HALE MUA: (EN)GENDERING HAWAIIAN MEN A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ANTHROPOLOGY AUGUST 2003 By Ty P. Kawika Tengroy Dissertation Committee: Geoffrey M. White, Chairperson Ben Finney Christine Yano Vilsoni Hereniko Noenoe Silva © Copyright 2003 by Ty P. Kawika Tengan iii For Kauilaoniilani Kamaka Iaea Tengan iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There have been so many people that have contributed to this dissertation that I know I will kick myself later as I recall those names that I have forgotten, and so I must apologize immediately for any omissions. First off, mahalo e ke Akua, na 'aumakua, na kini akua, a me na kiipuna for all guidance, inspiration, fortitude, strength, insight, and infinite blessings given to me throughout the process of my living, researching, and writing. I wish to thank all of my family, including the extended family and those I have become a part ofthrough bonds of marriage and friendship. Thank you especially Grandma Carol and Grandpa George for watching Kauila and for always making sure we were fed; thank you also for amazing me with your uncanny ability to procure bananas. Thanks Dad for your support in everything and for your guidance and advice in matters that you probably did not realize you were giving them in. Thanks to Grandma Margaret and Grandpa George for making my visits home just that, and for your constant support and encouragement throughout the years. Thanks Mom for helping me in every way possible and for all of your selfless love and sacrifice. Mike, I'd thank you if only there were something to thank you for. Just kidding. Thanks for reconnecting with the Uchinanchu roots; maybe we can team up for a future "research" project. Thanks also to Ku'ulei's 'ohana, especially when you were called on to help watch Kauila (especially Gil and Keahi) or just there to give Ku 'u/Mau support when I was unable to. Mahalo to the men of the Hale Mua for opening your homes and hearts to me and for putting up with my incessant questions and my invasive camera. I apologize to those of you whom I did not include as as fully I would have liked (or even at all); I hope to correct this problem in future projects. I also apologize to any of you who feel that I have v taken your words out of context or misrepresented you in any other way. I have tried to depict those elements ofyour mo'olelo that add texture to the larger mo'olelo ofthe Mua, but in so doing I have included mere fragments of your much fuller life stories and experiences. I am deeply indebted to all of your for your aloha, kokua, paipai, and ahonui, and I hope I can return the favor to you in a small way through the sharing of this mo'olelo with others. Mahalo especially to Sam and Kyle, without whom there would be no Hale Mua. Mahalo also to those individuals who took the time to read and give me comments on earlier drafts of the dissertation, and mahalo especially to Keawe for helping to proofread and edit at the eleventh hour. Likewise, I would like to thank the larger Maui community, especially those whose friendship and mentorship I have benefited from enormously over the years. Mahalo Aunty H6kii, Dana, Isaac, Uncle Les, Manny, Uncle Charlie and others whose names escape me. Mahalo also to my friends from school, those in the immersion program, and those at MCC, especially Kaleikoa and Kahele who helped me share my work with the folks back home in June 2003. E 6 Maui Nui a Kama! I would also like to thank those individuals and organizations associated with the Hale Mua, both on Maui and beyond. To Ke'eaumoku Kapu and Na Koa Kau i ka Meheu 0 Na Kiipuna, keep fighting the good fight. To Na Papa Kanaka 0 Pu'ukohola, which include Na 'Elemakua, Na Aloali'i, Na Wa'a Lalani Kahuna, Na Koa, and Na Wahine, mahalo for all of your awesome work. E kala mai if I have any names or dates wrong in my own history of the events there; any hewa is completely my fault. Mahalo especially to Kumu Lake for taking the time to talk story with me about Pu'ukohola in particular, Hawaiian men in general. I also need to thank those who helped me enter and then finish my graduate studies at UH. Thanks to my mentors and teachers at St. Anthony, Kamehameha, and vi Dartmouth. I was fortunate as an undergraduate to have received the Mellon Minority Fellowship, which not only supported my undergraduate thesis but has also assisted in the repayment of my undergraduate loans with my completion of the Ph.D. It was also through my Mellon-funded research that I made many ofthe connections in the Hawaiian community that have developed over the years. Much of my doctoral research and writing was conducted with support of the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship I was awarded in 1998. I was also blessed to have received an appointment as a Graduate Assistant in Anthropology to Dr. Michael Graves that was funded for nearly two years by the Native Hawaiian Leadership Project (directed by Manu Ka'iama) and another year by the Department of Anthropology. Mahalo Manu, and mahalo Michael. Through this GA appointment I came into close association with some outstanding Kfulaka 'Oiwi involved in a repatriation of iwi kiipuna from Mokapu. I have grown immensely from the experience. One individual in particular, Linda Kawai'ono Delaney, taught me much about working for the kiipuna and between parties who hold very different viewpoints. Her commitment to the kiipuna and to all Kanaka will be remembered always. I would also like to thank the new friends I have made at UH, especially those other Hawaiians trying to slug it out through their various programs. I have also made close connections with kiipuna who have added further to my knowledge ofbeing a Kanaka Hawai'i and my appreciation for the life experiences of those who lived in different times. Mahalo especially to Uncle Harry Ka'ano'ilani Fuller and Aunty June for your aloha and support. Thanks also to those at the Bishop Museum. My experiences there taught me much and brought together a surprising number of threads in my life that I did not foresee. VII Thank you to my committee members whose advice and feedback has been outstanding. Viii, your deification of my work at the defense has already become myth on Maui as stories ofthe great Polynesian clown prince's celebration circulate like wild fire among men who have no idea where Rotuma is. Ben, I have enormous respect for all of your work and am honored that you appreciate mine. Thanks Chris for giving me the hard questions that no one else could, and though I have not answered them all yet, I have benefited by hearing them. Thanks Noenoe for kind of being like an aunty though I know you don't want me to call you that cause it'll make you feel old (at least I'm not asking you to be in a kupuna lecture series!). Lastly, thanks Geoff for being the ideal chair and for really helping me to grow in my thinking and scholarship and for always pointing me in the right direction. Too bad there isn't a Rock and Bowl in Hawai'i, or I would gladly take you there as my partner. Finally, mahalo to Ku'ulei and Kauilonalani. You both had to carry some enormous burdens while I was busy with my work, yet you still supported me and gave me love as a husband and father. As much as I've learned about being a kane Hawai'i from the Mua, I've learned much more from the two of you. Thank you for everything. I will do my best to fulfill my own kuleana in our family, a ho'omau ke aloha a me ka pili 'ohana rna waena 0 kakou. viii ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the intersection of gender and culture in the process of identity formation among Kanaka 'Oiwi Maoli (Indigenous Hawaiian) men in the Hale Mua 0 Maui. Throughout the neocolonial Pacific, indigenous Oceanic men have engaged in gender practices that historically have had widely different consequences for their positions of power or marginality; the cases ofHawai'i and Aotearoa/New Zealand offer important insights into the gendered dynamics of colonialism, decolonization, and reclamation. Focusing in on a deeper history of colonization and revitalization at Pu'ukohoHi heiau (Kawaihae, Hawai'i), I highlight the ways in which the birth of a newly gendered tradition of bravery and warriorhood in Nii Koa (The Courageous Ones) led to a reconsideration of men's roles in different sectors of the Hawaiian community. One outcome was the formation of the Hale Mua, or the "Men's House," on the island of Maui. Against the legacy of American colonialism and its concomitant discourses of death, disappearance, feminization, and domestication, the Hale Mua has endeavored to build strong, culturally grounded men that will take up their kuleana (rights and responsibilities) as members oftheir 'ohana (families) and the larger liihui (nation). In particular, I examine the role of discursive and embodied practices ofritual, performance, and narrative in the transformation, (re)definition, and enactment of their subjectivities as Hawaiian men. The processes through which the members ofthe group come to define, know, and perform these kuleana articulate with the larger projects of cultural revitalization, moral regeneration, spiritual/bodily healing, national reclamation, and the uncertain and ambiguous project of mental and political decolonization.