Constructing Kanaka Maoli identity through narrative
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Christopher K. Baker
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to (1) consider how Kanaka Maoli, or Native Hawaiian, narratives construct, and now reconstruct, Kanaka Maoli identity and (2) how identity construction was and is being carried out though Hawaiian-medium newspapers of the 19th and early 20th century. To illustrate identity construction through narrative we will look at how in a mo‘olelo ‘narrative’ the narrator illustrates clearly that the protagonist uses his kūpuna ‘elders, ancestors’ to help him on his journey along the temporal lines of the mo‘olelo. The Kanaka Maoli audience aligns with the protagonist’s position and his calling unto the kūpuna and knows that s/he too can do the same.
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to (1) consider how Kanaka Maoli, or Native Hawaiian, narratives construct, and now reconstruct, Kanaka Maoli identity and (2) how identity construction was and is being carried out though Hawaiian-medium newspapers of the 19th and early 20th century. To illustrate identity construction through narrative we will look at how in a mo‘olelo ‘narrative’ the narrator illustrates clearly that the protagonist uses his kūpuna ‘elders, ancestors’ to help him on his journey along the temporal lines of the mo‘olelo. The Kanaka Maoli audience aligns with the protagonist’s position and his calling unto the kūpuna and knows that s/he too can do the same.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editor’s note vii
- Glossing abbreviations ix
- About the authors xi
- Introduction 1
-
Inside the storyworld
- Moving through space and (not?) time 15
- We’ve never seen a cyclone like this 37
-
Telling narratives, constructing identities
- Local ecological knowledge in Mortlockese narrative 61
- Small stories and associated identities in Neverver 81
- ‘Sometime is lies’ 101
-
Narrative memories, cultures and identities
- Constructing Kanaka Maoli identity through narrative 119
- ‘Stories of long ago’ and the forces of modernity in South Pentecost 135
- Australian South Sea Islanders’ narratives of belonging 155
- Avatars of Fiji’s Girmit narrative 177
- Samoan narratives 193
- “[P]ulling tomorrow’s sky from [the] kete” 209
- Beyond exile 225
- Embodied silent narratives of masculinities 243
- Index 259
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editor’s note vii
- Glossing abbreviations ix
- About the authors xi
- Introduction 1
-
Inside the storyworld
- Moving through space and (not?) time 15
- We’ve never seen a cyclone like this 37
-
Telling narratives, constructing identities
- Local ecological knowledge in Mortlockese narrative 61
- Small stories and associated identities in Neverver 81
- ‘Sometime is lies’ 101
-
Narrative memories, cultures and identities
- Constructing Kanaka Maoli identity through narrative 119
- ‘Stories of long ago’ and the forces of modernity in South Pentecost 135
- Australian South Sea Islanders’ narratives of belonging 155
- Avatars of Fiji’s Girmit narrative 177
- Samoan narratives 193
- “[P]ulling tomorrow’s sky from [the] kete” 209
- Beyond exile 225
- Embodied silent narratives of masculinities 243
- Index 259
