WHO
WE
ARE
LINKING HAWAIʻI'S PAST TO REVITALIZE ITS FUTURE
Nohopapa Hawaiʻi provides a wide range of Hawaiian cultural resource management services to assist agencies, organizations, private land owners, and communities in protecting and restoring important wahi kūpuna (ancestral places) in order to re-establish loina kūpuna (cultural traditions). The term “noho papa” means to “reside in a place over the course of generations.” It is the mission of our organization to strengthen generational ties and time-honored commitments between communities and their lands once again. “Noho” means to “become situated,” while “papa” can also mean “layers,” recognizing that in order to create healthy communities, they must be firmly situated within the rich layers of historical meaning possessed by our Hawaiian places. It is a relationship between people and ʻāina that continually deepens as knowledge expands and people themselves become established as a foundational component of the land.
OUR VALUES
OUR LOGO
The Nohopapa Hawaiʻi logo design is a traditional concept called “pāhono” used as an ancient stamping print and also as a method of mending or repairing splits in objects. The term pāhono can be understood to mean “collectively unifying,” referring to an ancient ritual done during the ʻaha ceremonies by our illustrious chiefs to pull the people together in an effort to acquire mana from the ancestral gods.
The design column utilizes both positive and negative space to create different dimensions of cultural meaning for our logo. The positive space creates a distinct image of a vertical sequence that represents the moʻokūʻauhau (genealogy) and the inherent kuleana that goes with being from a particular place over generations. Genealogy is a core aspect of our company identity because we understand in order to know where we are going, we must know where and who we came from.
The negative space creates the inverse image and layered meaning of the binding that occurs through wedges (pewa) across temporal dimensions of past, present, future. Balancing cultural integrity and modernity are central themes in the services we provide. This unique logo demonstrates how we incorporate the strengths of the traditional Hawaiian and modern Western knowledge systems into the work we do.
Hoʻonohopapa
To encourage and facilitate the process where one becomes noho papa in a place; to arrange, put in order
Aloha ʻĀina
To have a deep and cherished love for the land which created and sustains us
Kuleana
To view our work as both a privilege and responsibility
Hoʻomau
To recognize, appreciate, and encourage the preservation, perpetuation, and continuity of our wahi pana and lāhui
Moʻokūʻauhau
To honor and acknowledge the genealogies of both ʻāina and kānaka
Haʻahaʻa
To be humble, modest, unassuming, unobtrusive, and maintain humility
Makaʻala
To be alert, vigilant, watchful, and wide awake in our hana
ʻIke Pono
To recognize, feel, and understand righteousness, properness and goodness in all we do
