Valerie Joy Canaya Agustin is a student fellow with the Religious Freedom and Human Dignity Initiative at Brigham Young University–Hawaii. The following post comprises her reflections on the 2nd Annual Religious Freedom and Human Dignity Conference, “Oceanian Perspectives on Human Dignity,” held at BYU–Hawaii, in Laie, Oahu, Hawaii, 23–25 April 2024.

In an increasingly complex world with information flowing across boundaries, the Oceanian Perspective on Human Dignity conference presented diverse viewpoints and deep reflection, highlighting the cultural and societal influences shaping our perception of human dignity. Scholars and leaders from the Pacific region offered priceless perspectives, enriching discourse and sparking greater empathy and comprehension.

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Gregg J. Kinkley, PhD, JD, is a lecturer of religion and classics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and is a former deputy attorney general for the State of Hawaii. This post is based on his remarks presented during the panel “Hawaii and Human Dignity” at the Oceanian Perspectives on Human Dignity Conference held at BYU–Hawaii in Laie, Oahu, Hawaii, 23–25 April 2024.

What Is Dignity?

While our English word dignity ultimately comes from Latin by way of England’s Norman conquerors (using their word dignité), the Anglo-American legal tradition has slowly taken up the concept of dignity and freighted it with its own unique baggage.

In Roman times, dignitas was a very personalized concept, used to describe an individual elite citizen’s ability to persuade and influence both government and peers, but our modern use of the word occurs more in the context of human rights. Dignity, then, stopped being something that the wealthy could leverage and treasure and became an elusive, sought-after guarantee of human freedom and rights proffered by (or demanded from) either a progressive society or some ethereal concept of a grand world civilization.

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