Approaches to the Academic Study of Hawaiian Literature and Culture

Approaches to the Academic Study of Hawaiian Literature and Culture John Charlot THE PacIFIC INstITUTE BRIGhaM YOUNG UNIVERSIty–HAWAI‘I LĀ‘ie, Hawai‘i Copyright © 2005 John Charlot All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF MATERIALS This publication and all material contained in it are copyrighted property and may not be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, repurposed, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any form or any means, except for your personal, noncommercial use only, provided that (1) you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices, and (2) you make no modifications to the materials. ISBN-13: 978-0-939154-71-5 CD-ROM ISBN-10: 0-939154-71-4 CD-ROM Published by: The Pacific Institute BYUH #1979 55–220 Kulanui Street Lā‘ie HI 96762-1294 (808) 293-3665 Distributed by the University of Hawai‘i Press: Order Department 2840 Kolowalu Street Honolulu, HI 96822 www.uhpress.hawaii.edu [email protected] (808) 956-8255 (888) 847-7377 Fax: (808) 988-6052 (800) 650-7811 Approaches to the Academic Study of Hawaiian Literature and Culture awaiian culture is an example of an indigenous traditional culture lived within a society dominated by an introduced one. Other examples are New Zealand Māori and HNative American Indian cultures. A variety of pressures can be applied to the members of these cultures, who can in turn display a spectrum of reaction from outright rejection of the introduced culture to total assimilation into it. Since the arrival of Westerners, Hawaiians have felt many pressures and reacted along the whole spectrum. The possibili- ties for the perpetuation of Hawaiian culture have often seemed bleak. The number of native speakers of the language was small and steadily decreasing. The rural, less Westernized lifestyle once commonly practiced was becoming increasingly impossible for social and financial reasons. Hawaiian culture, however, is not extinct. More and more people of Hawaiian ancestry are identifying themselves proudly with their culture. There has been a resurgence of cultural practices, such as the hula, and a renewed interest in Hawaiian religion. In greatly increasing numbers, students in academic institutions are attending classes in Hawaiian subjects, especially language. Hawaiians conscious of their heritage are making their way into positions of influence and power. A good opportunity presents itself therefore of reversing JOHN CHARLOT the usual trend and successfully perpetuating such an indigenous culture, not as a museum piece, but as a viable lifestyle and philosophical perspective. This success would be important for the entire Pacific area, which is confronting increased Western influence and the problems of modernization. A living Hawai- ian culture would be valuable also for non-Pacific Islanders who are appreciative of other cultures and perhaps seeking alterna- tives for their own. Hawaiian culture appears, in fact, particularly intriguing and seems to exercise a fascination over those who begin to study it seriously, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian alike. The academic contribution to this necessarily broad-based and wide- ranging effort of cultural preservation will be limited but important. One particular point of interest for both scholars and the community is the vast amount of Hawaiian-language literature available for study—far more than for most indigenous cultures. Literature was a central pursuit in classical Hawaiian culture. Hawaiians quickly adopted writing and published books and a large number of newspapers with literary content from the early nineteenth century into the middle of the twentieth. Manuscript materials were produced in quantity and are maintained in public and private archives, such as the State Archives of Hawaii, the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society Library, and the Bishop Museum. Hawaiians produced works in many genres, both classical and introduced, such as historical reports, novels, and news- paper serials. Much literary activity continues today, especially the composition of lyrics for songs. Only a small portion of this material has been studied, and even less has been translated and published, yet it is valuable not only as literature, but as a source of information for cultural, historical, and social research. Western humanistic scholarship is based on the study of primary documents and has developed sophisticated methods for interpreting them. Scholarship is, in fact, being untrue to itself when it permits work in Hawaiian Approaches to the Academic Study of Hawaiian Literature Studies that is not as solidly grounded in documentary work as that required in other fields. In the study of Hawaiian literature, therefore, Western scholars can make a contribution not only to their particular fields—history, anthropology, sociology, art, religious studies, and so on—but to the Hawaiian community as well. Significantly for the formation of the field, historical literary documents occupy in Polynesian societies the same authoritative position they do in Western scholarship; they constitute the evi- dence on which judgements are based. Because of the importance of such texts, learned Polynesians have developed methods of pre- serving and interpreting texts that coincide at important points with Western methods: the necessity of establishing an unblem- ished text, the appreciation of archaic definitions of words, the determination of a symbol by its context, the forming of a consen- sus in interpretation, and so on. Western and Polynesian scholars have thus an opportunity to cooperate profitably as true colleagues in a common enterprise recognized as important by both. Indeed, most old texts cannot be interpreted today without the information available to the native scholar. When a living tradition is unavailable, methods must be used that have been developed by Western scholars for interpreting texts in dead languages of other areas. The critical tasks of the field today—collecting, establishing, translating, analyzing, and publishing texts—are clearly appropri- ate for higher education and research. Much uncollected material can still be found in the oral tradition; such material has proved invaluable in my own work.4 Major manuscript materials still require study.5 Despite the valuable work of such scholars as Rub- ellite Kawena Johnson and Esther Mo‘okini, most newspapers have yet to be indexed or even surveyed. Small newspapers and newsletters continue to publish important material today. Even several published, Hawaiian-language books need to be located.6 Texts are often transmitted in different versions displaying a JOHN CHARLOT variety of problems, but the necessity of establishing correct texts has barely been addressed.7 Some translation has been done, much of it good, but a number of basic texts used often by scholars who are not proficient in the language require major revisions.8 A number of well-known major works have never been translated, or the translations have never been published (of course, many completed works of other kinds await publication or could profitably be republished).9 By far the largest portion of the analytical work done has been in language study, with some work on symbols, motifs, struc- tures, Form and Redaction Criticism, bodies of literature about a protagonist, and literary schools.0 The cosmic origin chant, The Kumulipo, has received several treatments, and the translation of S. N. Hale‘ole’s major novel, Laieikawai, was provided with an introductory study that is the only published extended treatment of a single author. No history of Hawaiian literature has been produced, although attempts are usually made to place works within their historical contexts. Various aspects of Hawaiian literature have been placed in their Polynesian contexts. Clearly much scholarly work remains to be done, includ- ing a large amount of important, pioneering research. Such work will be done only if it receives adequate support at the university level. The establishment of an adequate educational program in the field is therefore necessary. Because we are dealing with a still living, though endangered culture, such a program should ideally extend from preschool through postdoctoral research, be inte- grated through all its levels and utilize community resources as well as addressing community needs. Moreover, scholarly methods should be devised that accommodate the special character- istics of the subject so that they satisfy both traditional academic and community standards. The above-mentioned congruence of those standards Approaches to the Academic Study of Hawaiian Literature 5 at many points renders this goal feasible and even suggests a method. That is, classical Hawaiian society—and indeed Polyne- sian societies altogether—held learning in the highest esteem and therefore emphasized education. Educational activities and institutions—family, hula academy, individual teacher, and temple “university”—were accorded great prestige. Although all Polyne- sians living in traditional societies receive a good deal of cultural education, talented individuals are usually selected for higher education or more concentrated specialization and are honored for their greater expertise. Literature was central to this whole endeavor. Such an emphasis on education naturally resulted in the development of pedagogical methods. A pattern was developed that, significantly, appears at every level of instruction and fol- lows the pattern of Hawaiian literature. That is, the

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