Submission 2025
| Submitted by: | Vivian Giang |
| Department: | Anthropology |
| Faculty: | Arts |
My research focuses on community-centered consultation and engagement during renewable energy development in Canada, Aotearoa–New Zealand and Hawaiʻi. My Indigenous co-researchers and I discovered that creation stories were a significant factor in how Indigenous communities viewed the use of natural resources and whether that would translate into viewing energy projects on their lands favourably or not. In non-Indigenous communities, we’ve observed that people’s connection with energy (e.g. energy workers in the family, values of conservation vs extraction, NIMBYism, etc.) influences whether energy projects are viewed favourably or not.
This photo of hoʻokupu (an offering) was taken at Uēkahuna, a site for Native Hawaiian ritual and cultural practice at Kīlauea volcano, home of Pele, the goddess of volcanoes and fire. The State’s first and only geothermal energy operation is close by. Pele descendants have been opposed to the development, as drilling to access geothermal waters defiles her body and home. This picture reminds us that some communities are disproportionately impacted by energy projects and how we must consider their concerns and rights when seeking energy security.
Was your image created using Generative AI?
No.
How was your image created?
Using my phone camera, I tried to contrast the bright colours of the hoʻokupu against the earthy tones of the gravelly soil of the volcanic caldera and the blue sky. The type of tropical flowers wrapped in the ti leaves—anthurium, red ginger flower, Hawaiian sunshine, and chrysanthemum—do not exist in this area due to ancient and recent volcanic eruptions. The careful selection and arrangement of these bright, tropical flowers by the people who left the offering show reverence for Tūtū Pele, and I wanted to capture that by having the focus on the offering itself in the foreground against a desolate background void of any vegetation. The steel cable is a reminder of manmade boundaries created when Hawaiʻi was colonized: Native Hawaiians once freely accessed this site for rituals and cultural practices, but now they must seek permission to enter Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Including the steel cable in the photo visually demonstrates how my research seeks to amplify Indigenous ways of being and knowing within Western societies.
Where is the image located?
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, USA.