Kona Historical Society to Host Free Talk on Ethnobotany

Lecture speaker Natalie Kurashima. Courtesy photo.

Kona Historical Society will host a free talk on Hawaiian enthnobotany at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center on Wednesday, Oct. 31, at 5:30 p.m.

The talk will be given by Natalie Kurashima, integrated resources manager at Kamehameha Schools. Her presentation, “Aloha ‘Āina: Ethnobotany and The Reciprocal Relationship Between People and Place,” will focus on traditional Hawaiian agriculture, reviewing the main systems in Hawaiʻi, research on how much food these systems were producing, and examples of the restoration of these systems in present day Kona.

Kurashima is an ethnoecologist and resource manager with Kamehameha Schools Natural and Cultural Resources team, born and raised in Waipiʻo, Oʻahu. Now a Kona resident, she received her B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, focusing on the biocultural restoration of indigenous agricultural systems in Hawaiʻi.

The event is part of KHS’s monthly Hanohano ‘O Kona lecture series, an ongoing community presentation to spotlight local and state speakers on a variety of cultural and historical topics. Lectures are free to attend. For more information, call (808) 323-3222 or visit www.konahistorical.org.