A review by silodear
From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i by Haunani-Kay Trask
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.