What Returns, What Remains - Hawaiian Landscape and Dis/Possession

Explore the complex issues of repatriation, cultural heritage, and Indigenous relationships to land and ancestors in this thought-provoking lecture by Professor Hiʻilei Hobart. Delve into the story of 14 Hawaiian ancestral remains repatriated from Cambridge, England, and examine the broader implications of their possession, return, and interpretation. Engage with theories of haunting from Indigenous and Black studies to challenge settler colonial structures and their impact on Hawaiian spiritual connections and placemaking. Discover the Native Hawaiian concept of hoʻopahulu and its relevance to understanding spectral placemaking beyond colonial geographies. Gain insights into contemporary Hawaiian cultural geographies and their resistance to possessive logics, offering a nuanced perspective on relationships that transcend the boundaries of the American state.

The Environment Forum with Hiʻilei Hobart | What Returns, What Remains