Hawai‘i Field School

 

Foothill College Hawai'i Program (on Hiatus in 2025) 

[But it may run through Stanford University - updates to come soon]  Aloha and E Komo Mai to the  Hawaii Indigenous Archaeology Field School.  Our anthropology studies begin during the summer quarter.  If you want more information contact either Sam or Mike at Foothill College or Stanford University.  A more complete website can be found here.  Interested?  Fill out the Prelim Application here.

• Discover with us the beauty of Hawaii as we start our community based research project.

• Live with us and other project members in Hawaiian communities.

• Work on all aspects of the research project.

Project Directors

Dr. Michael Wilcox (Stanford University)

Dr. Samuel Connell (Foothill College)

 

Field School Application 

You can download the application from the project website and there should be a link provided in a drop down menu on this page. 

 

Field School Description

Come to Hawaii and experience a field school like none other.  You will live on the Big Island for three weeks. You will be exposed to a new way of thinking mixing an applied anthropological and an archaeological field school. Join us on the ground for the first of many years in Hawaii, beginning with the program at Kaloko Fishpond which is jointly administered by the National Park Service and native Hawaiian cultural groups.  Check out the website here. And here is a cool article from the NPS about the park.

This is a project that practices indigenous archaeology and community based participatory research meaning that we shift the traditional model for research,  asking native people who live in Hawaii what they want us and you (the students) to do. If it's helping to map archaeology sites by surveying, then we do it, if it's also  cleaning and rebuilding a royal Hawaiian fishpond, then we do it; if it's organizing an exhibit at the school, then we are working at the school; and if it means spending even more time cleaning and repairing the fishpond, then yes it'll be the case!

We are professors Mike Wilcox and Sam Connell, and we are just as excited as our students to get this program off and running in Hawaii. The idea here is to do research in a pono or Hawaiian way, meaning we will live and breathe local thinking as we learn about the life and history of these amazing islands.  The team of people from whom you will learn is going to be growing over the next months, but let us start by introducing our two main contributors, Ruth Luka Aloua and No‘eau Peralto, both of whom are expert cultural practitioners who have thought long and hard about the best way to teach about Hawaii and also study her history and people.  We are so excited to be working with them and bringing you along for the ride.

What does this all mean for you the student?  Well you get over 60 years of field experience working on field projects with over 500 students in Ecuador, Belize, Ireland, California and New Mexico.  The move to Hawaii will be exciting. The aloha spirit is truly special and we can't wait for you to become a part of it. Come to the islands, earn credits, and begin helping us study the culture and society of Hawaii over time.

Students will live in two places on the Big Island of Hawaii.  First we will be staying  in coffee plantation country near the town of Holualoa. Kona is 15 minutes away. The last we will be Honokaa another great town on the Hamakua coast. Check out this small guide from the Hawaii magazine.  We think it is important to base in a community and meet the people as we begin to understand the local life. We are taking as a model what we have been doing in Ireland and Ecuador, so check the links for past examples.