Āina Vis is a public dataset of a historical index of 'āina orgs from 1908-2021 in Hawai'i. 'Āina organizations are dedicated to the concept of 'Āina (land, that which feeds). In Hawai'i, our genealogies tie us to the 'āina. Places and people are interconnected and related, and some say "the breath of the land is the life of the people"—our health and wellbeing as humans is tied to that of the land. For the many of us who have been disconnected from our history and have experienced other traumas, reconnecting to land as source is critical. Across our islands, there are sites of resurgence providing opportunities for people to connect, heal, and share. They do this by growing food for community, or taking care of sacred places, or teaching cultural practices, or all these things! However these powerful places, programs, and the people who take care of them are under-resourced and their potential ignored. The way that one 'āina organization can transform a family or community, this data set has the transform Hawai'i, to contribute to public health, food security and our economy. By mapping these sites of resurgence, we can increase opportunities for community to engage and grow, and for these orgs to feed and heal our communities, protect our environment, and contribute to a better Hawai'i.
Project Impact
Our project makes a real-world impact in addressing the challenge by getting these orgs “on the map”, making this incredibly powerful social infrastructure ‘visible’ as it is often not seen or considered along side the formal agency infrastructure nor is it appreciated as a critical component of environmental and human wellbeing.
Integration
Our project allows us to see where there are ‘hotspots’ of stewardship and where there are gaps, so we can learn from places/people where collaborations are strong, and also begin to formulate questions/ hypotheses about why gaps appear in other places.