NA WAI KE OLA: EXAMINATION OF FRESHWATER RESOURCES AS THEY (IN)FORM KANAKA MAOLI IDENTITY AND GOVERNANCE

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research centers on freshwater and its impacts on identity and governance in Hawaiʻi. Specifically, it explores how changes in water management and usage have impacted, and continue to impact, Kanaka Maoli identity and governance in pre- and post-contact Hawaiʻi. To understand the relationships among freshwater, governance, and identity to Kānaka Maoli, this study employed an ethnographic approach following the actions of two Maui taro farmers, Steven Hookano and Kimo Day of Wailuanui. This ethnography utilizes a video filmed by Hookano and Day as they assert their water access rights. Using a theory and methodology of interpretation as a framework, this study interprets the comments of two cultural practitioners within the physical contexts of their lives as kalo growers. The main findings from this study are as follows: Streams are held in high esteem by the communities built around them. Additionally, these communities have had an unbroken relationship with these streams since time immemorial. When diverting a stream, the concern extends to the whole community in several ways. First and foremost is the loss of wetland taro farming, gathering practices, community space, and even the loss of a part of the community. Second, there is also a concern regarding the loss of knowledge and traditions and the loss of the intergenerational transfer of said knowledge and traditions. Finally, large profit-focused corporations, during this writing, work ceaselessly to prevent the return of water to the streams, with the tacit complicity of the State of Hawaiʻi. This is illustrative of the shift from traditional Kanaka Maoli governance towards a more western and capitalistic society that places more importance on the extrinsic value of the resource than its intrinsic value.