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On the first day of field school, we sat in a circle near the Southcorner of the heiau and introduced ourselves to those present(students, faculty, and kupuna). We also discussed our motivations forenrolling in the field school. Professors and leaders shared thehistory of Kūpopolo heiau and talked about how we should view it as aliving place. Learning to treat a site as alive is vital to anarchaeologist’s understanding of why he/she should act with respectand follow protocol.I appreciate the ways in which this field school merges culturalanthropology and archaeology. All researchers need to practice respectfor the places and communities they work in/with, but how can we teachbudding researchers these qualities? Does the university assume thateach student already has the ethics needed in the field? Given ourstudy of different cultural lenses and perspectives, anthropologistsshould realize that students come from different cultures. We need torecognize that we are not exempt from analysis and need to thinkreflexively. Therefore, educators cannot assume that all students willconduct themselves in the same ethical manner or have the same way ofshowing respect for the communities they work in. I am thereforegrateful that the North Shore Archaeological Field School teaches students to respect Hawai‘i’s wahi kupuna and wahi pana, not just intheory, but also in practice.
