Since the late 1980s, it has been common knowledge that colonial-era violence of the 1890s through the early twentieth century had resulted in the creation of countless Indigenous mass graves across Ayau’s homeland.
Photo by Dane Uluwehi Maxwell
That societal wound, thought by many to be long buried in the past, continues to resurface on the mainland United States as well as throughout the Hawai‘ian archipelago.
Now it was clear to Edward Halealoha Ayau that backhoes had just unearthed hundreds of iwi kūpuna—bones of ancestors. The event certainly was newsworthy and soon sparked local resistance, ultimately resulting in the hotel’s having to move farther inland.
But for the young law student, the experience would prove transformative. “It was the most painful thing I ever experienced,” Ayau says, looking back on the moment.
Photo by SPK / photothek.net / Felix Zahn
From that day forward, he intimately understood that the work of cross-cultural repair would require much more than legal training.
The tension Ayau recognized to himself that momentous day arguably sits at the heart of all repatriation work: The law can compel institutions to act, but it cannot compel them to care.
About the Henry Luce Foundation:
Through 7,500 grants totalling more than $1.3 billion, the Henry Luce Foundation has played a critical role in strengthening the field of Asia studies, encouraging interfaith understanding, raising the visibility of American art in museums and universities, and closing the gender gap in STEM research and teaching.
