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popthebutterfly's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Disclaimer: I received this book from my library. Support your local libraries! All opinions are my own.
Book: From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai’i
Author: Haunani-Kay Trask
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 5/5
Diversity: Hawaiin MC and characters
Recommended For...: non-fiction readers, history readers, social justice readers, memoir readers
Publication Date: April 1, 1999
Genre: Non-Fiction Historical Memoir
Age Relevance: 15+ (racism, colonization, disease)
Explanation of Above: Racism and the colonization history of Hawaii is discussed and talked about in detail throughout the book. There are a couple of mentions of disease.
Publisher: Latitude 20
Pages: 272
Synopsis: Since its publication in 1993, From a Native Daughter, a provocative, well-reasoned attack against the rampant abuse of Native Hawaiian rights, institutional racism, and gender discrimination, has generated heated debates in Hawai'i and throughout the world. This 1999 revised work includes material that builds on issues and concerns raised in the first edition: Native Hawaiian student organizing at the University of Hawai'i; the master plan of the Native Hawaiian self-governing organization Ka Lahui Hawai'i and its platform on the four political arenas of sovereignty; the 1989 Hawai'i declaration of the Hawai'i ecumenical coalition on tourism; and a typology on racism and imperialism. Brief introductions to each of the previously published essays brings them up to date and situates them in the current Native Hawaiian rights discussion.
Review: I really liked this book overall. I loved that it read like a textbook, but it did so well with the personal history that it kept me entertained throughout the book. The book did really good to discuss the hurt colonization brings and there are multiple examples throughout the history of Hawaii that have been rewritten to paint colonizers in a good light, so I liked that this book was so brutally honest with the history and it didn’t sugarcoat anything. The book also mentioned the use of Christian schools to further keep native children away from their heritage, which I didn’t know happened. I knew that it happened to Canandian and mainland America indigenous persons, but I didn’t know that the practice was continued to the islands as well and that breaks my heart. The book was so informative and it did good to show how the continued colonization continues to hurt Hawaiian persons.
The only issue I had was that it felt a bit rushed in places. I’d love a longer text about the history of Hawaii by this author.
Verdict: I loved it so much! Definitely recommend it for your non-fiction reads.
Book: From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai’i
Author: Haunani-Kay Trask
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 5/5
Diversity: Hawaiin MC and characters
Recommended For...: non-fiction readers, history readers, social justice readers, memoir readers
Publication Date: April 1, 1999
Genre: Non-Fiction Historical Memoir
Age Relevance: 15+ (racism, colonization, disease)
Explanation of Above: Racism and the colonization history of Hawaii is discussed and talked about in detail throughout the book. There are a couple of mentions of disease.
Publisher: Latitude 20
Pages: 272
Synopsis: Since its publication in 1993, From a Native Daughter, a provocative, well-reasoned attack against the rampant abuse of Native Hawaiian rights, institutional racism, and gender discrimination, has generated heated debates in Hawai'i and throughout the world. This 1999 revised work includes material that builds on issues and concerns raised in the first edition: Native Hawaiian student organizing at the University of Hawai'i; the master plan of the Native Hawaiian self-governing organization Ka Lahui Hawai'i and its platform on the four political arenas of sovereignty; the 1989 Hawai'i declaration of the Hawai'i ecumenical coalition on tourism; and a typology on racism and imperialism. Brief introductions to each of the previously published essays brings them up to date and situates them in the current Native Hawaiian rights discussion.
Review: I really liked this book overall. I loved that it read like a textbook, but it did so well with the personal history that it kept me entertained throughout the book. The book did really good to discuss the hurt colonization brings and there are multiple examples throughout the history of Hawaii that have been rewritten to paint colonizers in a good light, so I liked that this book was so brutally honest with the history and it didn’t sugarcoat anything. The book also mentioned the use of Christian schools to further keep native children away from their heritage, which I didn’t know happened. I knew that it happened to Canandian and mainland America indigenous persons, but I didn’t know that the practice was continued to the islands as well and that breaks my heart. The book was so informative and it did good to show how the continued colonization continues to hurt Hawaiian persons.
The only issue I had was that it felt a bit rushed in places. I’d love a longer text about the history of Hawaii by this author.
Verdict: I loved it so much! Definitely recommend it for your non-fiction reads.
m_anabel's review
informative
4.0
Read a couple of chapters for class. Really informative and straight-to-the-point.
zoefranka's review against another edition
5.0
if you’ve ever been to hawaii or wanted to visit that island you should read this book
yourfriendtorie's review
4.0
I had been meaning to read this book for years, and I'm glad I finally did so while spending a month in Hawai'i.
I can see how many people, especially white people of more moderate political leanings, would bristle at Trask's well-founded invective. Like Ward Churchill, Trask straight up lays down all of the reasons a white person, or any foreigner, may not be made to feel welcome on these mythologically friendly islands. More than any other place of former or current colonial possession that I've ever visited, the Hawai'i all around me carries a heavy vibe of paradise lost. Runaway development, tourist culture, Native dispossession, and a host of other ills not unfamiliar to Natives on the mainland U.S. can all be historically linked to the theft of the islands by various European and eventually, Euro-American powers. With all of this evident all around me while I waited for surf, delving into the theory behind Hawai'ian political and cultural resistance made my vacation an even more eye-opening experience than I bargained for.
I can see how many people, especially white people of more moderate political leanings, would bristle at Trask's well-founded invective. Like Ward Churchill, Trask straight up lays down all of the reasons a white person, or any foreigner, may not be made to feel welcome on these mythologically friendly islands. More than any other place of former or current colonial possession that I've ever visited, the Hawai'i all around me carries a heavy vibe of paradise lost. Runaway development, tourist culture, Native dispossession, and a host of other ills not unfamiliar to Natives on the mainland U.S. can all be historically linked to the theft of the islands by various European and eventually, Euro-American powers. With all of this evident all around me while I waited for surf, delving into the theory behind Hawai'ian political and cultural resistance made my vacation an even more eye-opening experience than I bargained for.
sonicdonutflour's review
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Unsparing and intense. A very Important read on the legacy of colonialism in Hawaii.
silodear's review
5.0
When I told my mom I was reading this book, her response was, "Eww. Why?" Literally. Verbatim.
I was born and raised in Hawaii. I have a child's memory of the struggle for Native sovereignty: rallies, protests and sit-ins obstructing traffic, getting headlines in the newspaper, irritating my mother and other haole grown-ups in my family's social-circle. In school, our Kupuna explained that haoles don't belong in the islands and that the native Hawaiians want sovereignty from the US; want their islands back. When I'd return home and ask my mom about these things, she'd reply, "You're native. You were born here." Somehow that never seemed right. "I'm a haole," I'd reply. "Just because I was born here doesn't make me Hawaiian."
I enjoyed this book. Though I'm familiar with the history of Hawaii (I lived in the islands for the first 17 years of my life and learned about Hawaiian history every year in school), it was incredibly enriching to read a radical Native perspective on the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. Haunani-Kay Trask is fierce and powerful.
I was born and raised in Hawaii. I have a child's memory of the struggle for Native sovereignty: rallies, protests and sit-ins obstructing traffic, getting headlines in the newspaper, irritating my mother and other haole grown-ups in my family's social-circle. In school, our Kupuna explained that haoles don't belong in the islands and that the native Hawaiians want sovereignty from the US; want their islands back. When I'd return home and ask my mom about these things, she'd reply, "You're native. You were born here." Somehow that never seemed right. "I'm a haole," I'd reply. "Just because I was born here doesn't make me Hawaiian."
I enjoyed this book. Though I'm familiar with the history of Hawaii (I lived in the islands for the first 17 years of my life and learned about Hawaiian history every year in school), it was incredibly enriching to read a radical Native perspective on the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. Haunani-Kay Trask is fierce and powerful.