Getting to the Heart of Hawaiian: A Conversation About Indigenous Identity

• In Event: Kumu ’Ula’ula: Who Are We and Where Are We Heading?

Abstract

This paper presents extracts from several conversations concerning Hawaiian
identity, an elusive concept the meaning of which is, at times, hotly contested.
The various grounds upon which this identity is constructed, that is genealogical
and political, provide space for interesting debate over the competing parameters
of the term. Those people who can trace their ancestry to the inhabitants of the
islands prior to the arrival of Captain Cook can either constitute a discrete group
that shares a common genealogy or be lumped together with other, non-
genealogically connected, people who claim a political connection to the place
and, therefore, membership in the group that derives its name from that place.

Authors

• Kerry Laiana Wong, University of Hawaii - Manoa

• Kekailoa Perry, University of Hawaii - Manoa

• L. Laiana Kanoa-Wong, University of Hawaii - Manoa