The Revival

Part III: The Revival: From a Stolen Tongue to a Nest of Voices

The Great Silence and the Awakening

The vibrant sounds of oli heard across Hawaiʻi today are the result of hard-won battle against near-total erasure. Following the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, the new government passed a law in 1896 that mandated English as the sole medium of instruction in all schools.

This act was deliberate tool of cultural assimilation, designed to sever generational transmission of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. For decades, children were physically and emotionally punished for speaking their mother tongue in school. The effect was devastating. The language retreated from public life and, eventually, from many homes.

The turnaround began with the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s, a period of renewed cultural and political pride. In 1983, this spirit of revival led a group of visionary Hawaiian educators, including Dr. Larry Kimura and Kauanoe Kamanā, to found the ʻAha Pūnana Leo, or "Nest of Voices."

Inspired by the Kōhanga Reo Māori language nests in Aotearoa, their mission was radical: create preschools where children would be immersed entirely in Hawaiian. In August 1984, they opened the first Pūnana Leo in Kekaha, Kauaʻi—an act that was, at the time, illegal.

For three years, founders and families lobbied relentlessly, engaging in civil disobedience and political action until, in 1986, the state legislature finally overturned the 90-year ban on Hawaiian medium instruction. From that single act of defiance, a complete educational ecosystem has grown, now spanning from preschool to K-12 immersion schools and even doctoral programs at university level.

This was more than language program. It was strategic act of cultural and political sovereignty. The Pūnana Leo movement was direct, grassroots response to century of suppression. By consciously operating outside law, its founders reclaimed education as tool for decolonization and cultural self-determination.

The Digital Archives: Preserving the Voice for Generations

Parallel to educational revival has been technological one. The preservation of ancestral voice owes great debt to foresight of individuals and institutions who recognized urgency of recording this oral tradition.

As early as 1898, Charles Reed Bishop, founder of Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, suggested using phonograph to record mele and moʻolelo before they were lost. This initiative grew into one of the world's most important repositories of indigenous oral traditions.

Today, this preservation effort has evolved into digital realm. ʻŌiwi TV is Native Hawaiian-owned and operated multimedia organization dedicated to perpetuating culture through modern media. With series like Kīpuka Moʻolelo, which explores contemporary use of language, and Mele Pūnana Leo, featuring new compositions from immersion school communities, ʻŌiwi TV makes living culture accessible to global audience while ensuring Hawaiian voices and perspectives remain at center of narrative.