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 From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii September 15, 2005
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
It is encouraging to have a Hawaiian book on Indigenism that, through the perceptions and words of a Native Hawaiian, reconnects Hawaii with victims world-wide of a 500+ year International Indigenous Holocaust.
This book provides a useful contribution to the efforts of those of us who's goals, in various sectors, include the convergence, without granting a dominant position to either,of Indigenous and Western world views.
Trask is the light for truth August 19, 2005
13 out of 19 found this review helpful
"From a Native Daughter" is very intelligently written with strong academic and historical references. Who can fault Trask for being so passionate and angered about Hawaii's wrongful past? For over 110 years, Hawaii has been seized and administered illegally by the United States. The native people have had their culture, their sovereignty, and their spirits taken away. She is demanding a right of sovereignty for this island nation that has been falling on deaf ears for generations.
There have been many interesting comments regarding this book that I've read and some are simply ignorant. No, Haunani Trask is not full Hawaiian but not very many are. One hundred years after Cook 'disovered' Hawaii, the population had been reduced 90% due to disease and cultural shock. There are maybe 5,000 pure Hawaiians left today, and most of them are so disenfranchised they cannot even think of deciding to write a book. Haunani speaks for these people who are powerless.
Another opinion is that her statements have little merit academically. The only revisionism occurring is the glossed tourist culture that is Hawaii today. And for anyone thinking that the wrong done to Hawaiians is not recognized (though very covertly), the Apology Bill signed by Clinton in 1993 displays the American government's fault in the illegal takeover. Interestingly, from this APOLOGY, all programs aimed to serve Hawaiians are being called racist and unfair for non-Hawaiians. This is hyprocrisy in the highest.
Haunani Trask is a racist? Her words are strong and no one can doubt her forceful style. Her political incorrectness is a reflection of how this government has treated the Hawaiians. America does not even recognize Hawaiians as an indigenous people like they do the Native Americans, not to say that Native Americans have a wonderful life either. The United States believes that Hawaiians are not different than other residents of Hawaii and that everyone should have an equal ground. It sounds so altruistic, but its destructive for native peoples. The Hawaiians have been here since the beginning of creation according to their religion. They practiced their culture, cared for the land, and lived in dignity over a thousand years before Cook landed. What are the results since the arrival: their language was banned, their religion was banned, their kingdom was annexed illegally, their people are still suffering today.
I have a brief personal story. I had many relatives and friends on my father's dad's side that lived on a very rural and peaceful area named Makua on Oahu (except for the live military firing that is destroying very rare endemic plants and cultural sites sacred to Hawaiians). They were the kindest Hawaiian people who lived off the land and the sea not bothering anyone. My grandfather was one of these Hawaiians and I loved all of our friends and relatives there. They bothered no one and lived traditional Hawaiians lives, very simple and generous. They weren't homeless like many claimed, they were living simply and beautifully. About 7 years ago, the state said that these people were trespassing on public lands and the tourists did not feel comfortable going there. They were forced off the beaches, many of them having to pack their tents and their belongings and travel somewhere else, a somewhere that does not welcome this lifestyle. A memorable picture is that of the bulldozers coming in and threatening to raze their campsites. So these Hawaiians, with their little piece of land, perhaps the last place of refuge for the Hawaiians, were scattered into streetcorners and alleys. I will never forget what happened to the people in the place I also called home, so symbolic of the Hawaiian people who continue to be subjugated to American interests.
I know that story seemed like a non-sequitor, but I wanted to share an intimate example of how much hurt Hawaiians have endured and continue to endure. Hawaiians are homeless, have the worst health statistics in the state, have the highest prison attendance, the list goes on. If Hawaiians will ever be heard fairly, I do not know. It is a quiet genocide amidst the hula girls and luaus that are at best distant replicas of who the Hawaiians really were.
If there is any injustice in this book, it's in the people who do not venture out of their perspectives and feel the tears and struggle saturated in the pages. Haunani Trask had a purpose with this book: To roar with anger and sadness for a people who live like tiny fireflies fighting the darkness of a long moonless night.
What it is we should know. August 18, 2005
10 out of 17 found this review helpful
Many have critiqued Professor Trask's work for being "self-serving," "overly angry," "racist" or worse. These reviewers seem to miss the point that Trask is speaking from a highly personal though richly considered narrative position and not writing a history of Hawaii. In fact, to my recollection Professor Trask never claims to be writing history, but righting it.
This book which I picked up during a visit to Hawaii was a compelling read both in the freshness of its perspective and, quite frankly, in the newness of the ideas it lays out. Few of us are actually familiar with the story of how Hawaii came to be a US state and fewer still understand the incredibly destructive and deculturating impact this had on the people who had lived in Hawaii for centuries prior to European arrival. Trask begins to explore these latter issues in this book, carefully exposing and then analyzing practices which reflect the attitudes and actions of colonial powers as they influence Native Hawaiian life today.
It may be difficult, even angering, for non-Hawaiians, like myself, to read this work but these reactions do not release us from the responsibility to understand and enage with the lived reality of Native Hawaiians. I highly recommend this book to anyone considering a vaction in Hawaii.
 Alienation does not equal liberation... October 27, 2004
11 out of 18 found this review helpful
Although I think that what Professor Trask has to say definitely has validity and is a very important history to learn about, I also sense as a mainland-born, non-Hawaiian female, that her visceral anger and pain burn virtually all of the non-Hawaiian readers in her path. Hanauni-Kay Trask presents the bleak reality of Hawaii's history with colonizers, assorted oppressors, land developers and pollution and why it should not only be a sovereign, independent nation but that no one should come there looking for Don Ho and pina coladas, like the ad campaigns would have us believe. In fact, Haunani informs us--without mincing words--that the Non-Hawaiian presence is not welcome in any of the Hawaiian islands.
When I first digested her view of visitors to her Hawaii and the vast layers of corruption that have displaced her people, I shared her rage (even though I know she would never believe that, upon seeing me). Now, two years later, I really ask how she hoped to change the bleak situation through writing this book. It seems to me, she practices the same racist ideology that the colonists practiced when they took over in the first place! I know many would challenge my point and argue that she is merely taking back what is rightfully hers. I think that venom breeds more venom, and, in turn, that venom poisons all of us. (Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians)
Whether many of us want to admit it or not, we are all connected on an inner level as human beings, brothers and sisters on this planet, who have all been hurt, abused, or deceived in some way. This common bond also divides us. We choose to resolve or confront this pain in different ways. While some of us start wars, hold grudges with people who share the same eyes or skin color of our oppressors, and continue to be driven by our inherited anger from the generations or directly experienced discrimination; others come to accept that, regardless of race or national origin, each person on this earth is an individual. Some individuals whose ancestry comes from the oppressor are actually working to overthrow this system of oppression in a sincere and humble manner. It saddens me that Haunani cannot see that for herself and that her rage for the non-indigenous people continues with such force. It might surprise Professor Trask to know that there are numerous groups of non-Indigenous people who have experienced the same level of oppression her ancestors (and she) have had to face. Many of those on the receiving end of the violent genocides (the Holocaust, for example), bloody and ruthless revolutions (Russian as an example) and ethnic cleansings (the situation between Serbs and Croats) did not flee their countries to impose oppression on others. They came seeking sanctuary and an opportunity to culture peace and justice around them. I hope Haunani Kay-Trask will realize that we all really ARE struggling together.
Narcisism and Self-righteous Anger Do not a Scholar make. April 7, 2002
17 out of 32 found this review helpful
Trask's writing is shocking. Her book presents an interesting alternative view of Hawaiian history as well as an interesting critique of Western thought (especially history and anthropology).
Unfortunately Trask's militant sensationalism, and self serving narcisism creep in and very nearly ruin the entire book. The pages are filled with self-glorifying pictures of Trask and her political pals. The articles focus almost entirely on Trask's own political actions, ignoring all other movements and all previous scholarship.
Trask's opinions are of course "interesting", but they are not based on any sort of sound historical or scientific evidence. The little bits of flimsy evidence she does cite are almost laughable in light of the kind of re-evalutations she is pushing for. Are the lyrics of a single song really proper cause for an entire re-evaluation of historical theory?
There are some very large holes in her arguments. So large, in fact, that virtually no scholars, american, European or otherwise, take her work seriously. In reality, very few native Hawaiians take her or her politics seriously either
Trask's personality really casts her argument into a deep, dark shadow. It's unfortunate that a more level headed person didn't undertake the writing of this book because it is actually quite interesting, and even enlightening at times.
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