Scan barcode
A review by camscornerbooks
Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes
4.0
This is a powerful book for anyone who has a piece of their heart tied to Hawaii. And NOT the people who just love the "paradise" of the islands on vacation. Hawaii isn't the land nor is it just the native peoples. Hawaii is both. It is history and beauty and struggle and strength. It is poetry in life and community and the story of its history is brutal and heartbreaking.
Stolen from its rightful people, like all of the Americas, this book so beautifully expresses the struggle of those whose blood and breath is from the land. Their homes were stolen by not even the US government but the tricksters of capitalism pulling the strings of everyone and everything around them. This book isn't a history lesson though. It's the story of those true Hawaiians, by blood or by birth, looking to retain their identity, their dignity, and their future. According to the government you must have a certain amount of "blood quantity" to really be Hawaiian and therefor entitled to any part of the land that is rightfully yours. But Hawaiians don't see blood as the defining factor in who is Hawaiian and with the influx of non-Hawaiians to the islands making it their home generationally the line between Hawaiian and non blurs according to the government's definition.
A historied family with the most direct claim to the throne of Hawaii that was stolen from the people find themselves at odds not only with the US government but with each other, with their feelings, and with their hopes for the future. One wants to work within the system to bring change, claiming that the US is too powerful to simply resist. Her daughter wants to work against the system, knowing that the US too often tells you what you want to hear while doing the opposite behind your back. And the granddaughter struggles with her identity as really Hawaiian or not as she looks purely haole but was raised from birth within the descendent royal family and larger Hawaiian community. Is she Hawaiian? Does she have any right to claim a lineage of a people she's not sure she's from? Why doesn't she look like her relatives but feel in her bones that she is Hawaiian?
This book made me cry a few times, not because it's overly sad in it's writing, but because it makes you angry. At least, it should make you angry. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to learn a little more about Hawaii, not the geography or the surf report, but the actual Hawaii which includes it's history and it's people. Those that care for the land and in return the land cares for them.
Stolen from its rightful people, like all of the Americas, this book so beautifully expresses the struggle of those whose blood and breath is from the land. Their homes were stolen by not even the US government but the tricksters of capitalism pulling the strings of everyone and everything around them. This book isn't a history lesson though. It's the story of those true Hawaiians, by blood or by birth, looking to retain their identity, their dignity, and their future. According to the government you must have a certain amount of "blood quantity" to really be Hawaiian and therefor entitled to any part of the land that is rightfully yours. But Hawaiians don't see blood as the defining factor in who is Hawaiian and with the influx of non-Hawaiians to the islands making it their home generationally the line between Hawaiian and non blurs according to the government's definition.
A historied family with the most direct claim to the throne of Hawaii that was stolen from the people find themselves at odds not only with the US government but with each other, with their feelings, and with their hopes for the future. One wants to work within the system to bring change, claiming that the US is too powerful to simply resist. Her daughter wants to work against the system, knowing that the US too often tells you what you want to hear while doing the opposite behind your back. And the granddaughter struggles with her identity as really Hawaiian or not as she looks purely haole but was raised from birth within the descendent royal family and larger Hawaiian community. Is she Hawaiian? Does she have any right to claim a lineage of a people she's not sure she's from? Why doesn't she look like her relatives but feel in her bones that she is Hawaiian?
This book made me cry a few times, not because it's overly sad in it's writing, but because it makes you angry. At least, it should make you angry. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to learn a little more about Hawaii, not the geography or the surf report, but the actual Hawaii which includes it's history and it's people. Those that care for the land and in return the land cares for them.