Vital Humor: Extinction and Arts of Laughter in Hawai'i

Hawaiian activists and scholars theorize ocean protection as dependent on varied beings and the relationships they can form. But colonial structures still shape efforts in ocean protection, as when the ocean is framed as a frontier space and practices described as "science" are used to undermine Hawaiian relationships with the ocean. In this essay, I explore how Native Hawaiian poet Joe Balaz and marine algae specialist Isabella Aiona Abbott bring humor to conflicted ocean places. Humor can be helpful in evoking inexpressible loss and in conceptualizing ocean protection as the navigation of mutual relationships among many beings.