement a Niihau oral history project. The study shall confirm with the following parameters:

(1) The study methodology shall meet minimal ethnographic standards for oral interviews by:

(A) Describing the unbiased method by which persons selected for interviews will be located and identified; the means of introduction to the community; and employing a process of analytical inquiry to collect reliable data;

(B) Describing the characteristics and discussing the biographies of those individuals interviewed, their expertise, and their historical and genealogical relationship to the land and its resources; age brackets; numbers of men and women participating; length of residence and location of origin on island; connection to traditional practices and actual usage of specific sites discussed;

(C) Articulating the circumstances under which the interviews will be conducted; in the Hawaiian language; verbatim or paraphrased; scheduled at convenient times; conducted in an appropriate, disciplined, and comprehensive manner consistent with the standards extant in the field of ethnography;

(D) Assuring the interviewer is skilled, experienced, and qualified to work in Hawaii and capable of giving voice to the Niihau people;

(E) Complying with the minimal standards outlined in the State of Hawaii Environmental Council's "Guidelines for Assessing Cultural Impacts" as encompassed in the "Recommended Components of a Scope of Work for an Ethnographic Study of Potentially Affected Areas on Niihau Island."

(2) The project shall provide an historical and cultural overview of Niihau which:

(A) Defines and analyzes the significance of historical practices, including religious, fishing, and cultural;

(B) Discusses the place names as codes for the stories and legends of significant sites; discusses chants and songs associated with the places in the study as codes for significant events or practices;

(C) Takes into account any current practices, such as fishing, collection of Niihau lei shells, seaweed, shellfish, sea urchins, salt, and surface water which may be affected by any proposed projects or development;

(D) Takes into account how people on Niihau lived in order to establish a context for identifying and evaluating traditional cultural properties and addresses important subsistence practices;

(E) Shall, upon conclusion, be forwarded to the historic preservation division of the department of land and natural resources and made available to the general public.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $92,500, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002, to develop and implement a Niihau oral history project.

SECTION 3. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the historic preservation division of the department of land and natural resources for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.

INTRODUCED BY:

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