Haumāna

by Meakala Wilhelm

Haumāna. Hau translates to a lowland tree, a soft porous stone, the snow or to inhale. Māna translates to a chewed mass of something. Usually, it is a small mass of food chewed for an infant. Haumāna means to lay before one a ball of masticated food (Wikiwiki 2025). It means “to receive from another mouth, that is, to receive knowledge” (Wikiwiki 2025). It can also mean a trait that is acquired from those who raise a child. This Hawaiian term offers us a glimpse into different interpretations and forms of being a learner in this world. The easiest way to translate this to English is to say that a haumāna is a student. But to define this word takes time…it takes careful chewing and aggregating. It is easiest for us to digest and confine this word to Western frameworks of understanding and knowledge practices. It is harder to us to shift our mindsets and ideologies to unpack its layers of meaning and to think of the different roles, practices and experiences of a learner.

From a Hawaiian perspective, to be a haumāna is to wait patiently, to search and rely on the careful processing and transformation of knowledge from their kumu (foundation, main stalk of a tree, a root, a teacher) (Wikiwiki 2025). A good kumu knows how much māna their haumāna can digest. They carefully prepare the knowledge that they feel their haumāna is able to process. To be a haumāna, you have to depend on this source of provision and sustenance. You have to depend on this source for knowledge. It is not a process of taking. It is a process of asking and receiving. To be a haumāna is to have careful awareness and observation of your environment and this can involve an adoption of the traits and values of those who are nurturing you.

Knowing this complexity of haumāna, how does it then fit into Western categories and expectations of being a student? What happens when various interpretations, values and practices are attached to a word and then expected to be used by others who do not grow up with it? To answer these questions, we must look at the origins of the word student, as offered to us from Western perspectives. Then, we must look at the differing values and expectations of students or learners across other cultures. All humans have some process or form of receiving teachings and lessons from the world. A ‘student’ is one form. For me, haumāna involves a more intimate and caregiving process of absorbing lessons from others and this world. We must ask, what are the different forms of this receptivity? What experiences and expectations are needed to involve oneself in a learning process? How can we redefine the boundaries of learning or illuminate other forms that showcase different practices, performances and expectations of an individual?

Student borrows from Latin and French origins, estudiant and studens, which translates to a person engaged in study, a member of the church, a follower of a sect and to apply oneself (OED 2015). It can also translate to a studious person, one who pursues knowledge, a scholar, a disciple and a learning child (Harper 2025). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, ‘student’, is one of the 500 most common words and has developed meanings alongside specific subjects and terms like education, university, method, fiance, rate, etc. (OED 2015). These definitions and associations showcase that student is connected to a web of productive and technical discourses that require a standardized form of a student or learner in these processes.

Western education often expects students to engage with individual achievement and competition, active participation and critical thinking (Grigorenko 2007). These expectations often attend to individual autonomy and critical discourse. To be a student is to be expected to take as much knowledge as possible and use it for personal achievements. However, these Western interpretations are not a global standard or practice. In fact, there are many cultural mismatches and differing pedagogies of learning that often conflict with non-Western students' integration and practices within Western educational systems (Grigorenko 2007).

 In Japan, many young learners engage in the traditional values of collective conformity and harmony while learning and engaging in knowledge systems. This is different from attending to individualism, debate and critical discourse, as many Western educational practices promote (Etzrodt 2016). Some of the challenges Japanese learners face within Western liberal arts institutions in Japan, involve balancing traditional respect for authority while being asked to challenge ideas and engage in constructive discussions and disagreements (Etzrodt 2016). They tend to practice modest responses and agree to statements regardless of content, while also avoiding extreme opinions (Zax 1967). These learning styles and practices are not a hindrance to knowledge acquisition, but are instead, differing value and cultural systems applied within learning processes. They are also subject to domination and pressures by Western-modelled education systems. Similarly, students from China who study in Australia bring with them cultural values of collectivism and shared success, while their Western-oriented education encourages and expects practices of individualism and self-expression (Dai 2022). The students from China may prioritize group respect and collaboration, but this often interferes with Western values of personal achievements and independence. As is the case in Japan, maintaining harmony amongst classmates and teachers is seen as more respectful than participating in debates and arguments that challenge authority.

Indigenous Australian learners, specifically First Nations individuals, often find their traditional methods of learning contradictory to contemporary Western classroom standards (Peskoller 2021). Their Indigenous backgrounds value oral traditions and storytelling, the interconnectedness of people, land and the environment, honor and respect towards elders for their guidance and authority, experiential learning and environmental stewardship, as well as collective responsibility and collaboration (Peskoller 2021). These values often conflict with Western standards of assessments, theoretical methods, and written texts (Peskoller 2021). 

Indigenous experiences of learning and engaging with knowledge systems are especially unique. They require acknowledgement and reconciliation with colonial power dynamics and structural legacies. For generations, Indigenous students were forced to assimilate and adapt to new ways of life, thinking, working, exploring, and receptivity of knowledge. These assimilation practices are still prevalent today, as Indigenous students navigate Western and colonial institutions that often do not value or prioritize Indigenous forms of knowledge acquisition and methodologies (Smith 2021). To shift these priorities, we must acknowledge and uplift Indigenous value systems of story-telling, knowledge practices and research. We must also prioritize collective knowledge and relational accountability in the full process of knowledge formation that involve not only Indigenous students, but also their associated communities (Smith 2021). This requires resistance and re-creation of education systems to uplift Indigenous ways of learning and knowledge practices. It requires being open to new perspectives of what a learner is and what should be expected of them.  

It is important to note these various styles, values and practices of learning, educational methodologies and societal expectations to explore the multifaceted engagements with knowledge acquisition systems. This review is not to say that one way of learning and engaging as a learner in this world is more valuable than another. It is not to disrespect and devalue Western modes of learning while encouraging other cultural value systems. Instead, the culmination of these perspectives and learning styles unravel the complexity of being a learner and absorber of knowledge in this world. How can we redefine the boundaries of learning or illuminate other forms that express different expectations, practices and performance from an individual? A learner, in whatever explanation or interpretation, should never be confined into one set category, or be asked to assimilate into larger dominant systems.

PEER INTERVIEWS

For this assignment, I wanted to hear from some of my peers who have some form of ties to their Indigenous communities and listen to their perspectives of what a learner or a student is to them. I interviewed five of my peers and asked them to share with me some of the expectations involved within their own communities that translate (or maybe not), into their education experiences here at Dartmouth. Many of them shared that this process involved learning by doing, following and observing. Sources of knowledge and teaching are not always shared through speech, but through action, practice and observation of techniques, in cases such as fishing or drumming (Mateo & Lily 2025). Rather than learning solely to memorize content, you obtain knowledge to make use of it and incorporate it somehow within your communities. Mateo shared his experiences learning cultural practices in his community and how the best way to learn in these environments is by listening and observing the experts next to you, while also feeling the pressure of being thrown into something new. He adds that the word student adds more formality to the learning process—“almost like a level system”—which means you are beneath someone based on your knowledge (Mateo 2025). He gave me the example of learning from an elder. You hold a level of respect for them while also acknowledging that they too are learners. The respect is given to them not because you are beneath them, but because they have spent their whole lives learning and becoming experts in things that you still know very little about.

We often think of learners or students as young individuals who are gifted knowledge from older or more experienced teachers and experts. In many cases this is true. However, “everyone is a learner” (Garry 2025). Garry shared with me that the elders from his community will talk about how they are still learning. Even though he understands the immense knowledge, wisdom and expertise that they carry with them, he explained that both elders and younger generations participate in learning processes together. Having a standardized curriculum at Dartmouth is what condenses groups of learners into limiting levels and stages of learning. For him, what is different in a cultural sense, is that everyone is on a different path and people mature and change their values at different stages in their lives. To have standardized and generalized levels of completion and knowledge acquisition is to hinder the various paths and journeys that formulate at their own respective times. This practice of always being a learner in this world is also tied to some individuals’ relationships with their environment. This relationship is seen through a lens of kinship (Kailani 2025). Kailani shared that in her culture, humans are considered the youngest siblings in the natural world. This means that they are continually learning from their environment and will always be in a continuous state of learning.

Another common theme among these interviews was the involvement of reciprocity and gift-giving in knowledge systems. Sometimes you have to form a relationship of trust and respect with those who are sharing their knowledge with you (Eloisa 2025). At other times, you have to reciprocate the knowledge and teachings given to you back into your communities, sometimes in the form of gifts to elders or becoming a knowledge carrier for future generations (Kailani & Lily 2025). Often this process involves an acknowledgement of a continuous, circular and reciprocal relationship where you know where the knowledge comes from, where you fit into the knowledge cycle, and how you give back what you have learned (Kailani 2025).

To learn from someone also requires a level of interpersonal relationship building. Seeking and asking, instead of demanding and taking, is critical in this process (Lily & Eloisa 2025). There is also an important sense of obligation to be a contributing member of the community where you receive this knowledge from (Eloisa 2025). Being a visitor requires even a deeper level of engagement, relationship building and trust in order to be deserving of this knowledge. Furthermore, it requires permission and a level of respect: “[t]he knowledge and epistemologies don’t just allow strangers to come in and take” (Eloisa). Elders are not going to advertise their knowledge, instead they are willing to share it with those who ask and are deserving of that knowledge (Mateo 2025). Mateo has been a part of both communities that share these different value systems. He explains them as a duality. You will come across people who know a lot and teach a lot but “don’t go about it in the right way”. As a learner himself, his body can tell this difference: “I can’t express why I feel like I want to learn from someone who is quiet than someone who advertises their knowledge”.

As a learner myself, a haumāna, I feel out of place many times in my classrooms here at Dartmouth. I feel that I have to build relationships with my teachers and a level of trust before I can receive the māna that they offer me. I have realized that being a student is not separate from the embodiment of the value systems that we all grow up with. It is difficult in many cases to be a part of a standardized education system that asks us to leave these values at the door and adopt new forms of learning. I wonder how enriching it would be to engage in various knowledge practices that go beyond the formal systems we are so accustomed to in Western education. How differently would we engage with each other and the world around us?

Sources

Peskoller, Jasmin. The Multi-Cultural Classroom: Learning from Australian First Nations Perspectives. ibedem-Verlag, 2021

Dai, Kun. Transitioning ‘In-Between’: Chinese Students’ Navigating Experiences in Transnational Higher Education Programmes. Brill, 2022

Etzrodt, Christian, et al. The Application of Western-Style Liberal Arts Education Model In a Non-Western Environment: The Case of Japan. International Journal of Chinese Education, 2016

Zax, Melvin. Takahashi, Shigeo. Cultural Influence on Response Style: Comparisons of Japanese and American College Students. The Journal of Social Psychology, 1967

Grigorenko, Elena. Hitting, Missing and In Between: A Typology of the Impact of Western Education on the Non-Western World. Comparative Education, 2007

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Principles. Zed Books, 2021

Wehewehe Wikiwiki: Hawaiian Language Dictionaries. Word Search: Haumāna. University of Hawai’i, 2025

Oxford English Dictionary. Word Search: Student. Oxford University Press, 2015

Silva, Mateo. Personal Communication. Interview, 2025

Roach, Eloisa. Personal Communication. Interview, 2025

Hook, Garry. Personal Communication. Interview, 2025

Sirois, Kailani. Personal Communication. Interview, 2025

Aspen, Lily. Personal Communication. Interview, 2025