Posted on: Friday, November 12, 2004
Two more groups seek Moloka'i objects
| • | Burials law is focus of workshop |
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
The tally of groups competing for title to a pair of Moloka'i burial objects has risen to three, with a new group headed by a Campbell Estate heir and, as of yesterday, a traditional-arts organization submitting their claims under a federal burials protection law.
Na Lei Ali'i Kawananakoa, a group incorporated in September by Campbell heiress Abigail Kawananakoa, and the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts have submitted claims to the Bishop Museum for a small wood image from an unknown Moloka'i cave and a cowrie shell taken from the island's Mo'omomi sand dunes.
La'akea Suganuma, president of the academy, wrote in his letter dated Nov. 11 that his group's primary purpose is the practice of the Hawaiian martial art known as lua. But he emphasized the academy's involvement in other aspects of native culture.
"We have trained and have members on and from Moloka'i, as well as those, like myself, who can trace their ancestry there," he wrote.
Kawananakoa could not be reached for comment. However, museum registrar Malia Baron said that her written petition bases the group's claim on Kawananakoa's genealogy.
"As a Native Hawaiian organization, they're asserting cultural affiliation based on lineal kinship through Abigail Kawananakoa's chiefly descent, which encompasses the ruling chiefs of Moloka'i," Baron said.
Baron said it's not clear whether Kawananakoa's royal lineage gives her priority in the claim.
"This is what we have to figure out, and this is the part I'm not looking forward to," she said.
Other members of the group are Hawaiian scholars Rubellite Johnson and Edith McKinzie. McKinzie could not be reached yesterday. Johnson said her involvement is primarily as a researcher to establish genealogical links that are helpful in such claims under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
The first group to claim the items was Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, a nonprofit burials protection organization.
Hui Malama has filed a formal NAGPRA complaint because the museum has not "repatriated," or returned, the items to Native Hawaiians.
The group's complaint also concerns the failure of the museum to offer a third item, a niho palaoa, or rock oyster pendant.
Reach Vicki Viotti at 525-8053 or vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com.
