Waikiki

Hamohamo

Hamohamo Vicinity between Ala Wai Boulevard and Waikı ˉkı ˉ Beach Center He wai makamaka ‘ole. Water that recognizes no friend. Said of flooded streams that are dangerous. —Mary Kawena Pukui, O – lelo No‘eau In this chapter, we explore the myths that surround Hawai‘i and the feminine in relation to a Waikîkî place where two of the islands’ most famous women of modern times lived. The region, Hamohamo, runs from the Ala Wai Canal to the sea between today’s Ka‘iulani and ‘Òhua Avenues. Both streets bear witness to the two important women that once made Hamohamo home: Princess Ka‘iulani, heir to the Hawaiian throne, and Queen Lili‘uokalani, whose retainers (‘òhua) are memorialized by ‘Òhua Avenue. The streets also overlie evidence of powerful natural forces that formerly shaped Hamohamo : two of the freshwater streams that flowed from the mountains through Waikîkî to the ocean. ‘Âpuakèhau Stream meandered through a channel now paved over by Ka‘iulani Avenue, and Ku‘ekaunahi Stream coursed down a path now buried under ‘Òhua Avenue. Just as the campaign to develop Waikîkî required misrepresenting its streams as swamps, efforts to annex Hawai‘i and turn it into a tourist’s paradise required misrepresenting Lili‘uokalani and Ka‘iulani as failed leaders. These distortions drew on longstanding Western fantasies about the feminine and the native. At one extreme, such fantasies focused on a dark, threatening savagery (the queen) that required control; at the other extreme, they centered on a light, welcoming embrace (the princess) that invited ownership. In both instances, the constructs suggest that the female native surrenders authority : in the first because she needs to be tamed, and in the second because she wants to be possessed. These projections, which reveal nothing about Lili‘uokalani and Ka‘iulani, actually reveal a great deal about those who produced them. Exploring representations of the queen and princess as failed rulers in connection with the history of Hawai‘i’s illegal overthrow and annexation reveals the portrayals of Hawai‘i as feminine in the political control and economic development of the islands. As Haunani-Kay Trask has powerfully demonstrated, Hawai‘i was and is routinely portrayed as a Hamohamo | 101 102 | Hamohamo feminine entity at once requiring the firm hand of discipline and offering a restorative embrace.1 This metaphor does a great disservice to Hawai‘i and kanaka maoli women because it reduces both to mere pawns of American imperialism and capitalism. Hawai‘i and its native women had and have great power, which was and is marshaled against colonialism and commercialism in the islands. Just as ‘Âpuakèhau and Ku‘ekaunahi Streams nourished rather than compromised Waikîkî, Lili‘uokalani and Ka‘iulani sustained rather than disappointed their nation. Indeed, remnants of the two streams continue to water Waikîkî today, and the written words of the queen and princess continue to attest to the women’s actual strength. Their efforts to resist misrepresentation, and especially political disenfranchisement, are endlessly redoubled. Today, as during Lili‘uokalani and Ka‘iulani’s lifetimes, Native Hawaiian women battle American colonization, exploding the myth of Hawai‘i as the savage woman or the charming enchantress.  An entrance to the Sheraton Princess Ka‘iulani fronts Kalâkaua Avenue; if you pass through it, you immediately encounter the hotel’s swimming pool. On any given day, vacationers lounge on reclining chairs stationed at the cement expanse that surrounds the chlorinated water, and children swim under the watchful eyes of their parents. A few trees and potted plants break up the baking concrete, which is further enlivened by the bright tropical-print swimwear sported by hotel guests swimming or sunning themselves. Although the beach is across the street, many holiday makers seem utterly content to pass their leisure time on the paved-over grounds of Ka‘iulani’s former estate, ‘Âinahau. During the princess’ lifetime in the later nineteenth century, the water on her property was fresh rather than chemically treated, as ‘Âpuakèhau Stream passed through ‘Âinahau on its way to the ocean. Like the present pool site, Ka‘iulani’s grounds were highly developed; her father, Archibald Cleghorn , shaped virtually every inch of ‘Âinahau through careful planting. However, the nineteenth-century site was cool, green, and naturally watered, a far cry from the urban resort that seems to have successfully recreated a tropical paradise for its pool users. For tourists at...