Kū Kia‘i Kahuku: indigenizing social media, civic streaming, and sociospatial symmetry

Abstract

Abstract This research critiques Western approaches to social media by using an Indigenous theoretical tool/concept, the Moanan (Pacific Islander) conception of tā and vā, to center Indigenous knowledge through an analysis of the Kū Kiaʻi Kahuku community movement (an Indigenous and ecological stand for environmental justice to protect native species and push back against colonial development in the form of giant wind turbines (568 feet high) placed over schools and the homes of community members and Kanaka Maoli in Kahuku, Hawaiʻi). We argue that Kū Kiaʻi Kahuku’s livestreaming inspired movement within the space of digital connectivity, a civic rhythm, forging symmetry and reciprocity within sociospatial ties. Moanan peoples inscribed within social media a distinct Moanan rhythm. In this case, the vibrations of the protecting, an affectively charged tā, engaged the community and diaspora in a moment of rupture—opening up a space for symmetry within the dissymmetry of colonial capitalism.