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Australasia and the Pacific Islands, Book Reviews

Volume 89 – No. 4

THE VALUE OF HAWAI‘I 2: Ancestral Roots, Oceanic Visions | Edited by Aiko Yamashiro and Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua

A Biography Monograph. Honolulu: Published for the Biographical Research Center by the University of Hawai‘i Press, 2014. xiv, 308 pp. (Illustrations.) US$19.99, paper. ISBN 978-0-8248-3975-8.


This book continues the profound conversation initiated in Howes and Osorio’s (2010) first volume responding to political changes and ongoing struggles for Kanaka ‘Ōiwi around quality of life in Hawai‘i. The first volume sought a range of articles from contributors who had intimate knowledge and experience negotiating challenges emerging from economic, government, social services, and ka ‘āina for Kanaka ‘Ōiwi. This was a volume grounded in voices of experience, academic analysis, and long-time activists. As Mari Matsuda of the first volume reflected, there seemed to be an absence of young energy. Yamashiro and Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua understood that absence while also clearly hearing the younger voices as they opened spaces for contemporary voices committed to the mutual obligations of land and people to care for one another. Both volumes were written for general audiences, rather than solely academic ones, and focus on the ideas, challenges, projects, and dreams of the Kanaka ‘Ōiwi and Hawai‘i. The second volume includes the views of scholars, artists, business people, activists, farmers and fishers, teachers, and professionals across a broad range of ages expressing hope for the future and urging a change of perspectives. The diversity of authors is extremely successful in tying together mo‘olelo, kuleana, huaka‘i, pu‘ohonua, and aloha while adding more traditional subject guides (e.g., health, food, relationships with elders, land, education, gender, and the sacred) for those who seek specific topics.

Although one can read for specific topics of interest, I highly recommend reading the work as a whole. Each section structures the discussion and brings to life what Meyer (Manulani Aluli Meyer, Ho‘oulu: Our Time of Becoming: Hawaiian Epistemology and Early Writings, ‘Ai Pohaku Press, 2003) identifies as Kanaka ‘Ōiwi epistemology. Yamashiro and Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua suggest that the Hawaiian name for the archipelago—nā kai ‘ewalu, or the eight seas that connect each island to one another and Hawai‘i to the larger Pacific or Oceanic community—contextualizes the book’s framework. This shift prepares the reader for a key component of Kanaka ‘Ōiwi epistemology: quality and level of relationships are the primary way to share knowledge. Relationality imbues the stories, music, analysis, community strategies, contributors, and very structure of the book. They are all woven together as organic, relational forces energized by history and future possibilities. I felt like I was watching the spirits of the contributors to the first volume flowing through this current volume into the future. Although Kanaka ‘Ōiwi perspectives and values shape the flow and content of the book, the spaces and practices encompass all who come to Hawai‘i and commit to her well-being.

The first section about aloha frames qualities of relationships that can lead to knowing through experience. The chapters describe maternal love, grace, perseverance, fierceness, and sacrifice echoing Pele and Hi‘iakaikapoliopele. The mo‘olelo section sings about the need to listen to new voices such as youth activism through spoken arts, community health, and agriculture. Reading the multiple intersections of mo‘olelo and modern issues of gender, private education, poetry, and “myths made new” invite the reader to experience the full range of ideas, analysis, emotion, and dreams emerging from those who care about Hawai‘i. The third section on kuleana, or responsibilities to care and contribute, focuses on the responsible development of Hawai‘i. It is tempting to pick-and-choose topics of interest, but the section read as a whole overlays community wealth, individual family traditions, energy,
waste, food, urbanism, and poetry among others to provide an experience of how each component is crucial to the other. A sense of richness, vitality, and kuleana radiates from these chapters. The fourth section explores finding a position or way through voyaging, diaspora, decolonization, alternative economics, settler colonialism, social justice, and personal efforts. It is a powerful section knotting together wayfinding practices and metaphors with material contributions and personal knowing. Pu‘uhonua, revolving around creating safe and sacred spaces, insightfully connects the spirit and ethics of the relationality of social compacts (as different from social contract) to larger forces and interconnections, with the last chapter highlighting the power of spiritual connections. The final section returns to aloha and sketches out Island-style activism and the power of ceremony to guide future actions.

The interweaving of personal examples, mo‘olelo, ongoing initiatives to nourish a quality of life, andmaintaining the vision of wholeness provided a powerful sample of the forces in Hawai‘i and the deep conversations about how to shape the future. The diversity of Hawaiian voices highlights different paths to taking care of each other and intersections of kuleana. While directed toward general audiences, there is much that is relevant to scholarly audiences attuned to Kanaka ‘Ōiwi epistemology, the intersection of disciplines, and the self-determination of Kanaka ‘Ōiwi. Personally, I would love to see a third volume where these intersections of differences and agreements are examined highlighting the power of Kanaka ‘Ōiwi epistemology. This volume adds to the first as it crosses generations and demonstrates how practices of old shaped and continue to shape emerging strategies and solutions that nourish the well-being of all. The Value of Hawai‘i 2: Ancestral Roots, Oceanic Visions is best savoured for the range of contributions, insights emerging from the people who will act and carry the responsibilities for Hawai‘i’s future. It makes a wonderful companion to the first volume (The Value of Hawai‘i: Knowing the Past, Shaping the Future) and potentially a powerful series.


Karen Fox
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada     

pp. 960-961


Last Revised: June 13, 2018
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