This Land Is My Land Analysis

In the article This Land is My Land: The Role of Place in Native Hawaiian Identity by Shawn Malia Kana’iaupuni and Nolan Malone, they discuss the significance of place to Hawaiian identity and cultural survival. Furthermore, this article also talks about the historical context of place. In addition, this article also highlights the Hawaiian’s physical, spiritual, and genealogical connections to the land and sea. The people of the land notion creates a sense of Hawaiian identity and becomes a part of Hawaiian epistemologies. Malone empathizes that the relationship of the people to the land is unique to Hawaii. He also mentions that despite the complexity in creating an identity due to migration, cultural and ethnic mixing, place had still knitted …show more content…
Therefore, Hawaiians have a kuleana to care for their ancestor and those ancestor, in turn ensure the well-being of the current Hawaiians. However, there are threats to the natural harmony of the Hawaiians with the land. Two factors are responsible for this weakened Native Hawaiian ties to the land. The first was that Native Hawaiians are getting less represented in their homeland due to Western disease and warfare. This caused a mass extinction of 90% of the original Hawaiian population. The second factor that contributed to the disintegration of these Hawaiians was Western colonialism, controlling the Hawaiian land by forcing the Hawaiians to assimilate to their religious and their governmental ways. Specifically, land privatization was evident when the Whites bought Hawaiian property and Hawaiians were forced to move out of their land, yet Hawaiians are not aware of this! The Hawaiians tried to defend their importance of land to them by pleading 3 cases. All 3 cases empathize about land, aboriginal rights and the Hawaiian’s goal of self-determination. These cases were pleaded to stress the importance of place to …show more content…
Also, place contributes to the physical, spiritual and genealogic ties to the land. These connections are fostered by Hawaiian cultural practices. The physical connections to place are evident when Hawaiians name places according to their historical significance and planting the afterbirth and burying the dead on the land. The Hawaiians and the land care for each other, like family. The genealogical connection Hawaiians have to the land is present because the Hawaiians held genealogical chants. These deepen the connections between the Hawaiians. Furthermore, the Hawaiians have sociopolitical connections to the land. The Hawaiians recite the history of their struggles to further unify everyone and strengthen ethnic