Huihui: Navigating Art and Literature in the Pacific

by Jeffrey Carroll (Editor)

This ground-breaking anthology is the first to navigate the interconnections between the rhetoric's and aesthetics of the Pacific. Like the bright and multifaceted constellation for which it is named, Huihui: Rhetorics and Aesthetics in the Pacific showcases a variety of genres and cross-genre forms--critical essays, poetry, short fiction, speeches, photography, and personal reflections--that explore a wide range of subjects, from Disney's Aulani Resort to the Bishop Museum, from tiki souvenirs to the Dusky Maiden stereotype, from military recruitment to colonial silencing, from healing lands to healing words and music, from decolonization to sovereignty. These works go beyond conceiving of Pacific rhetoric's and aesthetics as being always and only in response to a colonising West and/or East. Instead, the authors emphasize the importance of situating their work within indigenous intellectual, political, and cultural traditions and innovations of the Pacific. Taken together, this anthology threads ancestral and contemporary discursive strategies, questions colonial and oppressive representations, and seeks to articulate an empowering decolonized future for all of Oceania.Representing several island and continental nations, the contributing authors include Albert Wendt, Haunani-Kay Trask, Mililani Trask, Chantal Spitz, Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwo?ole Osorio, Flora Devatine, Kalena Silva, Steven Winduo, Alice Te Punga Somerville, Selina Tusitala Marsh, ku?ualoha ho?omanawanui, Craig Santos Perez, Gregory Clark, Chelle Pahinui, Dan Taulapapa McMullin, Michael Puleloa, Lisa King, and Steven Gin. Collectively, their words guide us over ocean routes like the great wa?a, va?a, waka, proa, and sakman once navigated by the ancestors of Oceania, now navigated again by their descendants.

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2014

Reviews

[Robert Yokoyama · Rating 5 out of 5]

The countries of the Pacific are filled with talented writers and activists. Their work is anthologized in this beautiful book. I love the speech by Haunani Kay Trask. I love the passion she has for the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. It has been over thirty years since she gave this speech, but many Hawaiians are still waiting for to get settled on their homestead land. There is a short story entitled "First Class" by Albert Wendt. This is a story about a writing instructor teaching a poetry class to local college students. I enjoy writing poetry, and the challenge of writing a poem of 6 lines about what it feels like to be cold is a very creative premise for a short story. There is an essay in this book about how an Oahu Disney resort neglects to address any Hawaiian history or themes in the design and layout of the resort. I have never been to the park, but I believe in every word of these essay.

I also loved the Hawaiian words I learned in this book. I learned that huihui means a joining. I also learned that kaona means a hidden layer of meaning. I will strive to look for more meaning and theme in different work with my knowledge of these two words.

[Leikela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't even finished the first entry, "A Contemporary Response to Increasing Mele Performance Contexts" by Kalena Silva, but it deserves five stars even if I don't like the rest (which is doubtful).

A treasure.