Week 10 3/13
Introduction
Over the last few weeks the course content has focused on Hawaiian demarcations of and relationships to land. We have moved from the past to the present in terms of understanding the familial relationship to ʻāina and contemporary issues that could be remedied based on traditional knowledge. As Brandon Ledward indicates in the short video lecture below, we are descended from genius! The impact of that knowledge can and should effect the ways in which we view the Hawaiian past and in particular Hawaiian politics. The reading assigned for this week speaks to both topics. How did Hawaiians of the 1800s transition from traditional land tenure to private property ownership? Was this transition forced? How did Hawaiian relationships to land change? These are some of the questions to consider while reading the article assigned this week.
Over the last few weeks the course content has focused on Hawaiian demarcations of and relationships to land. We have moved from the past to the present in terms of understanding the familial relationship to ʻāina and contemporary issues that could be remedied based on traditional knowledge. As Brandon Ledward indicates in the short video lecture below, we are descended from genius! The impact of that knowledge can and should effect the ways in which we view the Hawaiian past and in particular Hawaiian politics. The reading assigned for this week speaks to both topics. How did Hawaiians of the 1800s transition from traditional land tenure to private property ownership? Was this transition forced? How did Hawaiian relationships to land change? These are some of the questions to consider while reading the article assigned this week.
I Palapala No Ia ʻĀina
Scholars have suggested that Western surveys and maps were tools used to aid colonizers in the dispossession of native people from their lands. While this was often the case, many surveys conducted and maps produced for the Kingdom of Hawai‘i during the nineteenth century were done by native Hawaiians, with native informants and based largely on traditional palena, or land boundaries. In the midst of considerable socio-political and cultural upheaval, the mapping of the lands of Hawai‘i during this period was largely due to the agency of the Ali‘i (chiefs) and other Hawaiian nationals. It is argued that these adaptations of Western techniques were intentional and strategic attempts to aid in the development of the Hawaiian State and secure national lands. In addition, the surveys conducted and maps produced during these years effectively preserved a considerable body of indigenous knowledge of place. |
Activities
Due Dates
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