An Examination of the Causes Leading to the Abolition of the Kapu System in Hawaii
Date
2014-09-26
Authors
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
One of the most well-known and crucial episodes in the course of Hawaiian history is the formal abolition of the kapu system by certain recognized individuals in Hawaiian society. In 1819, the native Hawaiian people, after years of contact with Europeans beginning with the "discovery" of the islands by Captain James Cook in 1778, abolished major aspects of their kapu (taboo) system, just a year before the missionaries arrived to convert large segments of the population into Christians. Many authors of different disciplines of study have attemped to write about the kapu system and have given their accounts and personal views of the reasons for its abolition. The purpose of this paper is to define the kapu system, its role in Hawaiian life, and to examine the possible causes leading to its renouncing by a segment of the Hawaiian population in the early nineteenth century. To fulfill this objective, I believed that it was importnat for me to first give a broad ethnographic background of the Hawaiian ancients, for the kapu system had virtually permeated every aspect of Hawaiian society, affecting the Hawaiians on the community and individual levels. Moreover, I have included a section that concerns foreign influence in Hawaii, for I believe that it was the foreigners, European and American, who directly and/or indirectly influenced the abolition movement by their culture and ideals. However, I believe that this was not a sudden process and that the final decision to overthrow the kapu was left to the Hawaiians, i.e., "it takes two".
Description
Keywords
Citation
Extent
67 pages
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
All UHM Honors Projects are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Collections
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.