Building World Peace, Local Style

Presented by historian Heather Fryer, Ph.D. on September 21, 2023 at the Hakalau Jodo Mission in conjunction with our celebration of International Peace Day.
Heather Fryer is a freelance historian based in Hakalau, Hawaii. She began community-based historical research in Hakalau and Hilo in 2018, which culminated in the PBS documentary film Shinmachi: Stronger Than a Tsunami and is preparing to launch a Hakalau oral history project in early 2024. She was professor of history and director of the American Studies Program at Creighton University from 2004-2021 and executive editor of Peace & Change: a Journal of Peace Research from 2015-2022. One of her most popular courses at Creighton University was “Waging Peace in the 20th Century.” This talk connects some of these global historical themes to the plantation values that have sustained our local communities for generations and offers small ways to wage peace in our everyday lives on the Hamakua Coast.
For the Hakalau Kuleana, our responsibility is to care for the land, the people, and the culture. We are guided by cultural values of YESTERDAY: Engage in collective effort. Look out for each other. Honor hard work. Show respect for those who came before us. Aloha and Mālama `Aina. In 2021, Akiko Masuda added two more values to the list: Consistently show up. Whatever has to be done, jump in and do it!