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Uni~ MicrOfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI48106 8313522 MacDonald, James John COGNITIVE AGGREGATE AND SOCIAL GROUP: THE ETHNIC PORTUGUESE OF HONOLULU University ofHawaii . Pn.D, 1982 University Microfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road, AnnArbor,MI 48106 Copyright 1982 by MacDonald, James John All Rights Reserved COGNITIVE AGGREGATE AND SOCIAL GROUP: THE ETHNIC PORTUGUESE OF HONOLULU A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ANTHROPOLOGY DECEMBER 1982 By James John MacDonald Dissertation Committee: Alice Dewey, Chairman Jacob Bilmes C. F. Blake Alan Howard Ann Peters (S) Copyright by James John MacDonald 1982 All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT In this dissertation some aspects of the social organization of a multiethnic urban setting are analized. The analysis centers on the identity, both current and historic, of the Portuguese of Honolulu. The data for this dissertation was gathered during four years of research and eight years of residence in Honolulu. Two facts about the Portuguese make theirs a particularly interesting situation. First, they appear to be classed on the popular level as a type of non-Caucasian. Second, a seeming disassociation has developed for the group Portuguese between the social and cognitive realms. The cognitive category Portuguese is very strong. This category, which is the shared mental construct thought to describe Portuguese individuals, is both very detailed and almost universally recognized. The Portuguese social groups are, in contrast, small and diffuse. Central to the analysis is a theoretical discussion of the issues surrounding the commonly held belief in Social Science that ethnic groups are descent-based social entities. The alternative suggestion is made (and supported through fieldwork data) that what have been termed ethnic groups are actually descent-chartered (similar to Malinowski's origin myth) aggregates which exist only on the cognitive level. Ascription of individuals to these aggregates is made during interaction based primarily on behavior, not descent. Social groups iv often draw their membership from aggregates of this type. Ethnicity is shown not to be a special case but simply a part of the more general social organizational process. The analysis centers on explaining the relationship between the Portuguese social groupings and cognitive aggregate by relating both to the synergistic relationships between all such groups and aggregates in the social/cognitive system of Honolulu. The point of articulation is explored through a discussion of everyday interaction. A cognitive and social history provides the framework for this discussion. It is concluded that both the current strength of the cognitive category Portuguese and the weak corporate structure of the associated social group are due to the inclusion of Portuguese in the larger aggregate Local and its contrast with the aggregate Haole (mainland American Caucasian). This fact also explains the movement of personnel between these aggregates and groups as well as the specific situations in which people claim differing aggregate ascriptions. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT iv LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF FIGURES • xi PREFACE •..•• xiii CHAPTER I. ETHNIC GROUPS AND THE COGNITIVE SOCIAL INTERFACE ••••• •••• 1 1.1 The Analytic Frame • • • • • 2 1.2 A Definition of Social Group and Cognitive Aggregate •••.•••••••••• 4 1.3 Popular Use of Ethnicity •••• • • ••• 6 1.4 A Survey of the Ethnicity Literature •• ••• 7 1.5 Ethnicity in Anthropology--The Definitional Approach ....... ~ c ••••••• 9 1.6 Ethnicity versus Tribe ••••••••• 13 1.7 Ethnicity in Anthropology--The Heuristic Approach ...... II .. • .. .. • • .. .. • 15 1.8 Ethnicity in Anthropology--The Interactionist Approach ••••••••••••••••• 16 1.9 The Generative Model •••••• 17 1.10 Theoretical Development of the Interactionist Approach ••••• 20 1.11 Some Deficiencies in Barth's Theory. 25 1.12 Ethnic Groups Are NOT Social Groups 27 1.13 Ethnic Groups as Descent-Chartered Behavioral Cognitive Aggregates ••• 31 1.14 Interaction and the Interpretive Paradigm • 31 1.15 Ethnicity and the Myth of Common Descent 36 1.16 Aggregates Do Not Form Social Groups-- People Do •••••••••• 37 1.17 The Significance of the Myth of Common Descent •••• 39 CHAPTER II. SOME ASPECTS OF THE HAWAIIAN COGNITIVE/SOCIAL SYSTEM .. .. • .. • .. •• ... •• .. •• .. 43 2.1 A Summary of Historical Changes for the Portuguese •••• •••• 44 vi 2.2 Some General Implications of These Changes. 45 2.3 The Hawaiian Physical Setting •••. 47 2.4 A Summary of Hawaiian History •••• 48 2.5 The Hawaiian Cognitive/Social System 52 2.6 Relevant Hawaiian Cognitive Categories 58 2.7 Hawaiian Portuguese History as Four Isolated Phases 66 2.8 The Portuguese Characterized as "Trying to Be Haole" •••••••••. 71 CHAPTER I II • THE HAWAIIAN PORTUGUESE BEFORE LABOR IMPORTATION •••.••• 74 3.1 The Portuguese Demographic Profile 76 3.2 The Portuguese as a Kind of Haole •• 78 CHAPTER IV. THE PORTUGUESE AND THE SUGAR PLANTATION SYSTEM •••• 83 4.1 The Plantation Setting ••••• 83 4.2 Some Shared Characteristics of Imported Laborers ••••• 86 4.3 Reasons for the Portuguese Labor Importation. • 91 4.4 The Portuguese Immigrants' Life ••• 98 4.5 The Portuguese Social Group • • • • • • • • 99 4.6 The Haole Social Group and Aggregate 105 4.7 The Haole-Pcrtuguese Social and Cognitive Relationship--Social Relations 108 4.8 The Portuguese as a Type of Laborer •••• 110 CHAPTER V. THE PORTUGUESE AND EARLY HONOLULU • 115 5.1 Portuguese Population Movements • 116 5.2 Honolulu's Homogeneous Neighborhoods 119 5.3 Some Changes in the Portuguese Aggregate and Social Group 121 5.4 The Portuguese Social Group 123 5.4.1 Social Group--Clubs and Associations •• 123 5.4.2 Social Group--Personal Networks •• 130 5.5 Characteristics of the Portuguese Aggregate 131 5.6 The Portuguese in the Hawaiian . Cognitive/Social System •••••••••• 132 vii CHAPTER VI. HONOLULU: THE 1920's THROUGH THE WAR .. 141 6.1 Repercussions of Increased Haole Immigration . 142 6.2 The Development· of· ·the···Hawaiian·· · School System 146 6.3 The Portuguese·Social· · · Group and Cognitive Category 148 6.4 Portuguese-Haole Relations···· .. 151 6.5 Cognitive Separation and the·· Generative Model 152 6.6 Reactions of Aggregate·· ·····Members to the Cognitive Category Portuguese 155 6.7 Some Cognitive/Social Effects of World War II · · · · ··· · . ... 158 CHAPTER VII. THE PRESENT HAWAIIAN COGNITIVE/SOCIAL SYSTEM ••••••••••••• CI •• 163 7.1 The Current Honolulu Setting 165 7.2 The Increasing Importance of Self-Ascription. • 168 7.3 The Negotiation of Self-Ascription 172 7.4 Descent Basis versus Descent Charter 176 7.5 The Present Haole Aggregate and Group 178 7.6 Subsets of the Current Haole Aggregate ••• • 183 7.7 Two Contrasting Social Matrices-- Haole and Local •••••••••• 187 7.8 The Local Social Matrix •••••• 191 7.9 The Operation of Personal Networks 194 7.10 The Haole Social Matrix •••••• 196 7.11 Contrast in the Definition of Behavior ••• • 197 7.12 The Transformation of Categories •••• 199 7.13 Automatic Local Status through Component Aggregate Memberships •••••••••• 203 7.14 The Maintenance of Cognitive Distinctions Because of Social Considerations •••• 206 CHAPTER VIII. THE PORTUGUESE TODAY--THE SOCIAL GROUP, COGNITIVE AGGREGATE AND INDIVIDUALS 209 8.1 The Changing Relationship between the Portuguese Aggregate and Social Group • • 209 8.2 Portuguese Social Group • • • • • • • • 211 8.3 Some Portuguese Organizations • 212 8.4