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He ʻike ʻana ia i ka pono (it is a recognizing of the right thing): how one indigenous worldview informs relational values and social values

  • Special Feature: Original Article
  • Theoretical traditions in social values for sustainability
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A Correction to this article was published on 26 November 2020

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Abstract

The ideas of relational values and social values are gaining prominence in sustainability science. Here, we ask: how well do these value conceptions resonate with one Indigenous worldview? The relational values concept broadens conceptions of values beyond instrumental and intrinsic values to encompass preferences and principles about human relationships that involve more-than-humans. The social values concept, an umbrella idea, captures a plurality of values related to society and the common good. After a general description of these two concepts as expressed in the Western peer-reviewed literature, we adopt the lens of relational values to engage with decades of scholarly work and millennia of wisdom based on Indigenous Hawaiian worldviews. We describe five long-standing Hawaiian values that embody notions of appropriate relationships, including human–ecosystem relationships: pono (~ righteousness, balance); hoʻomana (~ creating spirituality); mālama (~ care); kuleana (~ right, responsibility); aloha (~ love, connection). We find that all five resonate deeply with, and help to enrich, relational value concepts. We then draw on these Hawaiian values to discuss differences between relational values and social values frameworks; though both concepts add useful elements to the discourse about values, the relational values concept may be particularly well positioned to represent elements often important to indigenous worldviews—elements such as reciprocity, balance, and extension of “society” beyond human beings. As global processes (e.g., IPBES) commit to better reflecting Indigenous and local knowledge and embrace diverse value concepts as (purported) avenues toward representing values held by diverse communities, our findings suggest that relational values offer special promise and a crucial contribution.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Reproduced with permission

Fig. 3

Photograph by Leah Bremer

Fig. 4

Photographs by Rachelle Gould

Fig. 5

Photograph by Leah Bremer

Fig. 6

Photograph by Rachelle Gould

Fig. 7

Photograph by Rachelle Gould

Fig. 8

Photograph by Rachelle Gould

Fig. 9

Photograph by Māhealani Pai

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  • 26 November 2020

    In the original publication of the article, under the section.

Notes

  1. For analysis of the cycle of gift giving and gift reciprocating as the basis for the social bond, see also Mauss (2002) and Graeber (2014).

  2. Though most discussions of relational values focus on desirable or positive values, relational values can also refer to negative states (Pascual et al. 2017).

  3. Kenter et al. also add with respect to the valuer or, in their language, provider, that social values are cultural, communal, and group values. We do not address this dimension in the paper.

  4. According to Muraca (2016), the subject–object distinction is challenged in a relational framework, as in some cases relationships can be constitutive of what people are.

  5. Held suggests we consider care as both practice and as value (Held 2006).

  6. Video footage and information on the show are available at: http://www.uvm.edu/rsenr/rgould/PonoMeKa/ponomekaaina.html.

  7. In stories from ancient Hawaiʻi, process does not figure prominently in discussions of values. The society was hierarchical, not democractic in a Western sense. But after the arrival of missionaries, hoʻoponopono—the practice of creating pono—was developed (Chun 2011). The history of hoʻoponopono is complex, but to many, it blends an emphasis on Hawaiian ideals with more discourse-based practices imported by missionaries. It became an important and much-celebrated part of the culture that has received attention from a variety of Western sources, from scholarly efforts to make social work more culturally responsive (Coates et al. 2006) to popular culture calls for non-violent communication (evident in, for instance, URLs of websites that describe the process, e.g., http://www.laughteronlineuniversity.com/practice-hooponopono-four-simple-steps/; https://upliftconnect.com/hawaiian-practice-of-forgiveness/; http://www.presentlove.com/hooponopono/).

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Acknowledgements

The ʻolelo in the title is number 620 in ʻOlelo Noʻeau, a book of Hawaiian sayings compiled by Mary Kawena Pukui (1997); we are grateful to Ms. Pukui for collecting and recording thousands of such sayings. We thank the editors of this special feature, particularly Jasper Kenter, who provided extremely thoughtful and detailed comments, and three anonymous reviewers; the feedback greatly improved our manuscript. We also thank Leah Bremer for finding and photographing examples of how Hawaiian ‘values’ terms are used in Hawaiʻi today.

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Gould, R.K., Pai, M., Muraca, B. et al. He ʻike ʻana ia i ka pono (it is a recognizing of the right thing): how one indigenous worldview informs relational values and social values. Sustain Sci 14, 1213–1232 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-019-00721-9

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