Beyond Hawai I

In the century from the death of Captain James Cook in 1779 to the rise of the sugar plantations in the 1870s, thousands of Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) men left Hawai‘i to work on ships at sea and in na ‘aina ‘e (foreign lands)—on the Arctic Ocean and throughout the Pacific Ocean, and in the equatorial islands and California. Beyond Hawai‘i tells the stories of these forgotten indigenous workers and how their labor shaped the Pacific World, the global economy, and the environment. Whether harvesting sandalwood or bird guano, hunting whales, or mining gold, these migrant workers were essential to the expansion of transnational capitalism and global ecological change. Bridging American, Chinese, and Pacific historiographies, Beyond Hawai‘i is the first book to argue that indigenous labor—more than the movement of ships and spread of diseases—unified the Pacific World.

Boki's predicament : Sandalwood and the China trade -- Make's dance : Migrant workers and migratory animals -- Kealoha in the Arctic : Whale blubber and human bodies -- Kailiopio and the tropicbird : Life and labor on a Guano Island -- Nahoa's tears : Gold, dreams, and diaspora in California -- Beckwith's Pilikia : "Kanakas" and "Coolies" on Haiku plantation -- Epilogue : Legacies of capitalism and colonialism

Written by scholars of various disciplines, the essays in this volume dig beneath the veneer of Hawai‘i’s myth as a melting pot paradise to uncover historical and complicated cross-racial dynamics. Race is not the primary paradigm through which Hawai‘i is understood. Instead, ethnic difference is celebrated as a sign of multicultural globalism that designates Hawai‘i as the crossroads of the Pacific. Racial inequality is disruptive to the tourist image of the islands. It ruptures the image of tolerance, diversity, and happiness upon which tourism, business, and so many other vested transnational interests in the islands are based. The contributors of this interdisciplinary volume reconsider Hawai‘i as a model of ethnic and multiracial harmony through the lens of race in their analysis of historical events, group relations and individual experiences, and humor, among other focal points. Beyond Ethnicity examines the dynamics between race, ethnicity, and indigeneity to challenge the primacy of ethnicity and cultural practices for examining difference in Hawai‘i while recognizing the significant role of settler colonialism. This original and thought-provoking volume reveals what a racial analysis illuminates about the current political configuration of the islands and, in doing so, challenges how we conceptualize race on the continent. Recognizing the ways that Native Hawaiians or Kānaka Maoli are impacted by shifting, violent, and hierarchical colonial structures that include racial inequalities, the editors and contributors explore questions of personhood and citizenship through language, land, labor, and embodiment. By admitting to these tensions and ambivalences, the editors set the pace and tempo of powerfully argued essays that engage with the various ways that Kānaka Maoli and the influx of differentially racialized settlers continue to shift the social, political, and cultural terrains of the Hawaiian Islands over time.

How did we get here? Three-and-a-half-day school weeks. Prisoners farmed out to the mainland. Tent camps for the migratory homeless. A blinkered dependence on tourism and the military for virtually all economic activity. The steady degradation of already degraded land. Contempt for anyone employed in education, health, and social service. An almost theological belief in the evil of taxes. At a time when new leaders will be elected, and new solutions need to be found, the contributors to The Value of Hawai‘i outline the causes of our current state and offer points of departure for a Hawai‘i-wide debate on our future. The brief essays address a wide range of topics—education, the environment, Hawaiian issues, media, tourism, political culture, law, labor, economic planning, government, transportation, poverty—but the contributors share a belief that taking stock of where we are right now, what we need to change, and what we need to remember is a challenge that all of us must meet. Written for a general audience, The Value of Hawai‘i provides a cluster of starting points for a larger community discussion of Hawai‘i that should extend beyond the choices of the ballot box this year. Contributors: Carlos Andrade, Chad Blair, Kat Brady, Susan M. Chandler, Meda Chesney-Lind, Lowell Chun-Hoon, Tom Coffman, Sara L. Collins, Marilyn Cristofori, Henry Curtis, Kathy E. Ferguson, Chip Fletcher, Dana Naone Hall, Susan Hippensteele, Craig Howes, Karl Kim, Sumner La Croix, Ian Lind, Melody Kapilialoha MacKenzie, Mari Matsuda, Davianna McGregor, Neal Milner, Deane Neubauer, Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwo’ole Osorio, Charles Reppun, John P. Rosa, D. Kapua‘ala Sproat, Ramsay Remigius Mahealani Taum, Patricia Tummons, Phyllis Turnbull, Trisha Kehaulani Watson.

Elegant, brutal, and profound—this magnificent debut captures the grit and glory of modern Hawai'i with breathtaking force and accuracy. In a stunning collection that announces the arrival of an incredible talent, Kristiana Kahakauwila travels the islands of Hawai'i, making the fabled place her own. Exploring the deep tensions between local and tourist, tradition and expectation, façade and authentic self, This Is Paradise provides an unforgettable portrait of life as it’s truly being lived on Maui, Oahu, Kaua'i and the Big Island. In the gut-punch of “Wanle,” a beautiful and tough young woman wants nothing more than to follow in her father’s footsteps as a legendary cockfighter. With striking versatility, the title story employs a chorus of voices—the women of Waikiki—to tell the tale of a young tourist drawn to the darker side of the city’s nightlife. “The Old Paniolo Way” limns the difficult nature of legacy and inheritance when a patriarch tries to settle the affairs of his farm before his death. Exquisitely written and bursting with sharply observed detail, Kahakauwila’s stories remind us of the powerful desire to belong, to put down roots, and to have a place to call home.

From the Foreword— “Crucially, past, present, and future are tightly woven in ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) theory and practice. We adapt to whatever historical challenges we face so that we can continue to survive and thrive. As we look to the past for knowledge and inspiration on how to face the future, we are aware that we are tomorrow’s ancestors and that future generations will look to us for guidance.” —Marie Alohalani Brown, author of Facing the Spears of Change: The Life and Legacy of John Papa ‘Ī‘ī The title of the book, The Past before Us, refers to the importance of ka wā mamua or “the time in front” in Hawaiian thinking. In this collection of essays, eleven Kanaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) scholars honor their mo‘okū‘auhau (geneaological lineage) by using genealogical knowledge drawn from the past to shape their research methodologies. These contributors, Kānaka writing from Hawai‘i as well as from the diaspora throughout the Pacific and North America, come from a wide range of backgrounds including activism, grassroots movements, and place-based cultural practice, in addition to academia. Their work offers broadly applicable yet deeply personal perspectives on complex Hawaiian issues and demonstrates that enduring ancestral ties and relationships to the past are not only relevant, but integral, to contemporary Indigenous scholarship. Chapters on language, literature, cosmology, spirituality, diaspora, identity, relationships, activism, colonialism, and cultural practices unite around methodologies based on mo‘okū‘auhau. This cultural concept acknowledges the times, people, places, and events that came before; it is a fundamental worldview that guides our understanding of the present and our navigation into the future. This book is a welcome addition to the growing fields of Indigenous, Pacific Islands, and Hawaiian studies. Contributors: Hōkūlani K. Aikau Marie Alohalani Brown David A. Chang Lisa Kahaleole Hall ku‘ualoha ho‘omanawanui Kū Kahakalau Manulani Aluli Meyer Kalei Nu‘uhiwa ‘Umi Perkins Mehana Blaich Vaughan Nālani Wilson-Hokowhitu

In Everything Ancient Was Once New, Emalani Case explores Indigenous persistence through the concept of Kahiki, a term that is at once both an ancestral homeland for Kānaka Maoli (Hawaiians) and the knowledge that there is life to be found beyond Hawaiʻi’s shores. Kahiki is therefore both a symbol of ancestral connection and the potential that comes with remembering and acting upon that connection. Tracing physical, historical, intellectual, and spiritual journeys to and from Kahiki, Case frames it as a place of refuge and sanctuary, a place where ancient knowledge can constantly be made anew. It is in Kahiki, and in the sanctuary it creates, that today’s Kānaka Maoli can find safety and reprieve from the continued onslaught of settler colonial violence while confronting some of the uncomfortable and challenging realities of being Indigenous in Hawaiʻi, in the Pacific, and in the world. The book engages with Kahiki as a shifting term employed by Kānaka Maoli to explain their lives and experiences at different points in history. Case argues for reactivated and reinvigorated engagements with Kahiki to support ongoing work aimed at decolonizing physical and ideological spaces and to reconnect Kānaka Maoli to peoples and places in the Pacific region and beyond in purposeful, meaningful ways. By tracing Kahiki through pivotal moments in history and critical moments in contemporary times, Case demonstrates how the idea of Kahiki—while not always mentioned by name—was, and is, always full of potential. Intertwining personal narrative with rigorous research and analysis, Case weaves the past and the present together, reflecting on ancient concepts and their continued relevance in movements to protect lands, waters, and oceans; to fight for social justice; to reexamine our responsibilities to each other across the Pacific region; and to open space for continued dialogue on what it means to be Indigenous when at home and when away. Everything Ancient Was Once New journeys to and from Kahiki, offering readers a sanctuary for reflection, deep learning, and continued dreaming with the past, in the present, and far into the future.