Big Island, Little Planet:

Hawaiian, Polynesian, and Global Perspectives on Nature, Culture, and Healing

A 3-Credit Travel Intensive in Polynesia, on the Big Island of Hawaii

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Join a small group of nature lovers on the Big Island of Hawaii, on the slopes of the world’s largest live volcano, Mauna Loa. Ethnobotanist Kathleen Harrison and Hawaiian cultural teacher Momi Subiono will lead this 12-day, 11-night field course, which is open to students of Goddard College, students of other schools, and non-students of all ages. A Goddard advisor will accompany the group, to help facilitate reflection and integration of experiences and new learning.

This travel intensive is for people of all ages who have a desire to immerse themselves in the story of plants and a deep awareness of place, experienced through the cultural perspective of Hawaii and its traditions, as they are evolving into the 21st century. We will share examples of global ethnobotany and the principles of interaction that are made evident by the nature-human relationship in many parts of the world. The history of plants in human cultures sets the context for learning about specific cultural examples wherever you are. Together, we will engage our senses, minds and hearts in clearly understanding how to see nature in a new light, and how to appreciate the intelligence and adaptation of earth-based human societies over the millennia.

Accommodations will be provided at the Ah Paradise Bed & Breakfast overlooking the ocean near Kona, Hawaii. Magnificent, healthy meals will be provided by our chef. A Goddard advisor will help co-facilitate in open air classrooms and on field trips.

To learn about the varied offerings available at the program, contact:
Kathleen Harrison (Kathleen.Harrison@goddard.edu) or
Suzanne Richman (Suzanne.Richman@goddard.edu)

Field Trips

• Pu’u Honua o Honaunau: Place of Refuge
• Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden
• Ho’okena Beach Park
• Kilauea Volcano & Punalu’u Beach Park
• Halemaumau Caldera at the volcano
• Botanical Dimensions’ Hawaii Project
• Northeastern Coast: Island Canyons, Waimea or Pololu

• Ancestral hunting and gathering, indigenous farming & conservation
• The Silk Road and the Spice Trade: plants, imperialism and colonization
• The history and post-colonial reality of Hawaii
• Polynesian/oceanic knowledge systems and Island cultures
• Ethnoscience and the oral tradition
• Culture from Plants: tools, containers, cordage, textiles, dyes, music
• Cultural concepts of health and illness
• Shamanism, Light & Darkness: journeying, protecting, curing
• Bringing this travel experience home

Community Action and Service
In partnership with the non-profit organization, Botanical Dimensions, participants will be guided to perform service to the island ecology. By engaging in a plant restoration project on the Big Island participants will be able to return home with a greater capacity to protect and promote place-based natural and community systems as part of a larger world-wide movement for creating durable and resilient social and ecological communities.


Core Facilitators for Big Island, Little Planet Travel Intensive:

Kathleen (Kat) Harrison is an ethnobotanist who works particularly with indigenous ways of perceiving and interacting with nature, via myths, rituals, and the hidden layers of relationship with ecology, food plants, medicine plants, and visionary species. She has done recurrent fieldwork for 35 years in Latin America and has lived in Hawaii on and off for decades, building a deep love for and knowledge of Hawaii. Her organization, Botanical Dimensions, has initiated international botanical and ethno-medical projects since 1985. She teaches field courses for U. of Minnesota and U. of Missouri. Kat will complete her MA at Goddard in 2011, in Health Arts & Sciences, so she understands the unique Goddard perspective on experiential learning and integration of knowledge.

Momi Subiono is a Native Hawaiian Cultural/Ethnobotany teacher who has worked closely within the schools in Kona, and throughout the islands for the past fifteen years, teaching Hawaiian Ethnobotany in relation to traditional uses of plants in the Hawaiian lifestyle. Her focus is on edible and medicinal plants, and her personal mission is to share the truth about Hawai`i through the stories, plants and sense of place. She’s a cultural artist who has learned many Hawaiian arts through experience and upbringing.

We will be led by curiosity, joy and immersion in experiential learning! Come join us!