Hawaiian National Consciousness

After watching the film called ‘Act of War’, I again felt that countries’ do not stand for justice but only pursue their national interests. The reason why Hawaii was so desirable to the United States was the imperialistic characteristic that America had at that time. Even a small island or land is into the consideration of taking over. In detail, the Americans wanted to use the land as their military base and a strategic spot for expanding their imperialism to Asia. The fact that American continent was far away from Asian and European continent, made them realize that in order to empower their global power they need to first dominate the closest countries, even a small land that they consider it trivial. By taking over quickly, a lot of aspects of Hawaiian culture got distorted

Many Native Hawaiian people have lost touch with their culture. Many people around the world don’t know about the unique Hawaiian culture. People in America don’t know a lot about these unique Hawaiian arts either. Many of the old Hawaiian traditions were lost because foreigners took over the Hawaiian islands and banned many Hawaiian traditions that have been going on for decades. This loss of culture was devastating for the people and was hard to gain back after almost being completely eliminated. To teach new generations about the old Hawaiian culture, this research paper will detail what it was like years ago. It will also explain why the Hawaiian culture and traditions should be reinstated. This paper will explain how the traditions

The Colonization of Hawaiian Identity The idea that identity can be measured, reduces the complexity of a person’s social identity to their biology and functions to shape race narratives in a way that leaves the indigenous people at a disadvantage. A continuous battle over sovereignty and claims to land continue today as many struggle with meeting the strict blood quantum regulations required. The attempt to define Hawaiian identity without having it come from the Native Hawaiians themselves, is rooted in settler colonialism and a misunderstanding of Hawaiian kinship that continues to be perpetuated by legislation.

The United States has inflicted imperialism on the island Hawaii on January 17, 1893. They did this by overthrowing the government which was a monarchy and its ruler was Queen Liliuokalani. Then by overthrowing the sugar planters who overthrew the Queen, President William Mckinley was able to obtaining the territory for the U.S after the Spanish-American war. The U.S wanted to obtain Hawaii because of its monopoly on Sugar and its Sugar exports to The United States. The United States wanted to obtain the territory also to get rid of taxes on them and the business, and wealthy people were losing their ability to manipulate the government and wanted it as a naval base like pearl harbor.

The Hawaiian Islands has this image of being the perfect vacation destination for people all around the world. The island’s welcoming “aloha” culture is very popular and spoken of around the world. Yet, lately not only native Hawaiians live there, many tourists visit all year long and many families and businessmen decided to move and live there as well. This makes the island diversified and multicultural. Through the years, many waves of immigrations took place and more non-locals began living in Hawaii.

Who can speak for a people? I will attempt to shed some light on these questions, using the writings this week of Sahlins, Obeyesekere and Borofsky. I feel the most important question of the three is who can speak for a people, in this case, the Hawaiian people. In this week’s reading, How “Natives” Think, Marshall Sahlins is focused on the question of whether the Hawaiian people were “victims of magical thinking and their own traditions” (p. 1) when they perceived Captain Cook “as a manifestation of their returning year-god Lono” (p. 1).

Hawaii’s culture is about 1500 years old. The culture started when Polynesians voyaged to Hawaii and settled there. Hawaiian culture is based on three main aspects. Food such as broiling pig, taro and banana. Dance including the hula or as it was traditionally called Kahiko and warfare/weapons examples including the Koa and different forms of training and attach techniques. These three aspects will come to be the backbone of Hawaiian culture.

Even though people have no direct connection with one another, they could find similarities and differences within each other by observing individual’s life. In the memoir, The Red-Headed Hawaiian by Chris McKinney and Rudy Puana, a life of Rudy has been described from his childhood to his adulthood. The journey of Rudy Puana starts with cultural identity and ends in cultural identity, in which Hawaiian and haole culture became obstacles as well as solutions to his problem. Throughout Rudy’s educational period, he experienced mistreatment, hardship, and recoveries from the undesirable conditions. His life is especially different from other life as well as from my life.

“That year the islands were plunged into upheaval when pineapple grower Sanford Dole used American military forces to overthrow the governing Hawaiian monarchy under Queen Liliuokalani. Dole established a republic on the islands in 1894 and in 1900 all Hawaiians were made United States citizens.” (Encyclopedia)

During this time, the Hawaii had earned a new leader, known as Queen Liliuokalani, who viewed the majority of Hawaii’s problems caused by the foreign interference of the United States. Moreover, in the year of 1893, the planters had felt as if in order for the conflict of the “McKinley Tariff”

Kumulipo is a Hawaiian chant that describes the story of creation along with a genealogy of Hawaiian royalty. This story was brought to Hawaii by the marriage of two people, Pi 'ikea and ‘Umi. During the time of the formation of this myth Hawaiia was under the authority of a corrupt monarchy, and the dominant religion on the island was Roman Catholicism. It was first printed in 1889, at the time it was in possession of the ruling king, Kalakaua. The story of creation is told by a series of 16 chants, many containing multiple parts. Through those 16 chants it is revealed that Po’ele was Kumulipo’s wife and they had a child named Pouliuli. According to the story, this is how the creation of the world began. The origin of man was connected to

The United State’s annexation of Hawaii in 1898 led to the gradual destruction of the Hawaiian culture and the almost-extinction of native-born Hawaiians. The majority of the Hawaiian natives opposed the annexation of Hawaii and wanted to maintain their sovereignty. Although the Japanese could have taken over the Hawaiian islands if the United States had not, the annexation of Hawaii by the U.S. was unjustified because of the treatment of the monarchy and natives, the infringement of the natives’ self-established culture and government, and the natives’ overwhelming opposition to the U.S’s involvement in Hawaii.

There are two kinds of people, the people who persist and try without giving up, and the people who make up excuses for why they aren't doing anything. In the short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, and the biography “The Red Headed Hawaiian” by Chris McKinney, the characters and people show culture by going back on what they know, and their traditions. In these two stories, it takes about how Jing-Mei and Rudy Puana are trying to find confidence and having to adapt to a new culture. Rudy Puana in “The Red Headed Hawaiian” struggles with trying to adapt to the new culture of the mainland, while also keeping his Hawaiian culture. The culture on the mainland is more family oriented, with family dinners every night.

Hunt, Carl P. Lipoc, and Atholl J. Anderson. " Hawaiian Voyaging Traditions . " Discovery and Settlement of Polynesia. April 21, 2011.

The Immorality of the Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy Throughout the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1893 and the annexation of the islands as a territory, to the statehood granted in 1959, the United States has committed immoral and unnecessary actions against the indigenous people of Hawaii. Queen Liliuokalani had been freshly bestowed the position of reigning sovereignty in 1891, after the current king Kalakaua had passed away and the second-in-line, W.P. Leleiohoku, had already died. She was the first and last ruling Queen of the Hawaiian monarchy, and she was displeased with the state of the monarchy after her brothers rule. The monarchy had lost power under Kalakaua after he had been forced to sign the Bayonet constitution, a