Article published in:
Narrative and Identity Construction in the Pacific Islands
Edited by Farzana Gounder
[Studies in Narrative 21] 2015
► pp. 119–134

Constructing Kanaka Maoli identity through narrative

A glimpse into native Hawaiian narratives

The purpose of this chapter is to (1) consider how Kanaka Maoli, or Native Hawaiian, narratives construct, and now reconstruct, Kanaka Maoli identity and (2) how identity construction was and is being carried out though Hawaiian-medium newspapers of the 19th and early 20th century. To illustrate identity construction through narrative we will look at how in a mo‘olelo ‘narrative’ the narrator illustrates clearly that the protagonist uses his kūpuna ‘elders, ancestors’ to help him on his journey along the temporal lines of the mo‘olelo. The Kanaka Maoli audience aligns with the protagonist’s position and his calling unto the kūpuna and knows that s/he too can do the same.
Published online: 20 May 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.21.06bak
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