Indigenous Rights and Controversy over Hawaii’s Maunakea Telescope

This mini-lesson is designed to be adaptable. You can use the activities in sequence or choose a selection best suited to your classroom. It includes:

• 2 activities 
• 1 handout
• Recommended articles and videos for exploring this topic

• Hawaii Public Radio and Hawaii News Now are great resources to learn more about the Maunakea protests and other Hawaiian issues.
• To learn more about Native Hawaiian cultural and language revival, listen to the podcast episode E Ola Ka 'Olelo Hawai'i from NPR’s Codeswitch.
• The World Resources Institute documents strategies indigenous groups around the world use to protect their land in their article 5 Ways Indigenous Groups Are Fighting Back Against Land Seizures.
• The Carrizo-Comecrudo nation and the Tohono O’odham nation both are working to block the construction of portions of the planned border wall between the United States and Mexico. Read more about their efforts in the USA Today article A border Tribe, and the Wall That Will Divide It and in the Indian Country Today article Carrizo-Comecrudo Block Construction on Border Wall with Cease and Desist Order.
• In 2016, members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their allies worked to block the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which they claim violated their sovereignty and disrupted their land. Read more about the Dakota Pipeline dispute in Vox’s article, The Battle over the Dakota Access Pipeline, Explained.

For more background information on the protests, read the Vox article Why Native Hawaiians Are Fighting to Protect Maunakea from a Telescope.

1. The protests against the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope are part of a historical struggle over sovereignty in Hawaii. Use the timeline located on the Hawaii’s Legacy of Colonialism handout  to introduce students to some of the key events in the history of Hawaii’s colonization.
   Discuss the timeline with your students using the Connect-Extend-Challenge teaching strategy. The questions below are also located on the handout.
   • Connect: Is there anything in this timeline that connects to what you already knew about the history of Hawaii or the history of indigenous peoples in other places?
   • Extend: How does the information in this timeline extend or broaden your understanding of Hawaiian or US history?
   • Challenge: Does this timeline challenge or complicate your understanding of Hawaiian or US history? What new questions does it raise for you?

1. Maunakea is on land that was owned by the crown during Hawaii’s monarchy and then ceded to the state government when Hawaii became a state. Right now, the state of Hawaii leases the summit of Maunakea to the University of Hawaii. After a lengthy review process, construction of the telescope was scheduled to begin on July 15, 2019.
   Begin by playing the first portion of the NBC Left Field video Why Native Hawaiians Protesting Giant Telescope on Mauna Kea Aren't Going Anywhere, stopping the video at 3:22. Ask your students:
   • What reasons do the protestors in the video give for why they oppose the construction of the telescope?
   • What reasons does the representative of TMT, Gordon Squires, give in favor of building the telescope?
   • Many Native Hawaiians see Maunakea as a cultural heritage site. What places or buildings are significant to your own cultural heritage? How do you think cultural heritage sites should be protected?
2. Then, ask students to read the excerpt from Smithsonian Magazine’s “The Heart of the Hawaiian Peoples’ Arguments Against the Telescope on Mauna Kea” included on the Hawaii’s Legacy of Colonialism handout.
   After students read the excerpt, discuss the following questions:
   • What role does the legacy of American colonialism play in the events happening on Maunakea?
   • Who do you think should get to decide what happens to Maunakea and why?