Nā Wāhine Koa: Hawaiian Women for Sovereignty and Demilitarization by Moanike'ala Akaka et al. (review)

nā wāhine koa: Hawaiian Women for Sovereignty and Demilitarization traces a genealogy of nearly five decades of aloha 'āina activism, filtered through the personal and political experiences of four wāhine koa (courageous women): Moanike'ala Akaka, Maxine Kahaulelio, Terrilee Keko'olani-Raymond, and Loretta Ritte. The anthology centers the voices of women whose expressions of aloha 'āina ("embodied love for land and country") were and continue to be integral to movements for Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) political and cultural sovereignty (2). In addition to interviews and written statements, the chapters are enriched by photos, court documents, newspaper clippings, personal writing, mele (song) lyrics, and protest chants. As a result, the book is meticulously researched and substantiated yet simultaneously intimate, honest, and beautiful.

The coauthors and editor model how to address the nuanced discourses of gender within accounts of Indigenous sovereignty movements. Though people of various genders have been active participants, as editor Noelani Goodyear-Ka'ōpua (herself a tireless wahine koa) writes, "We can also witness ways the remembering of these movements is often gendered. Namely men are remembered and memorialized more often than women and māhū (transgendered folks)" (12). Nā Wāhine Koa recounts the coauthors' public expressions of aloha 'āina, such as stopping evictions, running for public office, occupying the runway of the Hilo Airport, standing as stewards of places like Kaho'olawe and Mauna a Wākea, and teaching the first ethnic studies courses at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa; but it also documents and celebrates the less known actions that sustain movements and often fall to women, such as fundraising and caring for children. The book frames these actions through the Kanaka Maoli concept of pono (balance) and rests on an inherent understanding of women's mana (political, intellectual, physical, emotional, and spiritual strength and prestige). In their respective chapters, the coauthors describe the various ways that their gendered experiences intersect with their activism, but they also take care to point out that what many folks in these movements sought was balance, "a balance of men's and women's leadership, of masculine and feminine energies" (11). Goodyear-Ka'ōpua's introduction adeptly places this book within a larger conversation of gender and sovereignty by drawing connections to the work of another wahine koa, Haunani-Kay Trask, and contextualizing these acts of resistance against "the patriarchal nature of the occupier's structure of government and authority" (12).

Four chapters describe the coauthors' shared experiences with the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana (PKO) but also branch out to detail the unique ways they fought for justice in Hawai'i and across the world. In chapter 1, Akaka explores the tensions, possibilities, and politics of allyship within Native, local, and settler communities in the context of movements like Kalama Valley and the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific. Her twelve years as a trustee in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs also provide a model for how to maintain the vigor and commitment of Indigenous grassroots movements within the confines of bureaucracy and politics. In chapter 2, Ritte shows us that communities that center Indigenous ways of being are not only possible but also sustainable, from her role in establishing a small community in Molokai'i's isolated Pelekunu Valley in the 1970s to her accounts of fighting overcrowding and agribusiness pollution from her current Hawaiian Homestead land on Moloka'i. In chapter 3, Kahaulelio deftly layers the ways her experiences as a sister, mother, and wife motivated her to improve the lives of other Hawaiian families on various islands through her work reforming welfare rights, lowering utility costs, and stopping evictions. Kahaulelio also layers intimate moments—such as her late-night conversations in a māhū club in Honolulu's Chinatown and her passionate defense of female protesters assaulted while...