Native Hawaiian Decolonization and the Politics of Gender

Explores cultural discourses of reclamation in the area of gender & sexuality that are prevalent within the current Hawaiian independence movement. The silencing of feminist assertions within the Hawaiian nationalist movement is based on the assumption that feminism is unnecessary & superfluous. Emphasis is placed on the need to rethink the Hawaiian past as a basis for cultural reclamation projects. Even though unilateral political processes have undermined the self-determination of the Hawaiian people, the right to self-determination is still in place under international law. It is argued that "gender oppression has been a mode of imperialism in the history of Hawaii." Native Hawaiian culture was egalitarian, not patriarchal, prior to British & Euro-American colonialism. Therefore, nationalist struggles over the meaning of precolonial history related to gender & sexual politics constitute a "significant political terrain within the context of Native Hawaiian decolonization." The history of gender & sexuality in Hawaii is traced to emphasize the critical importance of the recovery of precolonial history for the nationalist struggle. J. Lindroth