In utilizing storytelling as a research method, it is important to understand the role that mo?olelo (story) have played for Indigenous peoples. Smith (1999) asserts, "Storytelling, oral histories, the perspectives of elders and of women have become an integral part of all indigenous research. Each individual story is powerful. But the point about the stories is not that they simply tell a story, or tell a story simply. These new stories contribute to a collective story in which every indigenous person has a place" (Smith 144). The mo?olelo included in this article are three stories of exploring Ke Ao ?Oiwi (in the world), creating and maintaining a Kanaka ?Oiwi (Indigenous peoples) space as a wahine (woman), mother, and kumu (teacher), either through its deficit or through its presence. The author suggests that these stories, experienced through a feminist lens, are activities that cross "the (blurred) boundaries between academic and other activist sites" (DeVault and Gross 2011, 75).