Tag: Pacific

by Isabella Soluri

History is often told from the perspective of the winners, centering their stories and points of view over those of oppressed minority populations. Viewing subaltern history from the perspective of the subaltern themselves, reveals different avenues for understanding historical events and forces us to question why we are taught certain versions of history. Focusing on Native Hawaiians and the murder of Captain James Cook, I will craft a retelling of this violent event from below, focusing on Native perspectives and subaltern cultural impacts. Further, I will call upon different postcolonial theorists, such as Fanon, Chakrabarty, and Escobar, to discuss ideas of necessary violence, the agency of supernatural beings within a decolonial context, and a plurality of realities in a postcolonial world. The following reimagining of Captain Cook’s murder will give agency to Native Hawaiian gods and reveal how his murder and the accompanying violence were necessary for decolonization and upholding the Native community’s values.

Background of Captain Cook’s Murder

Captain James Cook was murdered by Native Hawaiians on February 14, 1779, on his third and final voyage to the Hawaiian Islands. However, the brutal death of the explorer, and general violence from the Native Hawaiians, were not characteristic of his previous expeditions and encounters in Hawaii. During his first interactions with the Native Hawaiians, Cook was welcomed and celebrated at the Kealakekua Bay, a bay known to be a sacred harbor of a Hawaiian fertility god, Lono. Given the cultural significance of the bay itself and Cook’s arrival during a celebratory festival for Lono, many historians believe that the Native Hawaiians came to view Captain Cook as Lono, the fertility god (“Captain Cook Killed in Hawaii”). Yet, Cook’s deification did not save him from his ultimate death. After bringing deadly infectious diseases to the Hawaiians and attempting to kidnap the ruling chief at the time, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the Native Hawaiians turned to violence, killing Captain Cook, and scaring off the rest of his crew.

Parallels With Dipesh Chakrabarty: Agential Thakur and Lono

The language utilized when writing history is deeply impactful, and that is apparent in the way the Native Hawaiians’ religious and cultural importance of Cook in relation to Lono is so often talked about. Usually, their view of Cook as Lono is referred to as a belief or a supernatural idea they came up with, rather than something that holds any truth. One can see correlations between Chakrabarty’s telling of the Santal Rebellion and the god Thakur’s role in the rebellion. Chakrabarty explains how the Santals expressed absolute agency to their god Thakur as their reasoning for the uprising, stating they turned to violence because Thakur told them to do so (Chakrabarty 2002). He further explains that anthropologists cannot fully give Thakur agency because even when attempting to do so, “the historian, as historian and unlike the Santal, cannot invoke the supernatural in explaining/describing an event” because they have inherently converted the supernatural being into a belief or object of analysis (Chakrabarty 2002: 235). This dilemma that Chakrabarty introduces can further be applied to the case of Captain Cook and the Native Hawaiians. Historians or anthropologists must determine how to give agency to the god Lono, as the Native Hawaiians did, without discounting this agency as a mere belief of a subaltern history or a simple piece of evidence.

Chakrabarty presents a particular solution to this historicizing dilemma that can help prevent anthropologists or historians from maintaining a hierarchical, subject-object relationship with subaltern pasts and histories. Regarding the Santal Rebellion, he proposes that when the Santal gives Thakur agency, as historians, “we could ask ourselves: Is that way of being a possibility for our own lives and for what we define as our present?” (Chakrabarty 2002: 237). Connecting back to the Native Hawaiians, I propose a parallel view of agency with Lono, the Native’s god of fertility, acting through Captain Cook. In doing so, one can then question what this god’s agency can mean for the present, or as Chakrabarty says, can this agency “help us to understand a principle by which we also live in certain instances?” (Chakrabarty 2002: 237). While there are minimal records from the Native Hawaiians themselves, and their beliefs of Captain Cook, based on the historical accounts we have about the importance of their god Lono and his connection to the arrival of Cook, one can infer the Hawaiians awarded agency to their god, Lono. Even with minimal records, some accounts of Hawaiians deifying Captain Cook still exist. Historian Samuel Kamakau notes, “The men hurried to the ship to see the god with their own eyes” concerning the Hawaiians and Cook (Subin 2021). This perspective further makes us, as anthropologists, question the Native’s decision to murder Captain Cook. In conjunction with the documentation of diseases brought over by Cook, and the anger and destruction he brought while in Hawaii, when giving agency to Lono, one can see how impactful the choice to kill him was for the Hawaiians.

The murder of Cook occurred after he attempted to capture their chief ruler at the time, which inherently speaks to the respect that the Native Hawaiians held at the time for those in powerful positions. These values become even more powerful when you consider the person they murdered was seen as the reincarnation of their god. Questioning how the values of the Native Hawaiians, emphasized after giving Lono agency, could impact our present lives, thus allows us as anthropologists to refuse to historicize the Native Hawaiians. Instead, though, seeing them as “a figure illuminating a life possibility for the present” and a chance to “put us in touch with the plural ways of being that make up our own present” (Chakrabarty 2002: 237). If discussing the agency of Lono and other supernatural beings is done in a way that resists the hierarchical system that is often maintained through historicizing subaltern pasts, we can instead be introduced to how other life figures can impact our own lives in the present. It is essential to question how agential supernatural beings, like gods, of different cultures can influence our own present lives, rather than historicize these figures in a way that discounts their agency.

Parallels With Fanon: Necessity of Violence for Decoloniality

The murder of Captain Cook can also be reimagined through a lens that centers on the necessity of violence in decolonial struggles, a fundamental tenet of Frantz Fanon’s postcolonial theory. Before analyzing the violence that the colonized subject uses, one must first understand the violence forced upon them by the colonizer. Fanon explains how the colonizer, in this case, Captain Cook, forces extreme levels of violence, bringing it “into the homes and minds of the colonized subject,” the Native Hawaiians (Fanon 1963: 4). This violence from Captain Cook is documented in various historical accounts, with an especially gruesome account revealing that he “flogged [the Natives] mercilessly for trivial thefts, or cut their ears off” (Morris 1979). This account of Cook and his crew’s violence does not stand alone. It is often compounded with documentation of him bringing deadly diseases to the Hawaiian Islands, causing irreparable harm to the Native communities. This violence is characteristic of a colonizer/colonized relationship, according to Fanon and other postcolonial theorists, and it sets the groundwork for why violence, turned against the colonizer, is necessary for decolonial efforts.

Taking the extreme violence forced upon the Native Hawaiians at the hands of Captain Cook, it connects to what Fanon refers to as atmospheric violence (Fanon 1963). The colonized individuals, the Native Hawaiians, have faced such high levels of violence that it is atmospheric, or “rippling under the skin,” and results in them casting their “exacerbated hatred and rage” in the direction of the colonizer (Fanon 1963: 32). Colonized individuals end up embodying this violence they are forced to endure, and the violence stored within their body becomes the only route to completely break down this hierarchical system in which the colonist is protected. Thus, the violence, torture, and disease that Captain Cook forced upon the Hawaiians became the tool with which the Hawaiians themselves tore down this subject-object hierarchical system.

Connections Between Chakrabarty and Fanon in the Case of Captain Cook

If we give Lono agency the same way the Hawaiians likely did and understand that Cook was acting through Lono, or was Lono himself, it allows present anthropologists to understand the violence and motivation behind that violence differently. Instead of simply revolting against someone trying to capture their ruler, they were rebelling against their own God. Utilizing violence against a religious figure they respected and valued reveals entrenched levels of respect and admiration they held for the chief ruler. This viewpoint, though, also further demonstrates the necessity of violence in decolonial struggles. Fanon describes how during decolonial efforts, colonized groups are forced to turn their backs on their religious rituals or cultural stories and beliefs. He explains this concept more explicitly in the excerpt below:

During the struggle for liberation there is a singular loss of interest in these rituals. With his back to the wall, the knife at his throat, or to be more exact the electrode on his genitals, the colonized subject is bound to stop telling stories (Fanon 1963: 20).

One could argue that is what occurred with the Native Hawaiians when they turned to violence against Captain Cook, and according to history, no longer ‘believed’ Cook to be their god, Lono. Based on his theories, I argue that even Fanon would agree with this, in how he describes that the colonized subject “discovers reality and transforms it,” resulting in a violent decolonial agenda (Fanon 1963: 21). However, it is here that we once again come to a dilemma when referring to the agency of supernatural beings. How can we give agency to Lono but then go on to disregard it when it comes to violence? Claiming Hawaiians found ‘reality’ and killed Captain Cook because of this discovery? How can we assume that they did not already exist within their own parallel reality? Making these assumptions would then inherently discount Lono as an agential being.

Framing it in a manner that claims the Hawaiians, or colonized subjects in general, ‘discover reality’ and then had no choice but to turn to violence, condescends the worldview of the subaltern. The violence can be just as necessary, if not more, when we accept Lono’s parallel reality or world as an agential being, acting through Captain Cook. With this view, we can still utilize Fanon’s idea of atmospheric violence, and the embodiment of violence within colonized subjects, without disregarding the reality of their Gods as agents in their lives. Thus, the colonial forms of violence forced upon them was done so at the hands of their own god, through Captain Cook, and it is this level of ultimate betrayal from Lono that forced them to utilize violence. From this choice of violence, after the betrayal of their God, one can learn about the values of this cultural group. The ability to organize on a mass level, the collective action inherently associated with successfully murdering Captain Cook, and the active choice to rebel against a reincarnation of their god, speak to the resilience of Native Hawaiians and how vital community is to their culture. Thus, we can then return to Chakrabarty as well and question as anthropologists how this reality and Lono as an agential being could impact our own reality, and even our own individual lives. Does it make us question why we do not view Western gods as agential beings? Are we forced to question the values that reflect our own religions, compared to those of Native Hawaiians that are reflected with Lono acting with agency? One might argue that the Western majority already sees their Christian God as an agential being, but can our current society organize levels of collective action and display the kinds of community appreciation seen in the Native Hawaiians? These questions and deliberation can help break down the problem associated with historicizing a subaltern history, inherently othering it. Comparing cultures and questioning Western norms compared to realities of subaltern pasts can help dismantle the myth of Western modernity and progress. Instead, it can rather promote a plurality of culture and even a plurality of realities.

The Ontological Turn and Arturo Escobar’s Pluriverse

With these theoretical approaches in mind, one can then relate these ideas of Native Hawaiians and agential gods to the concept of the ontological turn and Arturo Escobar’s vision of the pluriverse. Escobar roughly defines his concept of the pluriverse as “a world where many worlds fit” and where “the rising concepts and struggles from and in defense of the pluriverse constitute…a practice of interbeing” (Escobar 2011: 139). He opens the idea for multiple realities, perhaps where some cultures have gods with agency, and others do not. The pluriverse welcomes humans, animals, non-humans, and the supernatural, and proposes a hopeful path forward for building community and breaking down hierarchical structures that allow Western ideas to dominate and subvert cultures that do not coincide with their own. Escobar’s pluriverse shares many similarities with the anthropological concept of the ontological turn. Anthropologists loosely define the ontological turn as a viewpoint that “proposes…openness to difference of all kinds, be it what we would call cultural and epistemological or natural, and indeed, ontological” (Heywood 2021). Both the ontological turn and the pluriverse embrace difference, and even encourage it, and they offer a collaborative, community-focused path forward in a postcolonial world.

However, this idea of the ontological turn, and to an extent, the pluriverse, while welcoming difference and the plurality of thought, has shortcomings when put into practice. Zoe Todd both defines and critiques the ontological turn in the excerpt below.

The Ontological Turn – with its breathless ‘realisations’ that animals, the climate, water, ‘atmospheres’ and non-human presences like ancestors and spirits are sentient and possess agency, that ‘nature’ and ‘culture’, ‘human’ and ‘animal’ maybe not be so separate after all – is itself perpetuating the exploitation of Indigenous peoples (Todd 2016).

Todd goes on to explain how the main critique of the ontological turn within the discipline is the silences that tend to accompany it (Todd 2016). We cannot discuss the agency of Lono, Thakur, or any other supernatural beings, or delve into ideas of the pluriverse and plural realities and accepting difference without admitting to the colonialism that still runs rampant in the academy and society overall. The ontological turn runs the risk of disregarding current colonialism and “erasing the embodied, practice, and legal-governance aspect of Indigenous ontologies as they are enacted by Indigenous actors” (Todd 2016). My own theoretical discussions above regarding Native Hawaiians, Lono, and agential supernatural beings would not be complete, and would lose credibility, without the above critiques of the argument I am making.

Even with good intentions of accepting differences, these turns within anthropology hold no weight without concrete action following them. I cannot comfortably discuss theoretical takes of multiple realities and worldviews as coexisting peacefully and cannot call upon the ontological turn regarding 18^th century Hawaii gods and rebellions, if I then fail to address the current colonial trends that still perpetuate within Hawaii. Tourism acting as a neocolonial system, the exoticism of Hawaiian Natives, and false narratives of the ‘welcoming Hawaiian’ that help perpetuate tourism are all examples of recursive themes of colonialism. With Todd’s critiques in mind, I further urge proponents of the ontological turn to give space to Indigenous voices internationally within the discipline and in the academy’s syllabi. Only in doing so and confronting the current harm caused by colonialism in Indigenous communities, can we then attempt to discuss a world of community and pluriverse.

Ideas for a Path Forward

Without disregarding the above critiques of the ontological turn and keeping current colonial systems in mind, I argue the pluriverse is still a hopeful path forward into a postcolonial world. Escobar’s arguments of treating other realities and worlds as equals, and emphasizing community and togetherness are optimistic avenues of change. The Native Hawaiians and Lono can exemplify these theoretical ideas, revealing how multiple realities and forms of being can exist within one world. Accepting Lono’s agency also allows us to push Fanon’s view of violence further. Revealing how the colonized do not have to turn their backs on their rituals and gods to utilize violence, but instead how violence can become an even more powerful choice when agential beings are involved. These theoretical approaches to the murder of Captain Cook give us opportunities to envision the pluriverse as Escobar describes it, and a chance to deepen our understanding of plural realities and the potential within them.

Bibliography

“Captain Cook Killed in Hawaii.” History.com A&E Television Networks, February 10, 2021. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/captain-cook-killed-in-hawaii

Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2002. “Minority Histories, Subaltern Pasts” in Postcolonial Passages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 229-242.

Escobar, Arturo. 2011. Sustainability: Design for the Pluriverse. Development, 137-140.

Fanon, Frantz. 1963. “On Violence.” In The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press, 1-62.

Heywood, Paolo. 2021. “Ontological Turn, The.” Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology. https://www.anthroencyclopedia.com/entry/ontological-turn

Morris, Jan. 1979. “The Murder of Captain James Cook Richard Hough (Book Review).” The Spectator, Retrieved April 14, 2021.

Subin, Anna Della. “How Do You Kill a God?” Literary Hub, November 29, 2021. https://lithub.com/how-do-you-kill-a-god-on-captain-cooks-ill-fated-arrival-in-hawaii/

Todd, Zoe. 2016. An Indigenous Feminist’s Take on the Ontological Turn: ‘Ontology’ Is Just Another Word for Colonialism. Journal of Historical Sociology, 29: 4-22. doi: 10.1111/johs.12124.

by Lindsay Simpson

The Effects of Colonialism on Hawaiʻi

Introduction

To many, the islands of Hawaiʻi represent luxury, slow life, and an exotic vacation destination. This, however, is not the truth for local Hawaiians. The Hawaiʻi that we know today is heavily exploited, romanticized, and misconstrued from its true form. Colonization, industrialization, imperialism, and tourism have shaped Hawaiʻi into what many people view it as today. While life for tourists and non-local residents is lavish and glamorized, the local Hawaiians live a significantly different life. Many locals experience homelessness, living below the poverty line, and experience a power and wealth imbalance with white tourists. These issues with local Hawaiians can be traced to Hawaiʻi’s colonial history. The legacy of colonialism is ever present in Hawaiʻi, as it has pushed local Hawaiians out of their native lands and left them struggling to get by, while white residents and tourists live strikingly different lives, unaffected by colonialism’s traces in Hawaiʻi. 

History of Hawaiʻi

Before analyzing the impacts that colonialism has on Hawaiʻi today, it is important to fully understand Hawaiʻi’s rich and painful history. The first people to live on Hawaiʻi reached the islands in 300 CE (Britannica). Over time, the islanders developed a rich oral history, filled with myth and legend. Knowledge of the land and respect for the earth was essential to Hawaiian culture. 

In 1778, however, Hawaiʻi would change forever. The first Europeans reached the Hawaiian islands by boat. From this point on, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi would continue to experience new settlers flocking to their lands. Americans began to immigrate to Hawaiʻi, where they established sugar plantations, and thus began the exploitation of Hawaiʻi. The first of many sugar cane plantations in Hawaiʻi was established in Oahu in 1825 (Grove Farm, 2022). 

Introduction of Colonialism in Hawaiʻi

As the production of sugar cane became more and more successful, businessmen from the west began to take special interest in sugar as a product, as well as the novel, exotic land it grew on. In 1848, a land distribution act called The “Great Mahele” was put into place, which would allow foreigners to purchase land in Hawaiʻi, as an effort to accommodate the growing sugarcane production (The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 2022). This act largely contributed to the continual growth of the industry, as large plots of land are necessary for mass production of sugar. Aspects of colonialism and exploitation become clearer from this point on, as Hawaiʻi was now seen as a product to Americans and other western powers. 

Tensions between locals and the west began to rise, as the western utilization of Hawaiʻian lands and goods was beginning to take a toll on Hawaiʻi as a whole. Meanwhile, even more immigrants flocked to Hawaiʻi, specifically from America. Missionaries from America moved to the islands, and by the mid 1800s, western culture was beginning to take over Hawaiʻi. Churches, schools, horse-drawn vehicles, and other western inventions were all over Hawaiʻi, and Catholicism and Protestantism had been introduced (Britannica). It was at this point that Catholicism and other western ideals and religions were introduced. By this point, Hawaiʻi began to change immensely, losing aspects of its own culture and language. 

Growing interest in exploring the newly discovered lands, a succeeding sugarcane industry, and new populations of westerners living in Hawaiʻi created a perfect storm for challenging the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Plans to overthrow the Hawaiian monarchy had been developing for decades. In 1893, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was overthrown in a coup d’état against Queen Liliuokalani by white businessman (Nisei Veterans Legacy, 2022). Just five years later, the United States annexed Hawaiʻi, and it became a U.S. state in 1898 (U.S. Department of State, 2009). 

Repercussions of the Annexation of Hawaiʻi

Following the annexation of Hawaiʻi, the United States government officially banned the usage of the native Hawaiian language, which made English the dominant language spoken in Hawaiʻi. The ban of native Hawaiian language, called ʻŌlelo, forced locals to assimilate to English culture, as they had no language, and subsequently no culture. Because Hawaiian culture emphasizes oral tradition, Hawaiian people began to lose their culture, as no one was able to tell the stories anymore. Not only did this isolate the native Hawaiian people, but a need for community led them to attend churches and participate in English culture. 

The overview of Hawaiian history described above only scratches the surface of the dense history of these ancient lands. These events lay out many factors that contribute to a power imbalance between native Hawaiians and others inhabiting and touring the land. As more and more people moved to Hawaiʻi, and as other cultures (besides Hawaiian) were introduced to the land, native people became more and more a minority of their own land. As a result of European invasion, some Hawaiians began to move to the mainland, the earliest recorded trips dating back to the late 1700s (Young, 2020). The migrations were likely due to attempts to survive economically. This clearly illustrates the early impacts of colonialism on native Hawaiians, and foreshadows the current dynamic that native Hawaiians still have today with foreigners. 

While some Hawaiians fled their homelands to seek economic freedom and success, others stayed on the islands. The locals that stayed not only lost their identity, language, and culture, but would soon begin to lose their homes and money. Westernization negatively affected native Hawaiians in various ways, all of which stem from colonization and exploitation. Understanding the colonial history of Hawaii helps to better understand the imbalanced dynamic of impoverished local Hawaiians and prospering tourists and non-native locals. 

The Commodification of Hawaiian Culture

While the United States government made efforts to suppress Hawaiian culture by banning the language, American citizens began to romanticize and exoticize Hawaiian culture. Parodies of Hawaiian culture began taking America by storm. The culture that was being suppressed in its home was now a gimmicky concept to American populations. The “Hula Girl”, flower leis, coconuts, and luaus became fascinating to white Americans. The juxtaposition of Hawaiian culture being romanticized by Americans while the United States government was actively attempting to suppress the culture illustrates the concept that the U.S. did not value the Hawaiian people as people, but as a way to encourage tourism and to continue exploiting the native people. 

In addition to being commodified, Hawaiian culture began to be fetishized. A main example of fetishizing culture is the over-sexualization of Hula girls. The cultural context of their dancing and meaning behind their outfits are stripped away, and are marketed for profit, not for education. In Hawaiian tradition, the hula is performed as a way to communicate oral history and to share knowledge with others. In the eyes of tourists, however, their dance combined with their clothing are seen as a sexual act, and commodifies the hula dance for “the lurid gratification of the haole (Trask, 2010).”  

Eventually, the consumption and romanticization of Hawaiian culture wasn’t enough for haoles- they needed to visit and exploit it themselves. The excessive tourism to Hawaiʻi can in part be blamed by America’s commodification of the culture. 

Impacts of Colonialism on Education and Language in Hawaiʻi

Unsurprisingly, colonialism in Hawaiʻi greatly affected education. As discussed in the history of Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian language, ʻŌlelo, was officially banned in Hawaiʻi, and English became the primary language spoken. Nearly 50 years before, however, the colonial education system was introduced in Hawaiʻi. These schools were undoubtedly a way to force the youth of Hawaiʻi to become more European, and rob them of knowledge of their culture and language. In fact, “Administrators worked to develop a corps of local teachers who were both knowledgeable about regional society and committed to “Americanization”, (Gershon, 2020). These schools aimed to teach youth the American ways of life, with no mentions of Hawaiian culture, nor Asian cultures (due to the high number of Asian immigrants in Hawaiʻi). 

It wasn’t until 1978 when the Hawaiian language was finally recognized as an official language in Hawaiʻi. However, ʻŌlelo was not taught in schools until 1984, where immersion programs were created for preschools. Today, only about 2,000 speak ʻŌlelo as their native language, and it is deemed as a dying language (Alta, 2023). 

Due to the heavy Americanization of Hawaiʻi, a new language that mixed English and ʻŌlel, was created over time. This language is called Hawai‘i Creole, but is most commonly referred to as Pidgin (Hargrove, et al.). The language was developed as children came home from Americanized schools with new English vocabularies, and parents began to blend the two languages into one. By the 1920s, Hawaiian Creole English was the most commonly spoken language in Hawai‘i. While Pidgin is not recognized as an official language, it is widely used in casual settings between local Hawaiians. 

Impacts of Tourism on Locals

Tourism has undoubtedly irreparably impacted Hawaiʻi, both in terms of the land and for the life of the locals. Tourism has negatively affected the environment in many ways, and led to the current water crisis that Hawaiʻi is facing now. Because of this crisis, local Hawaiians now have to deal with a limited water supply in addition to the exorbitant cost of living on their local lands (Bacilio, 2022). 

As someone who has had the privilege to travel to Hawaiʻi twice, I can personally attest to the drastic difference in how tourists live and how locals live. In my experience, I was staying in a variety of locations: a resort, an AirBNB, and a condo. All of these locations were separated from where locals lived, and the socioeconomic divide became glaringly obvious as I explored the island. I left the island of Kauai incredibly aware of the privilege I had and went through a range of emotions. While I tried my best to not be a “bad tourist” and instead tried to support local businesses and street food, it was hard to shake the thought that I was contributing to the issue that I am discussing now. 

In a resident survey conducted in 2022, 67% of residents stated that they felt Hawaii was being “run for tourists at the expense of local people. (Bacilio, 2022). In fact, nearly one-fifth of the resident population of Hawai’i is nearly homeless (Trask, 2010). In order to survive economically, many local Hawaiians have left the islands to avoid the extremely high costs of living, and to live in better economic conditions. These statistics serve as a mere illustration of the dire situation local Hawaiians are facing, mainly as a result of tourism. The booming industry that brings in billions of dollars is simultaneously robbing many locals of any economic success and freedom. 

Analysis

In Orientalism, Said mentions a Eurocentric view of the world, where the European West is viewed as the center and the peak of civilization, while non-Western or non-European societies are viewed as primitive and backward (Said, 1978). While Hawaiʻi is not the country Said is referring to, we can apply his theory to the context of Hawaiʻi to view its history of colonialism. Because European colonizers, and even current tourists, view Hawaiʻi as not Western, it can be viewed as being backwards and not as developed as European societies. This can be used as a justification for many actions taken against Hawaiʻi, like its colonization, annexation, commodification, and destruction of sacred lands. 

The argument above can be supported by the history of colonialism in Hawaiʻi. Specifically, Hawaiians not following a European, monotheistic religion was a driving component in the colonization of Hawaii. Similarly, the use of a language without roman characters further pushes the colonial idea that Hawaiians are “other” and “backward”. It has previously been argued that the “colonial understanding of a perfect language as the fulfillment of the monotheistic ideal”, which can be applied to the circumstances of Hawaii (Yelle, 2014). While Yelle is referring to India, the argument made can be applied to Hawaiian colonialism. 

The tourism industry in Hawaii and its impacts on local Hawaiians mirrors concepts from Life and Debt, which discusses the impacts of tourism and globalization on Jamaica, a developing and non-European country. The beginning of the film draws parallels between the lives of tourists and the lives of Jamaican locals. From illustrating how tourists are able to travel internationally with ease in comparison to the hoops locals have to jump through, to differences in currency, Life and Debt documents how despite being on the same island, tourists and locals live lives that are worlds different. 

The content shown in this film mirrors the parasitic relationship between tourists and locals in Hawaiʻi. While this film does not mention Hawaii and is analyzing colonialism’s effects on another country, we can use the arguments made in Life and Debt and apply them to the situations in Hawaiʻi. Despite the glaring similarities between Jamaica and Hawaiʻi, like climate and being popular vacation places for white people, there are also similarities in socioeconomic divides between tourists and locals, which are deeply rooted in colonialism and exploitation of native land and locals. 

While many of the theorists drawn upon in this argument are analyzing different countries, their arguments can all be applied to explain the effects of colonialism in Hawaiʻi. By definition, postcolonialism is the study of political, cultural, and economic effects of imperialism and colonialism on countries that were once colonies of other countries, with specific emphasis on the exploitation and control over colonized land and individuals. The postcolonial works cited in this argument are written about specific countries, but their arguments can be applied to many others, as colonialism and postcolonialism affects countless other countries. By analyzing theory about colonialism in contexts of different countries, a stronger argument can be created, as it strengthens the statement that colonialism is a huge issue that is still very much present and affecting many countries worldwide. The ability to relate theory about one specific culture to another culture shows just how widespread the effects of colonialism reach, not just geographically, but culturally and chronologically. 

The postcolonial works of Said and Black’s creation of Life and Debt seek to analyze colonialism in India and Jamaica, but their arguments can be applied to the context of Hawaiʻi. The effects of tourism and the grim reality of the tourism industry described in Life and Debt closely mirror the tourism industry in Hawaiʻi, and emphasizes how the glorification of the countries is simultaneously destroying them environmentally and locally. Said’s argument that non-European countries are viewed as primitive through a European lens is in reference to the Orient, but his argument is applicable to all non-European countries and former colonies. While Yelle’s work was not a core component of our course, his work about neoliberalism in The Language of Disenchantment provides postcolonial ideas. These pieces work to support the argument that Hawaii has a deep and painful postcolonial history. Specifically, colonialism of Hawaiʻi led to the booming tourism industry, which continues to negatively impact Hawaiian locals and land alike. In order to improve these conditions, it is imperative to acknowledge the impacts that colonialism continues to have on Hawaiʻi, and work to combat these issues. 

Bibliography

ALTA Language Services. “5 Fascinating Facts about the Hawaiian Language: A Look into Its History and Significance.” ALTA Language Services, March 7, 2023. https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/facts-about-the-hawaiian-language/#:~:text=Today%20there%20are%20only%20about,profound%20impact%20on%20Hawaiian%20culture. 

“Annexation of Hawaii, 1898.” U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. Accessed April 26, 2023. https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/gp/17661.htm#:~:text=Hawaii%20was%20made%20a%20territory,both%20became%20states%20in%201959. 

Bacilio, Cristell. “Hawaii Tourism: Opposite of a Paradise for Locals.” International Relations Review. International Relations Review, October 27, 2022. https://www.irreview.org/articles/hawaii-tourism-opposite-of-a-paradise-for-locals#:~:text=Tourism%20has%20caused%20environmental%20damage,the%20high%20cost%20of%20living. 

Darowski, Lukasz, Jordan Strilchuk, Jason Sorochuk, and Casey Provost. “Negative Impact of Tourism on Hawaii Natives and Environment .” Lethbridge Undergraduate Research Journal , 2006. 

“Discover the History of Sugar Plantations in Hawaii: Grove Farm.” Grove Farm. January 26, 2021. https://grovefarm.org/kauai-history/#:~:text=The%20first%20recorded%20planting%20of,and%20Company%20at%20Koloa%2C%20Kauai. 

Gershon , Livia. “How Public Schools ‘Americanized’ Hawai’i – Jstor Daily,” February 3, 2020. https://daily.jstor.org/how-public-schools-americanized-hawaii/. 

Goo, Sara Kehaulani. “The Hawaiian Language Nearly Died. A Radio Show Sparked Its Revival.” NPR. NPR, June 22, 2019. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/06/22/452551172/the-hawaiian-language-nearly-died-a-radio-show-sparked-its-revival. 

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