Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism (American Encounters/Global Interactions)

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. Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 12 language and translation issues 23 1. Early Struggles with the Foreigners 26 historiography and captain cook 27 subsequent haole travelers to hawai'i nei 34 mass death 35 'ai noa 38 the missionaries 41 early struggles over sovereignty 46 colonial capitalism and the struggle over land tenure 50 the legacy of kauikeaouli 54 2. Ka Hoku o ka Pakipika: Emergence of the Native Voice in Print 56 politics, the economy, and the mo'i 57 the rise of the plantation economy 59 missionary planters and the discourses of work and civilization 62 newspapers as sites of discursive struggle 65 ka hoku loa 67 ka hae hawaii 70 ka 'ahahui ho'opuka nupepa kuikawa o honolulu 74 the haole desire for control 78 fighting for the right to speak and to be kanaka 83 nupepa kuokoa 91 conclusion 93 3. The Merrie Monarch: Genealogy, Cosmology, Mele, and Performance Art as Resistance 98 genealogy and cosmology 104 ka papa ku'auhau o na ali'i 105 the kumulipo 108 the hale naua 115 the poni mo'i 119 the jubilee 123 Hula at the Royal Lu'au 127 He Hoikeike Tabalo au Kahiko: A Performance of Historical Tableaux 128 Na Mele Aimoku, na Mele Kupuna, a me na Mele Pono o Ka Moi Kalakaua I: The Sovereign’s Songs, the Ancestral Songs, and the Pono Songs of King Kalakaua I 129 conclusion 131 4 The Antiannexation Struggle 134 events leading to the 1893 coup 136 resistance to the 1893 coup 140 resistance to the republic 147 the 1897 petitions protesting annexation 156 annexation without a treaty? 171 conclusion 173 5 The Queen of Hawai'i Raises Her Solemn Note of Protest 175 the formal protests 178 cleveland’s absolute denial 181 protesting the treaty of annexation 183 representation 184 kona lahui aloha 191 ‘‘i kiss your soft hands’’: letters to ke ali'i 'ai moku 203 the queen sails to america 203 na palapala ho'opi'i ku'e ho'ohui 'aina (petitions protesting annexation) 208 bones of my bones: conclusion 210 Appendix A: Text of the Objectives of Nupepa Kuokoa, as Published Therein, October 1861 216 Appendix B: Songs Composed by Queen Lili'uokalani during Her Imprisonment 218 Notes 220 Introduction 220 1. Early Struggles with the Foreigners 222 2. Ka Hoku o ka Pakipika: Emergence of the Native Voice in Print 227 3. The Merrie Monarch: Genealogy, Cosmology, Mele, and Performance Art as Resistance 232 4. The Antiannexation Struggle 237 5. The Queen of Hawai'i Raises Her Solemn Note of Protest 242 Glossary 248 Bibliography 252 Index 264 isbn,0-8223-3350-3,(cloth,:,alk.,paper),isbn,082233349x,(pbk.,:,alk.,paper)

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.

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 the 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.