The Hawaiian Renaissance: Using Participatory Action Research (PAR) to Document Meanings of a Cultural Live-in Center (CLC) within Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park

In Kailua-Kona, on the island of Hawai'i, a Native Hawaiian group (Makani Hou o Kaloko-Honokohau) is working in cooperation with the National Park Service (NPS) to develop a kauhale (a group of Hawaiian houses) as part of a live-in center (CLC) for education and Hawaiian cultural immersion. The main focus of the study was to investigate and analyze primary questions asked by the main participants, such as the best way to develop the educational curriculum, how to use Hawaiian methods in a western context, and how to work effectively with a federal agency such as the National Park Service (NPS).;The results of the study showed that Makani Hou and the National Park Service have worked efficiently together for the last three years to lay the foundation for a successful replication of an authentic Native Hawaiian live-in center; and that the Cultural Live In Center will further the progress achieved by Native Hawaiians. The study also revealed that the Makani Hou participants perceived the establishment of a CLC as an appropriate method of practicing and perpetuating Native Hawaiian educational and cultural traditions at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park and that they see it as a bridge to the past, recapturing and reconnecting them to ancient understandings from which they have been disconnected.