Kū‘uono‘ono Wāhine Waimānalo: Rematriation, Indigenous Hawaiian Women’s Leadership, and ʻĀina-Based Health and Food Sovereignty

Background and purpose: Wāhine, Indigenous Hawaiian women hold critical roles in sustaining community health, food systems, and ʻāina-based governance, yet their leadership is often marginalized in formal social work research and policy processes. Kū‘uono‘ono Wāhine Waimānalo is a community-driven project that centers rematriation, the return of land, resources, decision-making, and ancestral knowledge to Indigenous women; as a pathway to health equity, food sovereignty, and community self-determination in Waimānalo, Oahu. Grounded in social work’s commitment to democracy and the common good, the study asks: (1) How do wāhine in Waimānalo define and enact health, wellness, rematriation, and ʻāina relationships in the context of ongoing settler colonialism? (2) How do their collective practices within community agriculture, food distribution, and cultural programming function as democratic infrastructures that shape local decision-making, resource access, and social policy?

Methods: This mixed-methods, community-partnered study uses Indigenist and decolonizing methodologies, community-based participatory research, and qualitative approaches rooted in Native Hawaiian epistemologies and rematriation frameworks. Data sources include: semi-structured interviews with Indigenous Hawaiian women leaders, caregivers, and youth; ʻāina-based focus groups embedded in community garden and loʻi spaces; participatory mapping of food, health, rematriation, and cultural resources; and a brief survey describing participation in food systems, civic engagement, and ʻāina-based health activities. Indigenous concepts such as pilina, kuleana, aloha ʻāina, and the rematriation of decision-making power to wāhine inform the research design, analysis, and dissemination. An advisory hui of wāhine co-leads research questions, recruitment, data interpretation, and the development of practice and policy recommendations.

Results: Preliminary findings indicate that Kū‘uono‘ono Wāhine Waimānalo is advancing rematriation and local food sovereignty through women-led food cultivation, traditional practices, ʻāina restoration, and cultural education that explicitly link nutrition, culture, governance, and political education. Participants describe how ʻāina-based practices and the return of decision-making power to wāhine reduce food insecurity, improve mental and spiritual well-being, and nurture intergenerational resilience. Wāhine also identify barriers, including land access, funding precarity, and policy constraints that limit community-governed food and health initiatives, slowing rematriation efforts. Early qualitative analysis suggests that women’s organizing in Waimānalo operates as a form of everyday democratic practice and rematriated governance, where decisions about food, land, and care are made collectively and rooted in Indigenous values.

Conclusions and implications: Kū‘uono‘ono Wāhine Waimānalo demonstrates how rematriation and Indigenous wāhine leadership in food systems and ʻāina-based health initiatives advance social work’s commitments to democracy, health equity, and the common good. Findings highlight the need for social work researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to: (1) recognize Indigenous women’s rematriation work and community organizing as critical democratic infrastructure; (2) support community-driven research and funding models that protect land, rematriation, and food sovereignty; and (3) integrate Indigenous epistemologies and rematriated governance principles into health, mental health, and community practice. This study aligns with SSWR 2027 clusters on health and mental health, social and cultural determinants of health, community and policy issues, and environmental justice and food sovereignty. It offers actionable guidance for social work to partner with Indigenous communities in transforming systems toward justice, rematriation, self-determination, and ʻāina-based well-being.