Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 2, 1 Pepeluali 2006 — Burial dispute goes to mediation [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Burial dispute goes to mediation

Target date of Feb. 24 set to resolve conflict over Kawaihae cave objects

By Sterling Kini Weng Publications Editor The groups involved in the lawsuit over 83 eultural objects buried in a Kawaihae cave complex have agreed to try to resolve their dispute through mediation based on Hawaiian values. In recognition of the sensitive cultural nature of the case, U.S. District Judge David Ezra decided to delay his order to retrieve the objects and allowed the groups to try to resolve the dispute on their own. A target date of Feb. 24 has been set for the groups to reach an agreement. On Jan. 17, Ezra also released from custody Edward Halealoha Ayau, the leader of the burial repatriation group Hui Mālama i nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i nei, so he could participate in the mediation process. Ayau spent three weeks in Honolulu's federal detention center after he refused to provide Ezra with information on the precise loeation of the buried objects, and the judge charged him with eon-

tempt of court. As a condition of his release, Ayau will remain under home detention and must wear a monitoring device. Ayau has maintained throughout the trial that he would not under any circumstances provide information that would lead to the retrieval of the artifacts, an act he characterizes as a desecration of a burial site and a violation of his religious beliefs. 'Ready for inediation' Meanwhile, U.S. Magistrate Kevin Chang, appointed as the supervisor for the negotiations, named two Hawaiian mediators who will work with the groups: Kamehameha Schools trustee and traditional navigator Nainoa Thompson, and Earl Kawa'a, the coordinator of a Kamehameha Schools outreach program in Waimānalo. Ayau said that while he is firm in his stance that the objects should not be removed from the cave, he's still looking forward to working with the other parties to settle the dispute. "We

were ready for mediation from day one," he said. "That would have been our preferred mode of dealing with this." Others, however, elaim that Hui Mālama forced the lawsuit, pointing out that in March 2005 Ayau told a federial burials review committee that the appropriate forum for the dispute to be resolved was a "court of competent jurisdiction." La'akea Suganuma, president of the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, whieh has advocated returning the objects to Bishop Museum, said that two attempts at resolving the dispute were made prior to the lawsuit, but they both ended with the sides still in disagreement. "We've tried before," Suganuma said. "Maybe the third time is magic." The cultural objects were first taken from the Kawaihae caves - whieh also contain Hawaiian human remains, or iwi - in 1905, and shortly afterward they were sold to Bishop Museum. The current controversy started

in February 2000, when the museum loaned the items to members of Hui Mālama, who then reburied them in the caves. In August of last year, the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts and Nā Lei Ali'i Kawānanakoa sued Hui Mālama and Bishop Museum, demanding that the items be retrieved so that the federal burial repatriation process ean resume. Moepū or hidden objects? At the center of the dispute is a collection of unique cultural objects that include two wooden female figures, two 'aumākua (ancestral guardian) statues and several bowls. Hui Mālama insists that the objects are moepū, or funerary items, that belong to the people buried in the cave and should not be removed. Some disagree, however, saying that the objects weren't actually found with the iwi, but in a separate chamber of the caves, hidden away after Queen Ka'ahumanu ordered that all items of worship be destroyed following the abolishment of the 'ai kapu system in 1819. This disagreement over exactly what these cultural objects are appears to have been occurring since the early 20th century. In 1906, former Bishop Museum Director William Brigham wrote that "there is nothing in the collection to support" the theory that the objects were hidden from being destroyed after 1819, saying the items were "household deities" and "personal keepsakes" of those buried in the caves. However, a document located in one of the Bishop Museum's collections states otherwise. The document is from the eollection of Edgar Henriques, who compiled oral histories of Hawai'i, and his wife, Lucy Kalaniki'eki'e Davis, both of whom died in the early 1930s. The document, possibly written by either Edgar or Lucy, says that at least one of the figures found in Kawaihae was "hidden in a burial cave [ . . . ] at the time of the destruction of idols." S

There has been some confusion ūs to who exactly the clūimonts to the Kowūihoe culturol objects ore ond where eoeh of them stonds on the disposition of the items. Bishop Museum has recognized 14 clūimants in the case. However, Hui Mālama argues that Nā Lei Ali'i Kawānanakoa should not be a claimant because it was recognized five years after the objects were reburied. Here's a picture of the current positions of the clūimants on where the cultural objects belong, gleaned from various press releases, court documents and other sources: • Hawaiian Genealogy Society • Kekumano 'Ohana • Keohokālole 'Ohana • Nā Lei Ali'i Kawānanakoū • Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts • Van Horn Diamond 'Ohana • Department of Hawaiian Home Lands • Hawūi'i lsland Burial Oouneil • Hui Mālama i nā Kūpuna o Hawūi'i nei • Nation of Hawai'i • Native Hawaiian Advisory Oouneil • Pu'uhonua o Waimānalo • Office of Hawaiian Affairs. (A July 2000 board of trustees vote on a motion to support the retrieval of the items from the caves ended in a four-four tie, with one trustee absent. The board has not taken up the issue since.) • Nā Papa Kanaka o Pu'ukōhola Heiau. (In December, the group's head, Ma'ulili Dickson, released ū statement saying that the group wants the objects to remain in the cave complex until all the parties ean agree on ū solution. However, Mel Kalāhiki, the group's advisor who also has family ties to Kawaihae, has said he wants the objects returned to the museum.)

NŪ HOU • NEWS

ln January, Hui Mālama i nā Kāpuna o Hawai'i nei leaāer Eāwarā Halealoha Ayau, pictureā with his wife, musician anā educator Kainani Kahaunaele, was releaseā from prison to participate in a meāiahon process for the Kawaihae caves āispute. Photo: Sterling Kini Wong