Transnational Crossroads: Remapping the Americas and the Pacific

8. From Captain Cook to Captain Kirk, or, From Colonial Exploration to Indigenous Exploitation: Issues of Hawaiian Land, Identity, and Nationhood in a “Postethnic” World

“Eia Hawai‘i, he moku, he kanaka, ke kanaka nui o Hawai‘i e -” (Behold Hawai‘i, an island, a man, a great chief is Hawai‘i indeed).1 Thus begins an ancient oli (chant) from the sixteenth century equating Hawaiian identity with that of the ‘a -ina (land) itself. It reflects a well-known ‘o -lelo no‘eau (proverb) proclaiming in part, he ali‘i ka ‘a -ina—the land is the chief.2 For Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians ), the connection between our ‘a -ina and us is a primary cultural concept we continue to embrace.3 One example is found in the lyrics of popular mele (songs) in which we proudly proclaim, “He Hawai‘i au, mau a mau” (I am Hawaiian forever).4 In a 2004 address at the Kamehameha Schools Research Conference on Hawaiian well-being, the kumu hula (dance master) and scholar Pualani Kanaka‘ole Kanahele emphasized this point, saying, “Every day I am reminded that I am who I am because of my participation with others around me, whether seen or unseen. I have two convictions in life. . . . One . . . is that I am Hawaiian. The other . . . is that I am this land and this land is me. There is a correlation.”5 This essay addresses specific challenges to Kanaka Maoli identity and nationhood in relation to our ‘a -ina used by haole (Amer-European ) and Asian settler society.6 Central to this argument are issues of identity, as non-Native ethnic groups in Hawai‘i and beyond Chapter 8 From Captain Cook to Captain Kirk, or, From Colonial Exploration to Indigenous Exploitation Issues of Hawaiian Land, Identity, and Nationhood in a “Postethnic” World ku‘ualoha ho‘omanawanui ku‘ualoha ho‘omanawanui 230 (including Asian, white, and other groups) insist on claiming an indigenized identity through the use of such terms as kama‘a -ina, “local,” “hapa,” and “Hawaiian at heart.” I argue that this insistence on an indigenized identity is a continuation of the erasure of the Native that began during initial exploration and claims on the islands by explorers and colonizers. This erasure continues today in both real and imagined worlds, when Hawai‘i and Hawaiians are represented in many media, from cyberspace to animated film. Furthermore this strategy of “becoming Native” is a twofold process . On one hand, it is a real-life interpolation of the “gone Native ” trope first established in the minds of white British and later American society through the journals of explorers such as the British captain James Cook and furthered through the genre of explorative science fiction narratives, of which Star Trek and its central hero figure, Capt. James T. Kirk, is a highly visible representative . This fantasy of exploration, adventure, discovery, and settlement (both temporary and permanent) where the explorer or settler transforms his or her identity into that of indigenized “local ” by taking on markers of the real indigenous people is a purposeful tool used to erase indigenous identity and, by extension, of nullifying indigenous claims to land and nationhood. Such erasure prompts the following central questions: Are indigenous claims to identity, land, and nationhood still relevant in today’s transglobal world? Is there a possibility for immigrant and settler groups to support indigenous claims to land, nationhood, and identity? What are the problems and issues between indigenous, Pacific, and American identities—ethnic, cultural, national, and individual? How does land and governance relate to this? Mai ka Po - (Origins) Hawaiian mo‘olelo (story and history) include etiological knowledge explaining our kanaka origins. The Kumulipo, a Hawaiian cosmogonic genealogy, ties our human lineage to primordial ancestors . The genealogy of Papaha -naumoku (Earth Mother) and Wa kea (Sky Father) describes the birth of Ha -loa (Long Breath), the first from captain cook to captain kirk 231 Kanaka Maoli, as the younger brother of Ha -loa-naka-lau-kapalili (Ha -loa of the Quivering Leaf), the first kalo (taro) plant. Other mo‘olelo describe akua (gods) and ‘auma -kua (family guardian spirits), which simultaneously embody and inhabit nature as ancestors . Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess, whose name means “lava,” is the ‘a -ina and creator of ‘a -ina to whom Kanaka Maoli today trace their ancestry. Hawaiian words for people are related to words for land, demonstrating the close relationship between the two in our culture: maka‘a -inana (steward of the land), kama‘a -ina (child born on the land), and kupa...