Furniture Fit for a Queen: How a Table Led the Way to Building an Inclusive Community Approach to Archival Acquisitions

Abstract

Radical empathetic access theory builds the framework to envision the archives as memory institutions and encourages archivists to redefine ourselves as stewards. When we as archivists practice empathy, we can learn and document all narratives. The root of archival sovereignty is to build an inclusive community that recognizes indigenous oral traditions as an archival practice. Moving beyond decolonization towards indigenization is to adapt a broader theory like radical empathetic access and apply it through a cultural practice. Aloha ʻāina is comprised of three major tenets: to recite genealogies (moʻokūʻauhau), to tell the stories (moʻolelo), and the responsibility (kuleana) to share the knowledge. This article will provide a case study on how this author moves through each affective responsibility of the radical empathetic access theory, while practicing aloha ʻāina in helping to return the Queen’s table to her home, Washington Place. E ʻonipaʻa i ka ʻimi naʻauao./Be steadfast in the seeking of knowledge. —Queen Liliʻuokalani ʻOnipaʻa was the motto of Queen Liliʻuokalani (1838-1917), last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom between 1891 to 1893 (Figure 1). To be steadfast, solid, and immovable, ʻonipaʻa was meant to encourage her people to remain together, to move forward. Despite the overthrow of the Queen in 1893, she remains an enduring symbol of hope for kānaka ʻōiwi (Native Hawaiians). The mana or energy that flows through every aspect of the lāhui (group) connects kānaka ʻōiwi to each other, the land, and the cosmos. It is aloha ʻāina and to practice and honor this movement is to be steadfast in understanding the lifeforce or ea. Aloha ʻāina allows me as an archivist to reimagine myself as a caretaker of my place, its collections, and the connections to my lāhui. It is my kuleana or responsibility to seek the knowledge, to respect what is shared, and preserve to ensure its continuation. This article will provide a case study on how building an inclusive community starts with the archivist learning the place, Washington Place, recognizing the moʻokūʻauhau or connections to the creator and subject, listening to the moʻolelo or stories of the users and unseen users, and having the kuleana or responsibility to build relationships between archivists to preserve the knowledge. As I strived to practice each tenet or value, the acquisitions process became the kānaka ʻōiwis’ narrative of returning Queen Liliʻuokalani’s table home.