He Aliʻi Ka ʻĀina; He Kauwā ke Kanaka (The Land is Chief; Man is its Servant): Traditional Hawaiian Resource Stewardship and the Transformation of the Konohiki

Abstract

In traditional Hawaiian society, the konohiki were a specialized class of chiefs appointed by the Aliʻi Nui (high chiefs) to steward their land, water and human resources. Their self-sustaining and holistic methods of land and resource stewardship became known as the Konohiki System. The System’s principles were governed by the ancient Hawaiian Kapu religion and based on cultural values of Mālama ʻĀina – the deep familial ties and reciprocal stewardship between the ʻĀina (land and environment), the Akua (deities) and kanaka (man). To date, the konohiki’s history remains fragmented, insufficient, and lacking the Hawaiian perspective. This thesis is the first comprehensive, focused study on the konohiki utilizing a wider range of Hawaiian-language primary sources mainly from 19th century Hawaiian-language newspapers, published in 1834-1948, and the 1848 Māhele land records. These sources uncover invaluable Hawaiian cultural, historical and ancestral knowledge, and provide new information that changes the complex and often misunderstood historiography of the konohiki.