From a Native Daughter’s Native Daughter — On Lessons Learned from Kumu Haunani

Abstract

This article is from a Native daughter’s Native daughter. Interspersing poetry and prose, I share some of the lessons I learned from Kumu Haunani-Kay. I also discuss how her activism, teaching, and written work have served as contributions to her role not only as Kumu but also as a Native daughter, who essentially mothered other Native daughters of Oceania—such as myself, a Chamoru woman from Guåhan—who now continue the work that she so bravely and so fiercely started. Her life and contributions taught us of our responsibility to our respective communities and homelands as well as to our other siblings across Oceania.