Kuku Kapa and Pilina ʻĀina: Barkcloth-Making and Relationships with Nature

In 2023, as a graduate student in the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science (TCBES) Program at UH Hilo, Avalon Paradea conducted an oral history project interviewing kupuna kapa (Hawaiian barkcloth) practitioners. Kapa was historically the fabric of Hawaiʻi, used for clothing, bedding, funeral shrouds, and for ceremonial purposes. With the arrival of European textiles in the late 18th century, kapa making rapidly declined and was seldom made less than a century later. During the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1960s and 70s, kapa was revived through the dedicated research and experimentation of several pioneering Hawaiian women. Today, our kapa community is growing, with over a dozen kumu and expanding numbers of haumāna. Avalon sought out five cherished kupuna kapa makers to interview: Roen Hufford, Dalani Tanahy, Wesley Sen, Kaʻiulani de Silva, and Verna Takashima. Avalon's focus was to explore the various pilina, or relationships, that these individuals hold with the ʻāina they rely on, the communities they are part of, and with this practice, itself. Along with their recorded interviews and transcripts, Avalon created a StoryMap that visually honors their work and their words linked here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/112af3c977b3488cb5691e2abf6cf31d. Individual transcripts and audio will be uploaded soon.