Originally recorded at 10:45 a.m. ET Thursday, July 25, 2019.

This lecture by J. Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier was presented in 2019 during Chautauqua Institution's week exploring "The Life of the Spoken Word."

J. Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier is the E Ola! Learning Designer and Facilitator at Kamehameha Schools Maui, where she provides campus support to provide a world class Hawaiian culture-based education to haumāna (students). A fluent speaker of the Hawaiian language, she serves on the Hawai'i Development team for the Duolingo language learning app.

Kaniaupio-Crozier pioneered Hawaiian language programs in different communities and spaces; educating preschoolers to kūpuna (elders). She has been a Hawaiian language/studies/history instructor for over 40 years at various schools including St. Louis School, Kamehameha Schools Kapālama/Maui, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Leeward Community College and University of Hawaiʻi Maui College, and continues to teach classes on Molokaʻi and on Maui free of charge. Kaniaupio-Crozier designed and taught Kulāiwi, the first Hawaiian language distance learning program which aired across the state of Hawaiʻi and now reaches a worldwide audience via YouTube.

She is a consultant on several projects regarding Hawaiian culture, protocol, language and natural resource management. Of particular interest is Ke Kahua located in Waiehu, Maui because of its outreach program to reintegrate the formerly incarcerated kanaka maoli (Native Hawaiians) into the community through hands on learning of traditional Hawaiian agricultural practices. She is a founding member of Ka Papaloʻi ʻo Kanewai, a culturally sustainable, food producing, agricultural living laboratory at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She is the Hope Kahu (Assistant Pastor) of Ekalesia o Kupaianaha, Hoʻomana o Ke Akua Ola in Wailuku.

About Chautauqua Institution: Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution's mission.