**What's Your Kuleana?The Question Hawaiʻi Asks the World
What does kuleana really mean?
In this thought provoking conversation, award winning journalist Sara Kehaulani Goo, President of Creator Content at The Washington Post and author of Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawaiʻi, shares the story behind her family's effort to protect ancestral land on Maui and the deeper journey that followed into history, identity, culture, and the responsibilities we inherit from those who came before us.
Sara explains that kuleana is often translated as responsibility, but in the Hawaiian understanding it means much more. It is an honor, a stewardship, and a commitment to something larger than ourselves. It connects us to family, community, place, and future generations.
The conversation explores the legacy of the Māhele, the Hawaiian Renaissance, the experiences of Native Hawaiians living throughout the diaspora, and what visitors should understand when they come to Hawaiʻi. Sara encourages visitors to approach Hawaiʻi with curiosity, humility, and a desire to learn. She reminds us that Hawaiʻi is not simply a vacation destination, but a living culture, a unique environment, and a place with a rich history that deserves understanding and respect. She encourages visitors to become more informed travelers, to appreciate the culture and history of the islands, and to recognize their connection to the places and communities they visit.
Along the way, Sara challenges listeners to consider a simple but powerful question:
What's your kuleana?
For Deep Dive Into Water Safety, this conversation offers an important insight. Building a culture of safety is not only about sharing information. It is about helping people feel connected to the places they visit, and to the communities they become part of. People protect what they value, and they value what they understand.
Whether your kuleana is to family, culture, land, water, or community, this episode explores a Hawaiian idea that may have something to teach all of us.
Because the question is not just what kuleana means, the question is: What's your kuleana?**
2026 SUMMER TOUR
July 7, 2 pm Honoka'a, Big Island, @Beach Dog Books with Kolby Akamu Moser
July 7, 6 pm Kona, Hawai'i Island, @Kona Stories Words & Wine Author Night
July 8, 12 pm, Hilo, Hawai'i Island, at Hilo Public Library with Dr. Larry Kimura co-hosted by @Basically Books
July 10, 10:30 am, Honolulu, @Civil Beat with Blaze Lovell Register here.
July 11, 2 pm Honolulu, @Barnes & Noble in conversation with journalist and author Kirstin Downey
July 13, 12 pm Līhu'e, Kaua'i, @Līhu'e Public Library
6 pm, @Waimea Public Library
July 14, 10 am, Kaumakani, Kaua'i @Talk Story Bookstore
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