Representation of hula as a networked public on YouTube

Abstract

This exploratory study examined the nature of hula content available on YouTube, whether ancient, modern, montage, mimic or other. Results were revealing of the type of videos archived, viewed, and searched on YouTube. Actual hula videos, categorized as "hula kahiko", "hula 'auana", and "hula montage", were the most archived videos; however, they were not the most viewed. The videos that garnered the most views and likes, indicated by the thumbs up icon, were those that had nothing to do with hula, "hula mimic" and "other". Furthermore, results revealed that the YouTube users uploading and viewing these hula videos are primarily international YouTube users. It is non-hula practitioners or non-Native Hawaiians that are creating and sharing misinformed perceptions of hula. The persistence, scalability, and searchability of Hawaii hula videos is one that is misleading and a misappropriation of what the Hawaiian cultural dance is and means to the indigenous community of Native Hawaiians. The following section will present a literature review covering the background and affordances of the premier social networking site, YouTube, along with hula's origin, the main two types of hula dancing, growth in popularity, and how the two converge. The next section will describe the methodology of the study followed by a presentation of research findings. The paper concludes with a discussion of the study implications for the representation of hula on YouTube.