In this episode of Become A Researcher, Halaevalu Vakalahi, PhD, talks about how indigenous people are scientists by nature, and how exploring indigenous ways of knowing could help science move forward.
Vakalahi was formerly the Dean of the College of Health and Society at Hawai’i Pacific University (HPU) and served as the principal investigator on an NIH-funded grant called HPU Undergraduate Infrastructure Student Research Center (HUI SRC). She left her position at HPU in 2022 and is now the President and CEO of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).
Vakalahi shared how she sees her grandmother-who made traditional medicine that she would eat at the beginning of the school year as a child to keep from getting sick-as an ancient scientist. Vakalahi said that indigenous ways have sustained communities for centuries.
“Our elders, it has sustained them for centuries,” Vakalahi said. “They live longer than we do now, you know, they were healthier than we are now… We need to reintroduce Indigenous ways of being, Indigenous ways of doing things.”
Vakalahi has a holistic view of science that is shaped by her indigenous knowledge and her professional scientific training. She believes science’s purpose is to make a positive impact on human health and sees its role as a gathering mechanism.
“One of the roles of science is the bringing together of people,” Vakalahi said. “So if we're going to use science to isolate, silo, separate people, divide and conquer kind of a thing, it has no business in human beings.”
Vakalahi has a positive outlook on the future of science, as she said science is beginning to take into consideration the indigenous ways of knowing that have been left on the sidelines for a long time.
“I think we've got our Western ways of knowing - now let's add something and really make it complete," Vakalahi said.
Learn more about the Become A Researcher series here: bit.ly/3YZKZzz
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Enhance Science is a digital media project visualizing inclusive excellence in #STEMM​​​ through digital media. It is created by the Coordination & Evaluation Center (CEC) at the University of California, Los Angeles, and funded by the NIH Diversity Program Consortium under NIH Award U54GM119024​​​.
For more information visit www.enhancescience.org or contact info@enhancescience.org.
Executive Producers
Jameelah Nuriddin
Hansook Oh
Cynthia Joseph
Producer & Editor
Jameelah Nuriddin
Composer
EmmoLei Sankofa
Featuring
Halaevalu Vakalahi, PhD