620222

research-article2015
QIXXXX10.1177/1077800415620222Qualitative InquiryKaomea

Article
Qualitative Inquiry

Qualitative Analysis as Ho‘oku‘iku‘i

2016, Vol. 22(2) 99­–106
© The Author(s) 2015
Reprints and permissions:
or Bricolage: Teaching Emancipatory sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1077800415620222

Indigenous Research in Postcolonial qix.sagepub.com

Hawai‘i

Julie Kaomea1

Abstract
For centuries, Indigenous and historically oppressed communities have been studied by Western researchers whose
claims have been accepted without question and, in many instances, have led our communities’ continued oppression.
With increasing numbers of individuals from historically marginalized communities entering higher education and becoming
researchers and teachers of research ourselves, we are challenged to consider whether and how the research stories that
we tell will be different from the research that precedes us. In this article, I draw from the Hawaiian concept of ho‘oku‘iku‘i
(to stitch or piece together) and the French notion of bricolage to discuss how my graduate course in qualitative data
analysis equips researchers from Native Hawaiian and other Indigenous and historically oppressed communities with new
analytical tools to challenge oppression and tell both more critical and more empowering stories about the schools and
communities in which we work and live.

Keywords
qualitative research and education, qualitative research, methodologies, decolonizing the academy, pedagogy, Indigenous
critical theory, ethnicity and race, Indigenous epistemologies, new methods and methodologies

To tell different stories, we need different research methods. school and communities, we may need to use different tools
—Kaomea (2003, p. 23) of analysis; for if we continue to use the same, dominant
analytical methods, we may quite simply end up retelling the
same, dominant stories. I then invite my students to join me
The quote above is centered at the top of the syllabus for my in a semester-long, collaborative apprenticeship for qualita-
doctoral course in qualitative data analysis at the University of tive research bricoleurs who aspire to tell both more critical
Hawai‘i at Mānoa. As a Native Hawaiian educational and more empowering stories about the schools and com-
researcher teaching qualitative analysis in a College of munities in which we work and live. Working collabora-
Education at a mainstream university, I place this quote front tively within the framework of “research as bricolage,” we
and center to make clear from the onset the perspective that set out to assemble, explore, and utilize multiple method-
informs my teaching of the course. For centuries, Native ological and analytical tools with an emphasis on methods of
Hawaiians, like other Indigenous and historically oppressed analysis that are appropriate for emancipatory research in
communities, have been studied by Western researchers whose Indigenous and historically oppressed communities.
claims, until recently, have been accepted without question
and, in many instances, have led to our peoples’ continued
oppression. However, now that growing numbers of Native Introducing Research as Bricolage
Hawaiians and individuals from other Indigenous and histori- Our class introduction to the concept of research as bricolage
cally marginalized communities are entering higher education (Lévi-Strauss, 1966) begins with a discussion of two con-
and becoming researchers and teachers of research ourselves, trasting images: (a) a photo of my 19-year-old neighbor’s set
the question that looms before us is “How will the research of tools and (b) a photo of my father’s toolkit. My neighbor’s
stories that we tell be different, or will they be different, from
the stories previously told about us by Western research?”1 1
University of Hawai‘i, Honolulu, USA
I begin my qualitative analysis course by suggesting that
Corresponding Author:
if educational researchers who are concerned with challeng- Julie Kaomea, Department of Curriculum Studies, University of Hawai‘i,
ing oppression and promoting social justice want to tell dif- 1776 University Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
ferent, and ultimately more liberating, stories about our Email: julie.kaomea@hawaii.edu

Downloaded from qix.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 4, 2016

100 Qualitative Inquiry 22(2)

toolkit is a shiny, new, and meticulously organized mechan- problem or complete a job. In The Savage Mind, French
ic’s toolkit. Jackson is a college freshman who lives with his anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss (1966) used the term
parents and studies auto mechanics at the local community bricoleur to describe a jack-of-all-trades who is adept at
college. For his last birthday, his parents surprised him with a manipulating and reworking a finite field of intellectual
secondhand car and an elaborate toolkit with ratchets, and/or material resources to carry out a varied set of tasks.
wrenches, and sockets organized systematically in sixteenth- More recently, Denzin and Lincoln (2000) have applied the
inch progressions. When something in his car is in need of concept to qualitative research and have likened qualitative
repair or maintenance, Jackson orders the necessary parts and researcher bricoleurs to quilt makers who use an assortment
reads the detailed instructions or the owner’s manual on how of research strategies, methods, and techniques to develop
to fix it. Following the directions step-by-step, he applies his new perspectives on old problems. When one approaches
tools as indicated and his car is usually back to normal in no research as bricolage, decisions regarding which interpre-
time. tive practices to use are not necessarily made in advance.
My father’s toolkit, however, is a bricoleur’s toolkit. My Instead, the choice of materials and methods are inspired
father is an 84-year-old Native Hawaiian man who has been by, and depend upon, the context. Moreover, if a research
fixing things all his life. He’s what Hawaiians call a laukua bricoleur needs to invent or piece together new tools or
or jack-of-all-trades. Consequently, his toolkit is more var- techniques, he or she will do so (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000).
ied than a mechanic’s toolkit, enabling him to accomplish a As Kincheloe (2008) asserts, the metaphor of research as
diversity of tasks. Like many Hawaiian families, my father’s bricolage is not designed to create “an elite corps of expert
family didn’t have a lot of money when he was growing up. researchers . . . who deploy their authority over others by
Therefore, when things fell into disrepair, he learned to fix excluding them from the conversation about knowledge
them using whatever tools he could find. For this reason, his production” (p. 127). On the contrary, research bricoleurs
toolkit isn’t fancy, shiny, or expensive. It’s simply an assort- value diverse forms of knowledge, especially those knowl-
ment of tools that he’s gathered through the years. edges that have historically been subjugated. They likewise
But my dad can fix just about anything with this toolkit: value the abilities and insights of their research participants.
his car, his grandchildren’s bicycles, the toilets in the house, By drawing upon a variety of methodological, epistemo-
electrical wiring—even the kitchen sink! He didn’t go to logical, and cultural traditions—and seeking insight from
school to learn how to do this, and he doesn’t spend a lot of the margins of Western societies and the ways of knowing
money on tools or spare parts. He just uses his good intuition, of non-Western peoples—bricoleurs make previously
his creativity, and whatever he has at hand to ho‘oku‘iku‘i or repressed features of the social world visible and seek to
piece together a workable solution.2 After he repairs some- challenge the hegemonic status quo.
thing, it may not always look exactly as it had initially or Consistent with the logic of bricolage and its suspicion of
work exactly as it used to, but it always does the job. grand theories and narratives, throughout my qualitative
Another wonderful thing about my father’s toolkit is analysis course, my students and I use theoretical frame-
that, in addition to using his tools to fix things, he also uses works and interpretive methods that are intentionally eclec-
them to build or create contraptions of his own. For instance, tic—mingling, combining, and synthesizing theories and
to this day, my brother and I have fond memories of tearing techniques from disparate disciplines and paradigms
down the steep driveway of our childhood home in a (Kaomea, 2000). Like the traditional Hawaiian proverb that
wooden soapbox car with no brakes and minimal steering, advises “E ‘ai i ka mea loa‘a” (literally “Eat what is avail-
which my father cobbled together using the wheels from able” or more figuratively “Make do with what you can
our sisters’ old roller skates along with scraps of wood, a find”), we do not attach ourselves to any one theoretical per-
discarded hub cap, and a broom handle. Because my father’s spective, but, instead, we “make do” (de Certeau, 1984) with
toolkit doesn’t rely on a set of instructions, it allows him to an assortment of interpretive tools that are suited to our par-
be more creative in what he builds and repairs. ticular analyses. While some of our tools are native or
My qualitative analysis course was developed with these Indigenous (‘ōiwi), others are borrowed or foreign (haole).
two contrasting toolkits in mind. I structure the course as a
collaborative venue in which my students and I support one Ho‘oku‘iku‘i, Quilting and Hawaiian
another in becoming research bricoleurs who strive to
assemble and use analytical toolkits that are more like my
Resistance
father’s than my neighbor’s. A number of Indigenous scholars are understandably skep-
tical of the emancipatory potential of Western tools and
metaphors for research in Indigenous communities and
Bricolage in Historical Perspective argue instead for research rooted in strictly Indigenous
The French word bricoleur refers to a handyman or handy- ways of knowing (see, for instance, Richardson, 2013).
woman who makes use of the tools available to solve a In my course, however, we acknowledge the Hawaiian

Downloaded from qix.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 4, 2016

Kaomea 101

proverb or ‘ōlelo no‘eau that says “‘A‘ohe pau ka ‘ike i ka own. Although fashioned from Western fabric, thread, and
hālau ho‘okahi” (“Not all knowledge is learned in one needles, these Hawaiian quilts evolved as expressions of
school” or “One can learn from many sources”; Pukui, Hawaiian resistance to Western domination and served as
1983, p. 24). symbols of loyalty to their native identity and community.
Hawaiians have a long and successful history of
resourcefully adopting and adapting foreign tools and con- Course Content and Pedagogical
cepts to our own ends. In the mid-1800s, for instance, when
our cultural knowledge and values were being degraded and
Approach
suppressed by Western knowledge and our people were Like the quilters who came before us, in my qualitative
dying off from Western diseases, Hawaiian scholars used analysis course, my students and I adopt and adapt tools and
the combined powers of the missionary-introduced theories from a variety of sources to ho‘oku‘iku‘i or stitch
Hawaiian language orthography and the Gutenberg printing together a rich tapestry of analyses that privilege Indigenous
press to ensure that the stories and wisdom of our people perspectives, expose and “speak back” to Western domina-
would survive into perpetuity. Similarly, after learning the tion, and promote social justice and Indigenous self-deter-
art of quilting and sewing from American Calvinist mis- mination. In the first half of the course, we assemble our
sionaries, who upon their 1820 arrival in Hawai‘i endeav- interpretive toolkits. We begin by reading studies by
ored to civilize and domesticate the native women, Indigenous and social justice researchers who apply multi-
Hawaiians used the needle and thread for their own cultural ple methods of analysis to the interpretation of interview
expression. transcripts, student work samples, and other qualitative
Although the missionaries sought to teach the natives to texts. We then consider whether and how these various tools
quilt and sew to introduce Hawaiians to “civilized” behav- could potentially inform our particular research projects
ior and attire for women, Hawaiians began to use and adapt within our respective communities. When students find
the tools and techniques taught to them by the missionaries tools used in these studies that they think might be relevant
to fashion their own style of quilts through which they to their current or future research, we read further to inves-
voiced their Indigenous beliefs and reasserted their native tigate the origins and possible uses of those particular tools.
identities. For instance, in the years leading up to and fol- Consequently, our reading list is an emergent construction
lowing the United States’s 1893 illegal occupation of the consisting of a myriad of theoretical, methodological, and
Hawaiian nation, the Christian motifs and icons that were applied readings along with relevant, illustrative pieces
originally taught to Hawaiian quilters by American mis- from contemporary literature and popular culture.
sionaries were supplanted by images of Hawaiian flags and By the middle of the semester, we have accumulated an
the Hawaiian coat of arms, which Hawaiian natives wove eclectic assortment of analytical tools, including juxtaposi-
into their quilts as symbols of allegiance to an independent tion (Kaomea, 2000), defamiliarization (Shklovsky, 1965),
Hawaiian nation and resistance to foreign domination. reading erasures (Kaomea, 2003), rhizoanalysis (Deleuze &
There are accounts from this time period of Hawaiian fami- Guattari, 1987), the Hawaiian process of mahiki or peeling
lies sewing Hawaiian flag quilts for their beds and asserting away (Pukui, Haertig, & Lee, 1972), ha‘i mo‘olelo or
that they were born under the Hawaiian flag and intended to Hawaiian storytelling (Kaomea, 2001), counter-storytelling
die under it (Hammond, 1993). Through quilting, Hawaiians (Delgado, 1993), and so on. With our toolboxes overflow-
were able to express their loyalty and political protest in the ing with interpretive tools, we then progress to the second
privacy of their homes at a time when such public symbols phase of the course, in which, we put our toolkits to use as
were forbidden. we assist one another in analyzing the qualitative data that
Likewise, in 1895, when Queen Lili‘uokalani was we have been collecting independently outside of class.
imprisoned in ‘Iolani Palace and the Native Hawaiian popu- Each student selects a piece of qualitative data that he or she
lation was petitioning for the return of the monarchy, the would like the class’ help in interpreting and we work col-
Queen and her companions created a magnificent, nine- laboratively to apply the analytical techniques that we have
panel silk patchwork quilt that simultaneously chronicled collected in our toolkits to assist one another in making
her 10 months of imprisonment and protested the sequence sense of our data.
of events that led to her illegal dethronement and arrest. In preparation for this second phase of the course, I intro-
With two Hawaiian flags sewn into every corner of the cen- duce my students to two mo‘olelo or stories that serve as
ter square, and significant dates and symbols interspersed foundational metaphors or touchstones for us throughout the
throughout, the quilt proudly bears the embroidered names remainder of our time together. The first is the mo‘olelo of
of Lili’uokalani’s supporters who remained steadfast in Queen Lili‘uokalani and her faithful companions who
their allegiance to their queen and their sovereign Hawaiian worked collaboratively with the Queen to create the majestic
nation (Kimokeo-Goes, 2007). Thus, Hawaiians took this nine-panel protest quilt, which I referred to earlier.
established art form of American quilting and made it their Throughout her imprisonment, Lili‘u’s loyal supporters stood

Downloaded from qix.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 4, 2016

102 Qualitative Inquiry 22(2)

by her side and quilted along with her, often adding pieces of examples of the ways that students “make do” with the
their own garments to the quilt and embroidering their names range of analyses and insights that are shared collabora-
in solidarity. At a time when Native Hawaiian voices of resis- tively among the class. Moreover, each panel is a bricolage
tance were silenced and discredited, this collaborative quilt in itself; a clever assemblage of interpretive tools and
provided these women the rare ability to speak. empirical materials that together provide us with new per-
The second mo‘olelo that I share with my students is the spectives on old and enduring social, political, and educa-
story of my father and his “fix it” buddies. Whenever my tional challenges.
father is stumped on a repair project, he phones my uncle
and a couple of friends who come right over with their tool- Panel 1: Reading Erasures and University
kits in hand. My dad explains the problem that he’s having
with his car, the dishwasher, or whatever project he’s work-
Censorship of Hawaiian Community Artwork
ing on, and then, lets the group try their hands at fixing it. At the time of her class data sharing, Haley Kailiehu, a sec-
They take turns “looking under the hood,” share their ond-year doctoral student and Native Hawaiian community
thoughts about what might be wrong, and then roll-up their artist, was coming to terms with a traumatic incident, in
sleeves, get out their tools, and work together to come up which portions of a beautiful on-campus community mural,
with a solution. On other days, when his buddies need help which Haley thoughtfully designed and supervised to com-
and my dad gets “the call,” he packs up his tools and heads pletion, had been censored and painted over by University
over to their place to return the favor. My dad and his bud- of Hawai‘i staff members who originally approved Haley’s
dies can spend hours working on each other’s repair jobs, mural application in conjunction with an upcoming
and they seem to be learning a lot and enjoying themselves University arts festival.3 Haley had organized the commu-
in the process. nity mural project to provide members of the Native
The second half of our qualitative analysis course pro- Hawaiian community an opportunity to convey their aloha
ceeds in a similar fashion, with each of us taking a turn at for the sacred mountain of Mauna a Wākea (also known as
bringing in data that we are struggling with, or that we Mauna Kea) and express their opposition to the University’s
would like another opinion on, and the rest of us rolling up involvement in the proposed construction of the world’s
our sleeves, getting out our interpretive toolkits (or sewing largest telescope at the mountain’s summit. (Because of its
kits), and helping each other bring out the stories that are unique elevation and atmospheric conditions, this sacred
embedded in our data. In the remaining weeks of the semes- summit is the site for a number of Hawaiian cultural and
ter, each student has the opportunity to share his or her religious practices that are conducted nowhere else in the
developing research project and request feedback from the world. It is also home to some of the most unique and frag-
class in two collaborative feedback sessions. The first ses- ile native plants and animals that are found nowhere else on
sion is typically more preliminary and exploratory (e.g., earth.) Approximately 100 Hawaiian community members
asking for classmates’ initial thoughts on an interview tran- and allies participated in the painting of the mural in protest
script or other piece of data), while the second session is of the telescope and the irreparable damage that its con-
more developed and refined (e.g., an oral presentation in struction would bring to the mountain’s cultural and natural
which one shares the progress made in interpreting a tran- resources.
script and asks the class for further feedback and sugges- For her class data sharing, Haley brought in before-and-
tions). Through this collaborative approach, the students’ after photos of the mural. The first was a photo of the mural
varied theoretical and methodological backgrounds are col- upon completion. Proudly flanked by its community artists,
lectively brought to bear on their classmates’ respective the mural features a stunning artistic rendering of the genea-
research topics as each week the class turns their energies to logical connection of Native Hawaiians to this sacred
coming up with useful ways of understanding the case in mountain along with a written critique that asserts “The
question. Working together in this collaborative research University of Hawai‘i cannot be a Hawaiian place of learn-
community, we aim to provide each other with new ing [as stated in the University’s strategic plan] while lead-
resources, new perspectives, and new ideas for telling new ing the desecration of Mauna a Wākea.” The second photo
stories about these and other qualitative texts. of the mural was taken on the morning after the completion
of the community mural project. In this photo, the portion
A Patchwork of Student Research of the mural that proclaimed the community’s message of
resistance, along with chalked in statements of solidarity
Projects from other Indigenous Pacific Islander students, had been
In examples that follow, I offer a patchwork of three student covered over with green paint and a hastily painted adver-
research projects that my class worked on over this past tisement for the University arts festival.
semester: three “panels,” if you will, of a much larger, col- For her course project, Haley chose to analyze this inci-
laborative class quilt. These three panels serve as concrete dent and the accompanying before-and-after photos through

Downloaded from qix.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 4, 2016

Kaomea 103

the application of the interpretive tool of reading erasures. seemed oddly uncanny or distinctively different from the
In our earlier class discussions on interpreting erasures rest. The video in question focused on the moku of Kona,
(Kaomea, 2001, 2003), we considered how educational which encompasses the land division from Moanalua to
researchers who are committed to exposing oppression and Kuli‘ou‘ou. In addition to being home to the children’s ele-
recovering the voices and perspectives of Indigenous and mentary school and a number of wahi pana (culturally sig-
historically marginalized people can move beyond the sur- nificant places), the Kona district is also the location of
face study of dominant texts and attend to situations, per- downtown Honolulu and the tourist center of Waikīkī.
spectives, and circumstances that have been literally or What Anna Lee and her peers found particularly intrigu-
metaphorically buried, written over, or erased. We also ing about the iMovie that the students created for the Kona
explored how attending to erasures can enable educational district was the group’s choice of Disney’s Lilo and Stitch
researchers who strive for more complex and nuanced soundtrack as the dominant background music for their
understandings of the colonialist and oppressive tendencies video. The group’s use of music from this romanticized and
of schooling, to delve behind familiar hegemonic surfaces exoticized Hawai‘i-based Disney comedy drama seemed
and unveil the many masked and insidious ways in which antithetical to the assignment’s intention of encouraging the
various oppressions are reproduced in our schools and students to tell the traditional stories of their native com-
communities. munities in their native voices. To pursue this critical clue
With her classmates’ support and assistance, Haley further, Anna Lee applied the interpretive tool of juxtaposi-
skillfully weaved the analytical tool of reading erasures tion to read (or view) the students’ Kona district video
with settler colonial theory to reveal the ways in which the alongside a Lilo and Stitch movie trailer. As our class had
literal erasure of the Mauna a Wākea mural reflects a discussed in an earlier session, the interpretive tool of juxta-
larger, more insidious, figurative erasure of our native position, or reading a text alongside an unlikely partner
voices, our cultural practices, and our very existence in from another era or genre, can enable researchers to draw
Hawai‘i’s settler dominated society. By drawing a parallel new insights from unlikely comparisons (Kaomea, 2000).
between the settler university staffers’ desecration and Correspondingly, viewing the students’ Kona district
erasure of the Hawaiian community’s words of protest on iMovie and the Lilo and Stitch movie trailer side-by-side
the mural and the settler state’s continued desecration and intensified Anna Lee’s awareness of the Disneyfied, tourist
erasure of sacred Hawaiian lands and associated cultural perspective assumed by the students’ video, which largely
and ceremonial practices, Haley succeeded in heightening consisted of postcard views of Waikīkī tourist attractions,
the community’s awareness of settler colonial erasures including high-rise hotels along the Waikīkī coastline, sun-
and reignited a groundswell of student opposition to the bathing tourists lounging on the sand at Waikīkī beach, and
proposed telescope. evening shots of swaying palm trees and hula dancers amid
an unnaturally pink Hawaiian sunset.
Panel 2: Juxtaposition and Student Community Using this tool of juxtaposition, Anna Lee became more
acutely aware of the difficulty for Indigenous youngsters to
iMovies truly know their native land and perpetuate the native sto-
Anna Lee Puanani Lum is a Native Hawaiian graduate stu- ries of their communities in a settler colonial environment
dent in her fourth year of doctoral studies. She is also a where our native landscape and historic sites have been
classroom teacher at a Native Hawaiian-serving elementary overlaid and obscured by concrete, high-rise urbanization
school where students are bused in from various communi- and mass tourist attractions while our traditional stories
ties throughout the island. For her class data sharing, Anna about these places have likewise been re-written and
Lee chose to analyze a series of iMovies, which were pro- Disneyfied to better appeal to global consumers. This initial
duced by her fourth-grade students in response to a social analysis has motivated Anna Lee to further explore how she
studies assignment that was intended to strengthen the chil- might more effectively apply place-based instructional
dren’s connections to the rich cultural history of the com- methods to better assist her students in peeling back these
munities in which they live. Working in collaborative layers of obfuscation to recuperate and retell more tradi-
groups according to their moku (districts) or home commu- tional stories of their native communities from a native
nities, the students were asked to draw from traditional perspective.
Hawaiian mo‘olelo (stories) of their moku and oral history
interviews with community kūpuna (elders) or long-time Panel 3: Counter-Storytelling and Native
residents to share the cultural history of their community
through the production of an iMovie.
Hawaiian Student Success in Higher Education
In their initial analyses of the student videos, Anna Lee Michaelyn Nakoa is a Native Hawaiian graduate student in
and her classmates used the interpretive tool of critical clues her fourth year of doctoral studies in educational psychology.
(Zizek, 1991) to hone in on one video in particular that She also works as the coordinator of Native Hawaiian

Downloaded from qix.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 4, 2016

104 Qualitative Inquiry 22(2)

student success in the department of student services at a experiences that are not often told (those on the margins of
local community college. In this capacity, she monitors the society), which can serve as a tool for analyzing and chal-
academic progress of Native Hawaiian students and offers lenging the majoritarian story. Thus, counter-storytelling
personal and career counseling, academic advising, and stu- is both a technique of telling the story of experiences that
dent workshops to enhance their academic success. are rarely told and a tool for analyzing and challenging the
As a student success counselor, Michaelyn is all too majoritarian stories of those in power. Counter-stories
familiar with the negative statistics regarding the plight of challenge the perceived wisdom of those at society’s cen-
Native Hawaiians in higher education. For instance, Native ter and provide a context to understand and transform
Hawaiians consistently lag behind their non-Hawaiian established belief systems (Delgado, 1993).
counterparts in terms of academic preparation for higher Consider, for example, the case of one of Michaelyn’s
education and college enrollment. Hawaiian students who former students, Kekoa. Kekoa is Native Hawaiian and
do enroll in college are more likely than students of other the first in his family to attend college. A cursory look at
backgrounds to leave after their first year. Of those who per- Kekoa’s university transcript suggests a majoritarian
sist beyond the first year, their rate of retention until degree story of academic failure. After enrolling in Michaelyn’s
completion is lower than their non-Hawaiian peers, and introduction to college success course, Kekoa dropped
those who do graduate take longer to do so (Balutski & out of school. A couple of years later, he enrolled at
Wright, 2013). another community college campus and dropped out there
Much of the current research on Native Hawaiians in as well. He is currently not enrolled at any institution of
higher education assumes a deficit-based perspective in higher learning.
which the educational experiences of Native Hawaiian As Michaelyn explains, on the basis of Kekoa’s transcript
students are described in terms of cumulative barriers or alone, the University would characterize Kekoa as personally
challenges that ultimately overwhelm the students’ ability failing to attain the goal of community college graduation
to achieve their educational goals. Numerous studies, for and negatively affecting the statistics on Native Hawaiian
instance, paint a picture of Native Hawaiian students who student success. However, a counter-storytelling analysis that
enter higher education with poor academic preparation considers Kekoa’s transcript along with his narrative “educa-
and insufficient financial and/or family support, and ulti- tion plan” and longitudinal data, which Michaelyn acquired
mately fail to thrive in the university environment. As through informal, talk-story conversations with Kekoa when
Michaelyn suggests, although identifying the barriers to he visited her a few years after dropping out of school, pro-
educational achievement is an important component of a vides a more nuanced and optimistic account.
comprehensive understanding of the Native Hawaiian Several years after Kekoa dropped out of college, he
experience in higher education, it is also a very limited stopped by to see Michaelyn at her campus office. He was
perspective as it fails to include stories of Native Hawaiian working for a community organization, helping “at-risk”
student success. youth, which was exactly what he had stated as his career
Michaelyn aimed to reframe these conversations by con- goal in his education plan. In fact, he was on campus that
sidering Native Hawaiian students’ perspectives on their day because he was bringing these youth to the commu-
higher education journeys. With this intention in mind, for nity college for a tour and to encourage them to pursue a
her class data sharing, she brought in her students’ “educa- college education. Thus, while the majoritarian story sug-
tion plans,” which were written at the end of an introductory gests that Kekoa did not succeed in accomplishing the col-
college success course that she teaches, along with students’ lege’s goal of graduation, the counter-story, based on his
academic transcripts and longitudinal data acquired from education plan and his current job of assisting at-risk
students who remained in contact with Michaelyn and youth in pursuing higher education, reveals that he is actu-
shared personal updates on their career trajectories. By ally well on his way to meeting his personal educational
applying critical race theory and counter-storytelling goals and likewise helping others meet their educational
(Delgado, 1993), along with the Hawaiian practice of ha‘i goals as well. Instead of writing Kekoa off as another neg-
mo‘olelo or “talk-story,” to her analyses of these various ative statistic, Michaelyn characterizes Kekoa’s story as
data sources, Michaelyn and her classmates were able to an educational success story (both personally and as a
provide a more hopeful perspective on Native Hawaiians Native Hawaiian) regardless of his lack of formal degree
both within and outside of higher education. attainment. For while he may not have graduated from col-
Critical race theory departs from mainstream scholar- lege, Kekoa is a testament to the fact that we can live ful-
ship by emphasizing the importance of counter-storytelling filling lives without a university credential; that we can
as a methodological and analytical tool. Critical race theo- live, learn, and serve others, throughout our lives, outside
rists distinguish between majoritarian stories, or stories of the academy, whether we choose to focus our efforts on
of those in power, which are a natural part of the domi- the ‘āina (land), in the kai (ocean), or elsewhere in the
nant discourse, and counter-stories, or stories of those community.

Downloaded from qix.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 4, 2016

Kaomea 105

Conclusion the course with a working toolkit that more closely resembles
my neighbor’s rather than my father’s. In most cases, it is
Each semester, I begin my qualitative analysis course, as I simply a matter of maturity. As these students grow, learn,
began this article, by asking my students, How will the and mature as researchers, their toolkits become more varied,
research stories that we tell be different, or will they be dif- and these young researchers who so assiduously clung to
ferent, from the stories previously told about us by Western plans and dominant tools early on become more confident in
researchers? As the “panels” above suggest, my students working without a plan, and improvising and taking on new
answer with a rich tapestry of creative research projects that tools as they follow the interpretive clues to wherever they
powerfully illustrate how the interpretive tools of collabora- might lead. On other occasions, however, it may sometimes
tive analysis and ho‘oku‘iku‘i or bricolage can shed new be the case that a student is so attached to dominant, hege-
light on ongoing struggles for social justice and self-deter- monic perspectives that he or she is initially unwilling or
mination. Haley’s project demonstrates how attending to unable to use tools that critically challenge the status quo.
literal erasures can provide us with an entry to thinking The student might, on the contrary, insist on sticking with
about the many ways in which Indigenous peoples have tools that reaffirm his or her dominant, “commonsense”
been subject to erasure and attempts to eliminate our native understanding of the world as the only “reasonable” one, and
existence. Her project also suggests that we can counter may consequently reassert that dominance through the use of
these erasures through courageous acts of Indigenous sur- mainstream narratives and methodologies.
vival and resistance. Anna Lee’s project demonstrates how In these and all cases, I remind my students that research
a focus on critical clues and juxtaposition can reveal con- is not just about observing and recording but is also about
temporary reproductions of colonial representations of acting in the world (Kincheloe, 2004), and I explain that
Indigenous peoples and can likewise inform future efforts ho‘oku‘iku‘i and bricolage are methods by which we can
to avoid the continual replication of dominant colonial act responsibly toward the world through research. As these
imaginaries. Finally, Michaelyn’s project demonstrates how budding researchers depart from my course with their tool-
critical race theory, counter-storytelling, and the Hawaiian kits in hand, I challenge them to use their newfound tools to
practice of ha‘i mo‘olelo or talk-story can be used to chal- expose injustices, combat oppression, and bring “genuine
lenge deficit models of contemporary Indigenous cultures change” (Lorde, 1984) to their schools and communities.
and enable us to re-read and reframe stories of apparent fail-
ure (in higher education, for instance) as personal and com- Acknowledgments
munity success stories.
The author is grateful to Laura Bisaillon, Elaine Coburn, Nadine
Moreover, these student research projects simultane- Ijaz, and Timothy San Pedro for their helpful feedback on this
ously alert us to critical issues in Native Hawaiian struggles article.
for social justice. The first study draws our attention to the
need for preserving our sacred places, the second to the Declaration of Conflicting Interests
necessity of valorizing Native Hawaiian knowledge against
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect
Western tourist narratives, and the third to the importance of to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
recognizing the value of occupations and activities that
empower the self and the community, whether or not these Funding
activities involve certified schooling.
The author received no financial support for the research, author-
As the students’ tapestry of projects suggest, this
ship, and/or publication of this article.
approach of collaborative bricolage enables us to identify
and challenge taken-for-granted assumptions (the invisible
stitching, if you will) that are sometimes so engrained in our Notes
consciousness that we do not even “see” the dominant sup- 1. Drawing from Smith (2012), I use the term Western research
positions on which our schools and society are based. With to refer to research that is informed by Euro-Western tradi-
these tools, we can produce research that calls attention to tions of classifying and representing the Other and is inex-
and interrogates power rather than reinforcing power (Tuck tricably linked to European imperialism and colonialism.
As agents of colonial power, Western researchers “discov-
& Yang, 2014). We can challenge and counter misrepresen-
ered,” extracted, appropriated, commodified, distributed,
tations of Indigenous people rather than reproducing these
and controlled knowledge about Indigenous peoples. This
representations. And, we can further sovereignty and social tradition of Western research on Indigenous peoples con-
justice rather than inhibit it. tinues in contemporary, postcolonial times and is evident in
Granted, because my course does not offer a step-by-step research projects that convey a sense of Western superiority
framework for conducting research as bricolage, it is not and an inordinate desire to bring “progress” to the lives of
always easy for some students to adopt this methodology. Indigenous peoples while effectively leading in their contin-
There are occasionally one or two students who emerge from ued oppression. Contrastingly, “Indigenous research” refers

Downloaded from qix.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 4, 2016

106 Qualitative Inquiry 22(2)

to research by and for Indigenous peoples that is foremost Kaomea, J. (2003). Reading erasures and making the familiar
concerned with issues of social justice. Indigenous research strange: Defamiliarizing methods for research in formerly col-
challenges Western research that misrepresents and essential- onized and historically oppressed communities. Educational
izes Indigenous people. It strives for Indigenous self-determi- Researcher, 32(2), 14-25.
nation while simultaneously creating spaces for Indigenous Kimokeo-Goes, U. (2007, May 23). The quilt speaks: History,
resistance, critique, and empowerment. gender, and cultural identity in Hawai‘i. Paper presented
2. Throughout this article, my use of the reduplicated term at the annual meeting of the International Communication
ho‘oku‘iku‘i draws from Pukui and Elbert’s (1986) defini- Association, San Francisco, CA.
tion of ho‘oku‘i (to join, stitch, sew splice, unite) as well as Kincheloe, J. L. (2004). Introduction: The power of the bricolage,
Andrews’s (1865) and Andrew and Parker’s (1922) defini- expanding research methods. In K. Berry & J. Kincheloe
tions of ho‘oku‘iku‘i (to unite, join together; unite by sewing; (Eds.), Rigour and complexity in educational research
to splice; to extend or repair by adding pieces). (pp. 1-22). Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
3. I requested and received permission to use the names of the Kincheloe, J. L. (2008). Critical pedagogy primer (2nd ed.). New
three graduate students featured in the student examples. All York, NY: Peter Lang.
other names in this article are pseudonyms. Lévi-Strauss, C. (1966). The savage mind. Chicago, IL: University
of Chicago Press.
References Lorde, A. (1984). Sister outsider. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press.
Pukui, M. K. (1983). ‘Ōlelo no`eau [Hawaiian proverbs & poeti-
Andrews, L. (1865). A dictionary of the Hawaiian language.
cal sayings]. Honolulu, HI: Bishop Museum Press.
Honolulu, HI: Henry M. Whitney.
Pukui, M. K., & Elbert, S. (1986). Hawaiian dictionary. Honolulu:
Andrews, L., & Parker, H. (1922). A dictionary of the Hawaiian
University of Hawai‘i Press.
language. Honolulu: The Board of Commissioners of Public
Pukui, M. K., Haertig, E. W., & Lee, C. A. (1972). Nānā i ke kumu
Archives of the Territory of Hawai‘i.
[Look to the source] (Vol. I). Honolulu, HI: Hui Hānai.
Balutski, B. J., & Wright, E. (2013). Native Hawaiian student pro-
Richardson, T. A. (2013). Indigenous knowledge and the machin-
file 2012. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i.
ist metaphors of the bricoleur researcher. International
de Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley:
Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26, 780-801.
University of California Press.
Shklovsky, V. (1965). Art as technique. In L. T. Lemon & M. J.
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism
Reis (Eds.), Russian formalist criticism (L. T. Lemon & M. J.
and schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Reis, Trans.) (pp. 3-24). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Delgado, R. (1993). On telling stories in school: A reply to Farber
Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and
and Sherry. Vanderbilt Law Review, 46, 665-676.
Indigenous peoples (2nd ed.). London, England: Zed Books.
Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (2000). Introduction: The discipline and
Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2014). R-words: Refusing research.
practice of qualitative research. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln
In D. Paris & M. Winn (Eds.), Humanizing research:
(Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 1-28).
Decolonizing qualitative inquiry with youth and communities
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
(pp. 223-248). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Hammond, J. (1993). Hawaiian flag quilts: Multivalent sym-
Zizek, S. (1991). Looking awry: An introduction to Jacques Lacan
bols of a Hawaiian quilt tradition. The Hawaiian Journal of
through popular culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
History, 27, 1-26.
Kaomea, J. (2000). A curriculum of aloha? Colonialism and tour-
ism in Hawai‘i’s elementary textbooks. Curriculum Inquiry, Author Biography
30, 319-344. Julie Kaomea is a Native Hawaiian professor in the College of
Kaomea, J. (2001). Dilemmas of an Indigenous academic: A Education at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Her research
Native Hawaiian story. Contemporary Issues in Early examines the enduring effects of colonialism in Native Hawaiian
Childhood, 2(1), 67-82. and other Indigenous educational communities.

Downloaded from qix.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 4, 2016