Maui Hooks the Islands introduces kids ages 0-4 to one of Hawaii's best-known legends about Maui the demigod who fished up the Hawaiian islands using a magic fishing hook. In simple, poetic language, this origin story gives small kids a taste of Hawaii's rich history of storytelling. Three other titles in the Hawaiian Legends for Little Ones series are: Hina, Pele Finds a Home, and Naupaka--all legends that will give kids a wider view of Hawaiian culture, history, and its natural world.
This is Queen Liliuokalani's translation of the Hawaiian Creation chant, the Kumulipo. She translated this while under house arrest at Iolani Palace, and it was subsequently published in 1897. This is an extremely rare book which was republished (in a very scarce edition) by Pueo Press in 1978. The Kumulipo's composition is attributed to one of Liliuokalani's eighteenth century ancestors, Keaulumoku, just prior to European contact. It is a sophisticated epic which describes the origin of species in terms that Darwin would appreciate. The Kumulipo moves from the emergence of sea creatures, to insects, land plants, animals, and eventually human beings. It describes a complicated web of interrelationships between various plants and animals. The most massive part of the chant is a genealogy which enumerates thousands of ancestors of the Hawaiian royal family. The Kumulipo is also available at this site in the 1951 translation of Martha Warren Beckwith, with comprehensive analysis and the complete Hawaiian text. However Liliuokalani's version is of some historical significance. The last Queen of Hawaii, Liliuokalani was extremely literate, and steeped in Hawaiian tradition. She was the author of the well-known Hawaiian anthem, Aloha 'Oe as well as a Hawaiian history book, Hawai'i's Story by Hawai'i's Queen.
Part of a new series called Hawaiian Legends for Little Ones, Naupaka introduces kids ages 0-4 to one of Hawaii's best-known love stories that explains why the native plant naupaka--which can be found on the beach and in the mountains--blooms only half a flower. In simple, poetic language, this origin story gives small kids a taste of Hawaii's rich history of storytelling. Three other titles in the series are: Hina, Pele Finds a Home, and Maui Hooks the Islands--all legends that will give kids a wider view of Hawaiian culture, history, and its natural world.
"A valuable library addition for either a folklorist, a linguist, or an ethnologist." --Western Folklore "The stories in this book are reprinted from Volumes IV and V of The Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-lore, published by the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in 1917, 1918, and 1919. They include some of the best-loved of Hawaiian stories, and the collection is probably the most important work on a traditional subject ever published in the Hawaiian language.... In the 1860s and 1870s, Abraham Fornander, circuit judge of Maui, employed several Hawaiians to seek out learned Hawaiians and write down their stories. The collectors included S. N. Kamakau, S. Haleole, and Kepelino Keauokalani, each of whom has made important contributions to our knowledge of the old culture." -from the Introduction
For dedicated environmentalists as well as those who want to preserve Hawaii's resources but don't know where to start, this handbook provides specifics information on meeting Hawaii's 10 major environmental challenges - the loss of pristine places, coral reef degradation, overharvesting of marine resources, solid waste management, hazardous waste management, water consumption, energy, pollution, global warming, and the loss of culture. Hundreds of photos showcase Hawaii's natural beauty, inspiring readers to do a little - or a lot - to preserve it.
In the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (HHCA) of 1921, the U.S. Congress defined “native Hawaiians” as those people “with at least one-half blood quantum of individuals inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778.” This “blood logic” has since become an entrenched part of the legal system in Hawai‘i. Hawaiian Blood is the first comprehensive history and analysis of this federal law that equates Hawaiian cultural identity with a quantifiable amount of blood. J. Kēhaulani Kauanui explains how blood quantum classification emerged as a way to undermine Native Hawaiian (Kanaka Maoli) sovereignty. Within the framework of the 50-percent rule, intermarriage “dilutes” the number of state-recognized Native Hawaiians. Thus, rather than support Native claims to the Hawaiian islands, blood quantum reduces Hawaiians to a racial minority, reinforcing a system of white racial privilege bound to property ownership. Kauanui provides an impassioned assessment of how the arbitrary correlation of ancestry and race imposed by the U.S. government on the indigenous people of Hawai‘i has had far-reaching legal and cultural effects. With the HHCA, the federal government explicitly limited the number of Hawaiians included in land provisions, and it recast Hawaiians’ land claims in terms of colonial welfare rather than collective entitlement. Moreover, the exclusionary logic of blood quantum has profoundly affected cultural definitions of indigeneity by undermining more inclusive Kanaka Maoli notions of kinship and belonging. Kauanui also addresses the ongoing significance of the 50-percent rule: Its criteria underlie recent court decisions that have subverted the Hawaiian sovereignty movement and brought to the fore charged questions about who counts as Hawaiian.
In 1897, as a white oligarchy made plans to allow the United States to annex Hawai'i, native Hawaiians organized a massive petition drive to protest. Ninety-five percent of the native population signed the petition, causing the annexation treaty to fail in the U.S. Senate. This event was unknown to many contemporary Hawaiians until Noenoe K. Silva rediscovered the petition in the process of researching this book. With few exceptions, histories of Hawai'i have been based exclusively on English-language sources. They have not taken into account the thousands of pages of newspapers, books, and letters written in the mother tongue of native Hawaiians. By rigorously analyzing many of these documents, Silva fills a crucial gap in the historical record. In so doing, she refutes the long-held idea that native Hawaiians passively accepted the erosion of their culture and loss of their nation, showing that they actively resisted political, economic, linguistic, and cultural domination. Drawing on Hawaiian-language texts, primarily newspapers produced in the nineteenth century and early twentieth, Silva demonstrates that print media was central to social communication, political organizing, and the perpetuation of Hawaiian language and culture. A powerful critique of colonial historiography, Aloha Betrayed provides a much-needed history of native Hawaiian resistance to American imperialism.
Almost everyone loves a lei--the making, giving, receiving, and wearing of the lei is a cherished Hawai'i tradition recognized worldwide. With the renaissance in Hawaiian culture sweeping the islands, growing plants that provide lei materials can be a source of pride and pleasure for the home gardener, an economic opportunity for green-thumb entrepreneurs, and can reduce gathering pressure on the few precious remaining areas of native Hawaiian vegetation. This book contains information on growing 85 plants that can provide flowers or foliage for lei. Some are traditionally used native species; others are relatively new introductions with a potential place in the lei industry. In addition to the 170 pages detailing the plants, sections of the book provide useful basic plant production information and helpful tips for anyone wishing to get into the lei material business in a small or large way. In a special section written for this book, two experts on Hawaiian tradition and native Hawaiian plants explain the spiritual and cultural significance of the lei and lei making in ancient Hawai'i. These authors highlight the ancient Hawaiian conservation ethic and concept of sustainable agriculture, a revival of which could help preserve the islands' threatened native ecosystems. This book is a must-have for anyone wanting to help preserve Hawai'i's plant and cultural heritage!