Hawaii´s culture is slowly fading away and here is why

More than a thousand years ago, the first Polynesian voyagers made it to the Hawaiian archipelago. Over time, a distinctly Hawaiian culture emerged. Fishing and agriculture were common. And a blend of Polynesian language, arts, and navigation traditions took shape along with an intricate social, political, and religious system. For centuries Native Hawaiians exercised sovereignty over the islands. By 1810 a monarch united the islands as one nation.

Around this time, American and European missionaries arrived, along with businessmen looking to turn the land into a sugar industry. Many missionaries believed Hawaiian religious practices were a moral wretchedness and so, they began the work of communicating to them the knowledge of Christ. When the missionaries come with their promise of enlightenment and wisdom our people lost contact with who they were.

Over the course of the next century this new western, Christian ideology slowly replaced the traditions and culture of many Native Hawaiians, also known as Kanaka Maoli or Kanaka. The missionaries and businessmen became advisors to the monarchs who then suppressed the Hawaiian language, healing practices, navigation arts, and even traditional forms of hula. Soon, they set their sights on privatizing land ownership and changed the political system, too.

In 1887, a group led by white businessmen rewrote the constitution forcibly taking away much of the Hawaiian monarchy s power, and disenfranchising most Native Hawaiian voters. When a new monarch Queen Lili'uokalani rose to power, she attempted to restore Native Hawaiian rights.

But, in response, much of the same group of wealthy, white businessmen, now known as the Committee of Safety, staged a coup to overthrow the queen's government.

In 1893, they illegally took over the government of Hawai‘i. Native Hawaiians pushed back and started a movement to reclaim Hawaiian sovereignty. A massive petition drive led to 38,000 signatures that eventually convinced the US Congress to reject the annexation of Hawaii. But it was a short-lived win. In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out. Part of it was fought in the Philippines, and all of a sudden, the location of the Hawaiian islands in the Pacific became valuable to the US military.

Congress quickly passed a resolution and illegally annexed Hawai‘i. Decades later, in 1959, Hawai‘i became the 50th state of the US. To have this 50th member is truly a unique experience. But statehood made many Native Hawaiian problems worse. The development of resorts and condos increasingly displaced families encroached on rural land and exploited Native Hawaiians who are still struggling to this day

While the few local elites and transnational corporations are the primary beneficiaries of the dominant tourism industry, Native Hawaiians are the least educated and sickest people in the entire state.

When we observe the social and economic indicators of well-being, the conclusion is clear. Tourism has not benefited the host Native Hawaiian people and it probably never will.

Almost every hotel in Hawaii is now owned by a foreign investor. The rapid growth of foreign investment is a clear indicator that the impact of tourism is not being taken into account by the industry.

In its current form, tourism has evolved to a point where it is of minimal economic consequence to Hawaiians. In fact, given the very nature in which tourism is involved in cultural invasion and environmental exploitation, the Hawaiian – by culture, values, and tradition – cannot support or sustain tourism unless it is made to be more respectful of people and land. Tourism does not provide a viable economic alternative to Hawaiians in its present structure and nature.

An examination of the marketing and promotion of this same tourism in Hawaii markets will reveal the obvious packaging of an “aloha for Sale” approach that has been referred to as “hula” marketing. Hula marketing is the marketing of a people and culture for the express purpose of exploitative economic benefit. In hula marketing, the Hawaiian culture is romanticized to appeal to the exotic fantasies of world travelers. The popular images such as smiling flower girls and hula dancers, or exotic moonlit feasts with natives serving hand and foot, are typical. This kind of marketing and promotion perpetuates stereotypes that are culturally inappropriate and demeaning.

This type of tourism promotes the development and practice of an entertainment and visitor-oriented culture and when the primary means of promotion is dependent upon the culture and people, and the perception that “all is well in paradise” is put forward while in fact, it is not, then the issue becomes one of "cultural selling". It becomes the selling of an artificial cultural image that has complete disregard for the truth, at the expense and pain of Native Hawaiians who are struggling to survive.

The tourism industry in Hawaii is so blatant in promoting Hawaii by cultural images and ideas, and not support to any greater extent the perpetuation of authentic and living Hawaiian culture and language in the local comminutes, is another expression of "cultural selling". One clear example of this scenario is, for example, the governmental support of the Hawaii Visitors Bureau of several millions of dollars every year in comparison to the lack of direct programming to perpetuate the culture or the recovery of the language of Native Hawaiians.

These economic and cultural issues are causing a great deal of suffering and displacement in the lives of native Hawaiians who are seeing their culture slowly fading away and the solution obviously cannot be more investment in tourism but in programs that actually benefits native people.