The arts of kingship : Hawaiian art and national culture of the Kalākaua era

__The Arts of Kingship__ offers a sustained and detailed account of Hawaiian public art and architecture during the reign of David Kalakaua, the nativist and cosmopolitan ruler of the Hawaiian Kingdom from 1874 to 1891. Stacy Kamehiro provides visual and historical analysis of Kalakaua’s coronation and regalia, the King Kamehameha Statue, ‘Iolani Palace, and the Hawaiian National Museum, drawing them together in a common historical, political, and cultural frame. Each articulated Hawaiian national identities and navigated the turbulence of colonialism in distinctive ways and has endured as a key cultural symbol. These cultural projects were part of the monarchy’s concerted effort to promote a national culture in the face of colonial pressures, internal political divisions, and declining social conditions for Native Hawaiians, which, in combination, posed serious threats to the survival of the nation. The Kalakaua leadership endorsed images that boosted international relations and appeased foreign agitators in the kingdom while addressing indigenous political cleavages. Kamehiro interprets the images, spaces, and institutions as articulations of the complex cultural entanglements and creative engagement with international communities that occur with prolonged colonial contact. Nineteenth-century Hawaiian sovereigns celebrated Native tradition, history, and modernity by intertwining indigenous conceptions of superior chiefly leadership with the apparati and symbols of Asian, American, and European rule. The resulting symbolic forms speak to cultural intersections and historical processes, claims about distinctiveness and commonality, and the power of objects, institutions, and public display to create meaning and enable action. __The Arts of Kingship__ pursues questions regarding the nature of cultural exchange, how precolonial visual culture engaged and shaped colonial contexts, and how colonial art informs postcolonial visualities and identities. It will be welcomed by readers with a general and scholarly interest in Hawaiian history and art. As it contributes to discussions about colonial cultures, nationalism, and globalization, this interdisciplinary work will appeal to art and architectural historians as well as those studying Pacific history, cultural and museum studies, and anthropology.

The Arts of Kingship offers a sustained and detailed account ofHawaiian public art and architecture during the reign of DavidKalakaua, the nativist and cosmopolitan ruler of the HawaiianKingdom from 1874 to 1891. Stacy Kamehiro provides visual andhistorical analysis of Kalakaua's coronation and regalia, the KingKamehameha Statue, 'Iolani Palace, and the Hawaiian NationalMuseum, drawing them together in a common historical, political,and cultural frame. Each articulated Hawaiian national identitiesand navigated the turbulence of colonialism in distinctive ways andhas endured as a key cultural symbol. These cultural projects werepart of the monarchy's concerted effort to promote a nationalculture in the face of colonial pressures, internal politicaldivisions, and declining social conditions for Native Hawaiians,which, in combination, posed serious threats to the survival of thenation. The Kalakaua leadership endorsed images that boostedinternational relations and appeased foreign agitators in thekingdom while addressing indigenous political cleavages. Kamehirointerprets the images, spaces, and institutions as articulations ofthe complex cultural entanglements and creative engagement withinternational communities that occur with prolonged colonialcontact. Nineteenth-century Hawaiian sovereigns celebrated Nativetradition, history, and modernity by intertwining indigenousconceptions of superior chiefly leadership with the apparati andsymbols of Asian, American, and European rule. The resultingsymbolic forms speak to cultural intersections and historicalprocesses, claims about distinctiveness and commonality, and thepower of objects, institutions, and public display to createmeaning and enable action. The Arts of Kingship pursues questionsregarding the nature of cultural exchange, how precolonial visualculture engaged and shaped colonial contexts, and how colonial artinforms postcolonial visualities and identities. It will bewelcomed by readers with a general and scholarly interest inHawaiian history and art. As it contributes to discussions aboutcolonial cultures, nationalism, and globalization, thisinterdisciplinary work will appeal to art and architecturalhistorians as well as those studying Pacific history, cultural andmuseum studies, and anthropology.

Through her detailed description of a particular place (Kuzaki-cho) at a particular moment in time (the 1980s), D. P. Martinez addresses a variety of issues currently at the fore in the anthropology of Japan: the construction of identity, both for a place and its people; the importance of ritual in a country that describes itself as nonreligious; and the relationship between men and women in a society where gender divisions are still very much in place. Kuzaki is, for the anthropologist, both a microcosm of modernity and an attempt to bring the past into the present. But it must also be understood as a place all of its own. In the 1980s it was one of the few villages where female divers (ama) still collected abalone and other shellfish and where some of its inhabitants continued to make a living as fishermen. Kuzaki was also a kambe, or sacred guild, of Ise Shrine, the most important Shinto shrine in modern Japan - home to Amaterasu, the sun goddess. Kuzaki's rituals affirmed a national identity in an era when attitudes to modernity and Japaneseness were being challenged by globalization.

Martinez enhances her fascinating ethnographic description of a single diving village with a critique of the way in which the anthropology of Japan has developed. The result is a sophisticated investigation by a senior scholar of Japanese studies that, while firmly grounded in empirical data, calls on anthropological theory to construct another means of understanding Japan - both as a society in which the collective is important and as a place where individual ambitions and desires can be expressed.

"The Arts of Kingship" offers a sustained and detailed account of Hawaiian public art and architecture during the reign of David Kalakaua, the nativist and cosmopolitan ruler of the Hawaiian Kingdom from 1874 to 1891. Stacy Kamehiro provides visual and historical analysis of four key monuments - Kalakaua's coronation and regalia, the King Kamehameha Statue, 'Iolani Palace, and the Hawaiian National Museum - drawing them together in a common historical, political, and cultural frame. Each articulated Hawaiian national identities and navigated the turbulence of colonialism in distinctive ways and has endured as a key cultural symbol. These cultural projects were part of the monarchy's concerted effort to promote a national culture in the face of colonial pressures, internal political divisions, and declining social conditions for Native Hawaiians, which, in combination, posed serious threats to the survival of the nation. Kamehiro interprets the images, spaces, and institutions as articulations of the complex cultural entanglements and creative engagement with international communities that occur with prolonged colonial contact. Nineteenth-century Hawaiian sovereigns celebrated Native tradition, history, and modernity by intertwining indigenous conceptions of superior chiefly leadership with the apparati and symbols of Asian, American, and European rule."--Book cover Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION Hawaiian National Art CHAPTER 1. The Art of Kingship: Kalākaua’s Coronation CHAPTER 2. Palaces and Sacred Spaces ‘Iolani Palace CHAPTER 3. Memorializing the Monarchy: The King Kamehameha Monument CHAPTER 4. (Re)Collecting History : The Hawaiian National Museum CHAPTER 5. The Artistic Legacy of the Kalākaua Era Catalogue of the Hawaiian National Museum and Library Appendix: Historical Figures Notes Glossary References Index About the Author