Andrew Kalani Carlson1
1Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Explicit research methodologies are essential for addressing the standpoint-derived obligations researchers have to local and Indigenous peoples, communities, and environments, yet they remain uncommon in the geosciences. As a diasporic kanaka ʻōiwi (Native Hawaiian, lit. person of the bone) environmental scientist and outsider on Indigenous Ainu land, I investigate my own kūlana (position, station)-derived kuleana (rights, responsibilities) as a case study. The foundational framework and theoretical lens for this research methodology are based in kānaka ʻōiwi scholarship. Specifically, I use an ʻupena of pilina (fishing net of social-ecological relationships) worldview, my moʻokūʻauhau (genealogies), and ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) concepts and values. The general components of a research standpoint (epistemology, ontology, axiology, and social position) are thereby articulated through my moʻokūʻauhau-based kūlana. Derived from this process, my kuleana is to ensure knowledge produced by my research on macroalgal Blue Carbon sequestration potential advances decolonization and Indigenous sovereignty, particularly for kānaka ʻōiwi and Ainu people. In re-centering the focus towards holistic pilina (relations) with ʻāina (land and waters, lit. that which sustains), this framing also forces a shift away from the transactional nature of carbon offsets and ecosystem services accounting. Conventional research operates within and upholds existing settler systems of oppression and therefore, researchers must seriously investigate what role they can have in advancing justice, even through so-called basic science. While conducting conscientious research within this ethically-compromised system is complex and inherently flawed, this methodology may provide some guidance for other researchers to engage with their own kūlana-derived kuleana.