After our discussion in class on Thursday, I thought it would be interesting to talk a little bit more of Hawaii’s history and how it is similar in certain aspects to Native American history. Like the Native Americans, the Native Hawaiians have been an oppressed race for over a hundred years. My ancestors always believed that living off the land was extremely important, and it played an important role in our culture. After the introduction of western foreigners, the Hawaiian population started declining drastically, and the knowledge of our culture was slowly forgotten.
Hawaiians were restricted from speaking in their native tongue, and were forced to give up certain practices such as hula dancing and religious ceremonies to the gods they believed in. Culture was such an important aspect of life; when the foreigners stripped them of these practices, they felt as if their identities were being taken away. Most of these foreigners were missionaries whose intentions were to do more good than harm. Unfortunately, these missionaries brought not only their new ways of life, but also diseases that never were introduced to the islands before. These diseases nearly wiped out the Hawaiian population.
Queen Lili’uoukalani, the reigning monarch at the time, saw her people suffering, but could do nothing about it. Unfortunately, things got worse and the U.S. Government overthrew the monarchy illegally and established a provisional government. Soon after, Hawaii became a territory and then later a state.
It’s sad to know that my ancestors were affected in such a way that caused them to lose a sense of self. Our culture has become so diluted with the influence of foreigners that it’s difficult to find people who have authentic knowledge of Hawaiian practices. Today, Hawaii is like a melting pot. It’s hard to find a Hawaiian that doesn’t have any other ethnicities as well. I went to a private school for Native Hawaiians called Kamehameha Schools. Out of over 2,000 students, there was not a single student who was what one would call a “pure” Hawaiian. This school encourages students to practice and be educated about our culture. I feel that up until the 7th grade when I was accepted into this school, I was deprived of my Hawaiian culture. Kamehameha Schools offers the same type of curriculum as any other college prep school except in addition to that, they have classes aimed specifically for students to engage in cultural practices.
No one besides that particular race will ever know the struggles that both the Native Americans and Native Hawaiians had to endure. Though the Native Hawaiian struggle wasn’t as difficult as the Native Americans’, it still was a big enough struggle for my ancestors to be worried about future generations. There is so much to explain about Hawaiian history that can’t all fit in this blog, but this is it in a nut shell.
7 comments:
As I said before in class, I am jealous of the cultural history that you have, even though the hardships that your ancestors endured and the decimation of your people have kept you from knowing everything about the Native Hawaiian oral history. You have roots to base your identity on and I do not. I am a European mix and my ancestors came everywhere from Norway to Switzerland to England. I, like most nth generation Americans, am an ingredient in the melting pot. However, as you said, Hawaii has become a melting pot as well, and so few pure Native Hawaiians remain. This is such a sad reality and it irks me that we cannot go back in time and prevent what happened. The only thing we can do now is to educate ourselves on the culture of our ancestors and attempt to preserve it. That is why I am eager to learn more about my family's genealogy. Actually, as always, we are having Thanksgiving at my grandma's house (she lives a mile from us) and my other grandma is coming up from Santa Barbara to celebrate with us. So, I plan on asking them questions about our family history while we are all together. I cannot wait to leave for home on Tuesday.
Jill,
I think it's great that you are so aware of your cultural identity, as well as informed about the hurdles your ancestors have had to endure and overcome. Like Tiffany, I come from large assortment of different ethnicities (and am 1/16 Native American, couldn't you guess?), but I believe I'm predominantly English and French. With that said, after years of hearing about European history, I believe that I am more interested in the places that I live than the background that I don't feel very connected to. For example, I hear the word "Spain" or the name of any city in the country and a magnetic force draws me to whoever muttered the word. Here, in a mixing bowl of, for the most part, Californians and other westerners, it excites me when someone mentions home on the East Coast. While I applaud your effort and ability to remain close to your roots, I like the idea of connecting to where you are, in the present--whether that be "home" or a place far from it.
Hey Jill,
I think it's awesome that your so in touch with your cultural identity and the history of your ancestors. I feel so lucky to have 4 generations alive in my family today. My great grandma is full of interesting stories about my geographic roots and it's great to talk to her about them. My ancestors came to America from Belgium and Germany. I am Jewish-European with some Russian roots from my mother's side. Listening to my great grandmother as well as my grandparents tell stories about my families history is priceless. It is a legacy that I will one day pass down to my children. The Hawaiian culture is unique from any other and it's so special that you can stay in touch with your family culture!
Hi Jill,
I'm glad you decided to expand on some of the comments from our class discussion. Since you do have a stronger sense of "rootedness" to both place and culture than many of us do, I found myself wondering how it feels to live outside of Hawaii. Do you feel a strong connection to the Hawaiian landscape (as well as to the Hawaiian culture), or do you feel you can live in other places just as easily?
The parallels you drew between Native Americans and Native Hawaiians made me think of Wendy Rose's poem "Alien Seeds." I know that invasive plants and animals have had a devastating effect on the native flora and fauna of Hawaii. I would love to know your thoughts on that topic.
And to Everyone-
While I can certainly relate to the longing for a strong sense of cultural identity, I also deeply appreciate Annie's notion of "connecting where we are." For those of us with fractured and fragmented family histories, that may be the best thing we can do, both for ourselves and for the place we decide to call home.
Thank you for all your comments. To answer Juliet's question, my answer is "yes." Sure, it's quite difficult being in a different environment, but I, like many other college students wanted change. I wanted to experience life outside of my comfort zone.
Like the poem "Alien Seeds" by Wendy Rose, invasive plants and animals have had a negative effect on native species. To this day, there are hardly any native birds left, and most of the indigenous plant and animals are also endangered. Projects for school helped me to realize that this was such a problem. There are organizations out there that are in the process of restoring the population of native species by planting them in a variety of different places where they can thrive. I, like Rose, sometimes can't even distinguish between something that is native and non-native.
Thanks for your post, Jill; it's such a gift to have that connection to your cultural roots--and the education that supported your sense of identity. Those of us--like me--who are descendants of European colonists and other immigrants have a different relation to place and cultural identity than native inhabitants had (and many continue to have). We've benefited from being on the victor's side of history, which means not having to confront and live with the forcible loss of deeply-held cultural roots, roots planted in native soil. Being white comes with a lot of invisible privileges, and a relatively easy assimilation into a dominant white culture is one of the privileges that white immigrants have enjoyed. The down side to that historical assimilation, as Tiffany remarks, is that it can still lead to a sense of lost connection. What's lost in addition to knowledge of who our ancestors are and where they came from, is also a sense of place. We've been wanderers, nomads, frontier-chasers, not connected to any particular landscape. So like Annie, I've come to think that my task is to learn to live deeply where I am--rooted in knowledge of my local place. And that includes knowledge of the people who live around me, and the natural ecosystem of my home place. As Wendell Berry writes, you can't know who you are if you don't know where you are. And where we are, as I hope we're all learning this semester, is a far deeper matter than locating San Francisco on a map.
I think it is very nice that you are still in touch with your culture, and it is very sad as to what happened to these two groups of people.
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