Native Hawaiians

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Native Hawaiians
(Kānaka Maoli)

From left to right: Kamehameha the Great, James "Duke" Aiona, Daniel Akaka, Queen Liliʻuokalani.
Total population

401,162 (U.S. census 2000 Native Hawaiian alone or in any combination)[1]
Regions with significant populations
United States
(Hawaii, California, Nevada)
Languages
English, Hawaiian, Hawaiian Pidgin English
Religions
Various; mainly Protestant
Related ethnic groups
Marquesans, Māori, Tahitians, Samoans and other Polynesian peoples

Native Hawaiians (in Hawaiian, kānaka ʻōiwi or kānaka maoli) are the Polynesian peoples of the Hawaiian Islands who trace their ancestry back to Marquesan and possibly Tahitian settlers (starting circa AD 400), before the arrival of British explorer Captain James Cook in 1778. According to the U.S. Census Bureau report for 2000, there are 401,162 people who identified themselves as being native Hawaiian, part native Hawaiian and mixed native Hawaiian.[1] The overwhelming majority of native Hawaiians are residents of the United States in California, the State of Hawaiʻi, Nevada and Washington. Two-thirds live in the State of Hawaiʻi while the other one-third is split among mainland states. Almost half of the mainland share of the population is in California.

The history of native Hawaiians, and of Hawaiʻi in general, are classified into four major periods: antiquity (Ancient Hawaiʻi), monarchy (Kingdom of Hawaiʻi), territorial (Territory of Hawaiʻi), and statehood (State of Hawaiʻi).

Contents

[edit] Native Hawaiian definitions

Identifying and classifying native Hawaiians is a delicate issue. Different government agencies have different methods of classifying native Hawaiians. [2]. However, it is widely accepted that such classifications are necessary to facilitate laws, trusts and wills governing native Hawaiian programs. For example, programs administered by the Hawaiʻi State Department of Hawaiian Homelands are legally bound by trusts to provide services only to Hawaiians claiming over 50% ancestry back to pre-1778 settlers of the Hawaiian Islands.

In the context of the Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes, section 10-2, Hawaiians are defined as:

any descendant of the aboriginal peoples inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands which exercised sovereignty and subsisted in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, and which peoples thereafter have continued to reside in Hawaiʻi.

Native Hawaiians are defined as:

any descendant of not less than one-half part of the races inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands previous to 1778, as defined by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended; provided that the term identically refers to the descendants of such blood quantum of such aboriginal peoples which exercised sovereignty and subsisted in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778 and which peoples thereafter continued to reside in Hawaii.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs also differentiates between:

  • "Native Hawaiian" (capitalized, referring to any person of native Hawaiian ancestry regardless of blood quantum) and
  • "native Hawaiian" (uncapitalized, referring to a native Hawaiian with at least 50% blood quantum).[2]

In general usage, however, this distinction is often ignored, with both capitalizations being used to describe the native Hawaiian population as a whole regardless of bloodline.

The term "Hawaiian" first existed as a geographic identity limited to the Big Island, and upon the unification of the Hawaiian Islands, as a political identity. It is commonly used today both as a description of residents of the State of Hawaii, as well as a designation of some portion of native Hawaiian ancestry.

Although Native Hawaiians are commonly identified as indigenous, and some claim they should have special benefits because of that identification,[3] there is some controversy regarding those claims and any special benefits such identification should include.[4]

[edit] Population

At the time of Captain Cook's arrival, native Hawaiians may have numbered some 250,000 to 800,000; there has been debate over such estimates. [5] Over the span of the first century after first contact, the native Hawaiians were nearly wiped out by new diseases introduced to the islands. Native Hawaiians did not have resistance to influenza, measles, and whooping cough, among others. The census of 1900 identified only 40,000 native Hawaiians. The census of 2000 identified 400,000 native Hawaiians, demonstrating a trend of dramatic growth since annexation by the U.S. in 1898.

An Office of Hawaiian Affairs survey in 1984 reported that 61% of Native Hawaiians had less than 50% native Hawaiian blood. That same report indicated that only 8,244 pure blood native Hawaiians existed out of the 208,476 total native Hawaiians surveyed.

[edit] Language

The primary and often only language of native Hawaiians is the English language as a result of both the emphasis the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi placed on learning English, as well as over a century of being an integral part of the United States of America. Another contributing factor was an 1896 law which provided that English "be the only medium and basis of instruction in all public and private schools." Some native Hawaiians (as well as non-native Hawaiians) have learned the native Hawaiian language as a second language. As with their neighbors and peers of other races, native Hawaiians also often speak Hawaiian Creole English, a creole which developed during Hawaiʻi's plantation era in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Hawaiian language has been promoted for revival most recently by a state program of cultural preservation enacted in 1978. Programs included the opening of Hawaiian language immersion schools and the establishment of a Hawaiian language department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. As a result, Hawaiian language learning has climbed among all races in Hawaiʻi.

[edit] Education

Native Hawaiians are completely integrated into American society and culture, and like all other children in Hawaiʻi, they are publicly educated by the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education, the largest and most centralized of the United States educational system. Hawaiʻi is the only state without local community control of schools. Under the administration of Governor Benjamin J. Cayetano (D-HI) from 1994 to 2002, the state's educational system established special Hawaiian language immersion schools. In these schools, all subject courses are taught in the Hawaiian language and use native Hawaiian subject matter in curricula. These schools were created in the spirit of cultural preservation, and are not racially exclusive. Currently, these schools are challenged by the lack of any native speakers of the Hawaiian language and a dearth of educational materials in Hawaiian.

Some native Hawaiians are educated by the Kamehameha Schools, established through the last will and testament of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a princess of the Kamehameha Dynasty. The largest and wealthiest private school in the United States, Kamehameha Schools was intended to benefit indigents and orphans, with preference given to native Hawaiians. Since the late 1990s, Kamehameha Schools has been facing several high profile legal battles. One involved the choice and payment of trustees. Another concerned the admission of non-Hawaiians to the school. A few non-Hawaiians have sued for admission, claiming that the last will and testament of Bernice Pauahi Bishop has been misinterpreted, and the policies of race-based admissions are discriminatory and should be struck down.[6]

As with children of all other racial backgrounds in Hawaiʻi, some native Hawaiians are educated by the most prominent private academies in Hawaiʻi. They include: Punahou School, Kamehameha Schools and Iolani School which was established by Anglican missionaries.

[edit] Culture & arts

There have been established several cultural preservation societies and organizations over the course of the twentieth century. The largest of those institutions is the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, established in 1889 and designated as the Hawaiʻi State Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Bishop Museum houses the largest collection of native Hawaiian artifacts, documents and other information available for educational use. Most objects are held for preservation alone. The museum has links with major colleges and universities throughout the world to facilitate research.

[edit] Hawaiiana revival

Native Hawaiian culture saw a revival in recent years as an outgrowth of decisions made at the 1978 Hawaiʻi State Constitutional Convention, held exactly 200 years after the arrival of Captain Cook. At the convention, the Hawaiʻi state government committed itself to a progressive study and preservation of native Hawaiian culture, history and language.

A comprehensive Hawaiian culture curriculum was introduced into the State of Hawaiʻi's public elementary schools teaching: ancient Hawaiian art, lifestyle, geography, hula and Hawaiian language vocabulary. Intermediate and high schools were mandated to impose two sets of Hawaiian history curricula on every candidate for graduation.

Statutes and charter amendments were passed acknowledging a policy of preference for Hawaiian place and street names. For example, with the closure of Barbers Point Naval Air Station in the 1990s, the region formerly occupied by the base was renamed Kalaeloa.

[edit] Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA)

Office of Hawaiian Affairs

Another important outgrowth of the 1978 Hawaiʻi State Constitutional Convention was the establishment of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, more popularly known as OHA. Delegates that included future Hawaiʻi political stars Benjamin J. Cayetano, John D. Waihee III and Jeremy Harris enacted measures intended to "right" injustices allegedly inflicted upon native Hawaiians since the fall of the monarchy of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. OHA was established as a trust, administered with a mandate to better the conditions of both native Hawaiians and the Hawaiian community in general. OHA was given control over certain public lands, and continues to expand its land-holdings to this day (most recently with Waimea Valley, previously Waimea Falls Park).[7]

OHA is a semi-autonomous government body administered by a nine-member board of trustees, elected by the people of the State of Hawaiʻi through popular suffrage. Originally, trustees and the people eligible to vote for trustees were restricted to native Hawaiians. Rice V. Cayetano reached the United States Supreme Court suing the state to allow non-Hawaiians to sit on the board of trustees and for non-Hawaiians to be allowed to vote in trustee elections. Justices ruled in favor of Rice on 23 February 2000 forcing OHA to open its elections to all residents of the State of Hawaiʻi regardless of ethnicity.

[edit] Federal developments

[edit] Native American Programs Act

In 1974, the Native American Programs Act was amended to include native Hawaiians. This paved the way for native Hawaiians to become eligible for some, but not all, federal assistance programs originally intended for Native Americans. Today, Title 45 CFR Part 1336.62 defines a Native Hawaiian as "an individual any of whose ancestors were natives of the area which consists of the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778."

There is some controversy as to whether or not native Hawaiians should be considered in the same light as Native Americans:

[edit] United States apology resolution

On 23 November 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed United States Public Law 103-150 also known as the Apology Resolution which had previously passed Congress. The document officially apologized for the alleged role the United States played in the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani.

Washington-based constitutional scholar Bruce Fein has outlined a number of counter-arguments disputing the accuracy of the assertions made in the Apology Resolution.[8]

[edit] Akaka Bill

In the early 2000s, the Congressional delegation of the State of Hawaiʻi introduced the Native Hawaiian Federal Recognition Bill named after U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI). The Akaka Bill would establish the process of recognizing and forming a native Hawaiian government entity to negotiate with state and federal governments. The significance of the bill is that it would establish, for the first time in the history of the islands, a new political and legal relationship between a native Hawaiian entity and the federal government. This native Hawaiian entity would be a newly created one without any historical precedent in the islands or direct institutional continuity with previous political entities (unlike many native American Indian groups, for example).

This bill came under significant scrutiny by the Bush Administration's Department of Justice as well as the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. The political context surrounding the Akaka Bill is both controversial and complex. Proponents, who consider the legislation an acknowledgement and (partial) correction of past injustices, include Hawaiʻi's Congressional delegation as well as the current Republican Governor Linda Lingle. Opponents include the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights who question the constitutionality of creating race-based governments, libertarian activists who challenge the historical accuracy of any claims of injustice, and other native Hawaiian sovereignty activists who feel the legislation would thwart their hopes for complete independence from the United States.

The degree of public support within the State of Hawaiʻi for the Akaka Bill is unclear. A poll commissioned in 2005 by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs showed that 68 percent of Hawaiʻi residents support the bill, 17 percent do not support it and 15 percent refused to answer or had no opinion. However, a poll conducted earlier that year by the libertarian think tank The Grassroots Institute indicated that 67% of Hawaiʻi residents were against the Akaka bill. It has been speculated that the phrasing of the questions asked in both of the respective polls influenced the results, and so no definitive survey to determine levels of public support has yet been carried out in Hawaiʻi.

[edit] Notable native Hawaiians

See List of Native Hawaiians

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b U.S. 2000 Census
  2. ^ a b OHA Databook Appendix 1998
  3. ^ Indian Country Today, August 13, 2001
  4. ^ Activist Ken Conklin has written extensively about questions regarding the indigenous nature of Hawaiians
  5. ^ Archaeology and Prehistory in Kahikinui, Maui, Hawaiian Islands by Patrick V. Kirch
  6. ^ Litigation is still pending appeal to the Supreme Court after an 8-7 en banc ruling of the 9th circuit court. The precedent often cited by the plaintiffs is that of Stephen Girard, whose racially exclusive school was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1968 when challenged by two African-American youths, Foust and Felder.
  7. ^ OHA GAINS TITLE TO WAIMEA VALLEY Besides purchases since its inception, the lands initially given to OHA were originally crown lands of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi used to pay the expenses of the monarchy (later held by the Provisional Government following the fall of the monarchy in 1893). Upon the declaration of the Republic of Hawaiʻi, they were officially designated as public lands. They were ceded to federal control with the establishment of the Territory of Hawaiʻi in 1898, and finally returned to the State of Hawaiʻi as public lands in 1959.
  8. ^ PDF file (592 KB): Hawaiʻi Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

[edit] Further reading

  • Maenette K. Nee-Benham and Ronald H. Heck, Culture and Educational Policy in Hawaiʻi: The Silencing of Native Voices, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1998
  • Scott Cunningham, Hawaiian Magic and Spirituality, Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2000
  • Rona Tamiko Tamiko Halualani, In the Name of Hawaiians: Native Identities and Cultural Politics], University of Minnesota Press, 2002
  • Marshall D. Sahlins, How Natives Think: About Captain Cook, for Example, University of Chicago Press, 1995
  • Thomas G. Thrum, Hawaiian Folk Tales: A Collection of Native Legends, International Law & Taxation Publishers, 2001
  • Thomas G. Thrum, More Hawaiian Folk Tales: A Collection of Native Legends and Traditions, International Law & Taxation Publishers, 2001
  • Houston Wood, Displacing Natives: The Rhetorical Production of Hawaiʻi, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999
  • Kanalu G. Terry Young Rethinking the Native Hawaiian Past, Taylor & Francis, Inc., 1998
  • Patrick W. Hanifin

[edit] External links


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Pacific Islander Americans
Micronesian Chamorros
Polynesian Native Hawaiians  · Samoan
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