The preservation of Hawaiian culture is at stake, but scholars like Jonathan Osorio are working to keep it alive.

Osorio, an associate professor and the director of the Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, will speak on Hawaiian cultural recovery through music at 7:30 p.m. in Whitley Auditorium on Nov. 13.

A celebrated musician, composer, historian and author, Osorio has created many Hawaiian songs, chants and prayers, which he uses to trace Hawaiian history.

The practice of chanting is essential to the study of traditional Hawaiian culture, according to Paul Miller, associate professor of sports medicine.

“You can’t be a Hawaiian scholar and at one point or another not focus on Hawaiian chanting,” Miller said.

Miller is a co-professor of Elon’s winter term study abroad course in Hawaii, a course that AE a presentation given by Osorio.

“Our students leave with a deep appreciation for what the importance of culture is to the Hawaiian people,” Miller said.

In 2005, when a guest speaker failed to follow through, Osorio was recruited to speak to Hawaii winter term students. His speech had such a monumental impact on the Elon

students and professors that he has returned to the program as a key speaker each year.

Osorio is the author of “Dismembering the Lahui: The History of the Hawaiian Nation to 1887,” a text profiling the introduction of constitutional governments to Hawaii by Westerners, which stripped many native Hawaiians of their political power. Osorio also highlights many forgotten Hawaiian leaders who fought against political and social change during that time in Hawaiian history.

“I think that the message that his book puts across is very important for the rest of the world to see, and especially Elon because we’re such an interactive community,” senior Cally Stanford said.

Osorio is of Hawaiian and Portuguese heritage and was born and raised in Honolulu. His speech, “Songs of Our Native Selves,” is free for the public and is sponsored by the Religious Studies and the Liberal Arts Forum.

Reporter: Sarah McGlinchey - 11/07/07