0302 - Made in Hawai’i: Reimagining and Reshaping How we Value Interventions Based on Hawaiian Cultural Concepts
Course Description
Evaluation is a formal method of assigning worth. In our daily lives, we engage in both formal and informal valuation processes to make countless decisions: what to eat for a meal, whether to walk or drive to which grocery store, which educational institution to go to, and which travel route to take. All these decisions go through an implicit and explicit process of valuations.
Addressing evaluation questions is not a simple matter of data and a rational calculus of facts and numbers; many evaluations require considerations of history, culture, historical experiences (including trauma) and also language. As many Pacific countries continue to grapple with the profound impacts of colonization, there is a growing need for approaches to valuing that focus on communities' history, culture, trauma, and language. The increasing calls for "Pacific approaches to learning and evaluation" and integrating a "Pacific way" highlight the importance of learning how different cultures value. Engaging with culture and recognizing the limitations of conventional evaluation frameworks not only promotes good science but also builds community buy-in for evaluations. An approach that acknowledges the incompleteness of traditional evaluation methods can foster greater humility and lead to increased community engagement in the evaluation process. This course will discuss one overarching question: How does a consideration of Hawaiian cultural concepts inform the valuation process?
Several Hawaiian concepts that can enrich the process of valuing will be discussed including:
1. The cultural context of knowledge
2. 'Aina, physical place and knowing
3. The cultural nature of the senses
4. The critical nature of relationships
5. Cultural ideas of causality
6. Holistic worldviews that argue against the separation of body and mind
Facilitators
Sanjeev Sridharan is Professor of Health Policy Evaluation at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer is currently the Konohiki for Kulana o Kapolei -- A Hawaiian Place of Learning at the University of Hawai‘i–West O‘ahu.