Paddle with Me
Now we’re going to learn about some of the Pacific Peoples. Who are they? Where do they come from? How are they different in their own cultures, histories, lifestyles, health issues, diets and food systems? The videos in this lesson are excellent resources in describing the various regions throughout the US Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI). The first video describes the USAPI region. This region does not include Hawai‘i. You may see the term US Affiliated Pacific or USAP to define the region of USAPI and Hawai‘i. Enjoy the videos – you might also want to take a look at the graded activities before watching the videos and reading the short document. The times of the videos are shown so you can plan your day.
A Paddler’s Perspective
Hopefully, after going through the resources in this lesson, you’ll have learned that we can not put each island, region, or specific culture into a “category” or separate chapter in a book. We’ve also learned that there is more variation within one culture than across cultures. These various cultures in the Pacific have influenced each other for thousands of years before colonization and Western contact. These have not always been positive. Warning: some of this information can be quite disheartening. Go through it with an open mind and be ready to have some feelings about it. You can keep it to yourself and work through your feelings in your writing. This is a very personal quest and everyone will do what feels right for them. Although this is an important part of the course, you are not graded on your feelings.
How have these experiences – the navigating and sharing of knowledge and resources – affected the Indigenous Peoples (Pacific Peoples)? Think about this question as we move on.