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Critical Issues in Indigenous Studies
Finding Meaning: Kaona and Contemporary Hawaiian Literature
Winner of the Native American Literature Symposium's Beatrice Medicine Award for Published Monograph
In this first extensive study of contemporary Hawaiian literature, Brandy Nalani McDougall examines a vibrant selection of fiction, poetry, and drama by emerging and established Hawaiian authors, including Haunani-Kay Trask, John Dominis Holt, Imaikalani Kalahele, and Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl. At the center of the analysis is a hallmark of Hawaiian aesthetics—kaona, the intellectual practice of hiding and finding meaning that encompasses the allegorical, the symbolic, the allusive, and the figurative.
With a poet’s attention to detail, McDougall interprets examples of kaona, guiding readers through olelo no'eau (proverbs) , mo‘olelo (literature and histories), and mooku'auhau (genealogies) alongside their contemporary literary descendants, unveiling complex layers of Hawaiian identity, culture, history, politics, and ecology.
Throughout, McDougall asserts that “kaona connectivity” not only carries bright possibilities for connecting the present to the past, but it may also ignite a decolonial future. Ultimately, Finding Meaning affirms the tremendous power of Indigenous stories and genealogies to give activism and decolonization movements lasting meaning.
In this first extensive study of contemporary Hawaiian literature, Brandy Nalani McDougall examines a vibrant selection of fiction, poetry, and drama by emerging and established Hawaiian authors, including Haunani-Kay Trask, John Dominis Holt, Imaikalani Kalahele, and Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl. At the center of the analysis is a hallmark of Hawaiian aesthetics—kaona, the intellectual practice of hiding and finding meaning that encompasses the allegorical, the symbolic, the allusive, and the figurative.
With a poet’s attention to detail, McDougall interprets examples of kaona, guiding readers through olelo no'eau (proverbs) , mo‘olelo (literature and histories), and mooku'auhau (genealogies) alongside their contemporary literary descendants, unveiling complex layers of Hawaiian identity, culture, history, politics, and ecology.
Throughout, McDougall asserts that “kaona connectivity” not only carries bright possibilities for connecting the present to the past, but it may also ignite a decolonial future. Ultimately, Finding Meaning affirms the tremendous power of Indigenous stories and genealogies to give activism and decolonization movements lasting meaning.
- GenresNonfiction
224 pages, Hardcover
Published June 3, 2016
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 7, 2021
Before reading this I was under the impression that it would be a niche book about kaona as a literary and linguistic practice, but I was really astounded by the magnitudes and layers that McDougall shows the reader not just about this literary practice but about Hawaiian literature, culture, history, poetry, and so much more. This book does more than just present an object of study but shows a practice that is fruitful and productive, something that can be used in a decolonial way and connect Hawaiians in their writings and art to their kūpuna. The exploration of kaona as a mediating practice and a way for both the author to impart meaning but also for the reader to participate in the meaning making of a work was really interesting too.
One idea that really stood out to me in this book was the idea of a literary field, especially Hawaiian literature, being more like a loʻi than whatever kind of field Western scholars imagine.
"Like several of the scholars mentioned, I view our contemporary literature as existing within a continuum, but one that is expressly dialogic and intertextual, defying Western logics of linear time and progression. Thus, while I use the term “contemporary” to refer to our literature written since the 1960s, I do not use “contemporary” in opposition to “traditional” or “ancestral,” as too often this construct has been used as a means to define and separate “authentic” from “inauthentic” Indigenous culture within a colonial context. Moreover, my examinations reveal that our ancestral literature constantly informs and guides our contemporary literature and our contemporary selves. In other words, the ancestral is always a part of the contemporary, and the contemporary is always a part of the ancestral, given that it is always subject to contemporary perspectives and readings [...] With this in mind, I look to our ancestor Hāloanaka, also known as Hāloanakalaukapalili, from whom we have the nourishing kalo, for inspiration. It is much more productive and appropriate to think of our oral literature as a kalo makua, a parent kalo, that is rooted and fed by ‘āina, with our written literature and, now, other introduced forms of media and performance as ‘ohā, or offshoots of the original stalk. After harvesting the kalo for its lau (leaves) and ‘i‘o (corm), the crown of the ‘i‘o and the lower hā (stalks) form the huli (sett), which is planted for further cultivation over and over. In this way, all kalo may also continue to live on in new plantings. Our literature also continues to flourish unbroken, with each literary ‘ohā growing alongside the mākua, intertwining their roots, even as they may have had to linger beneath the surface or grow in dark silences, even as they may have been tended over time with different, often introduced tools—they have remained and nourished us over generations nevertheless, and are the products of a continuum of Kanaka Maoli intellectualism."
One idea that really stood out to me in this book was the idea of a literary field, especially Hawaiian literature, being more like a loʻi than whatever kind of field Western scholars imagine.
"Like several of the scholars mentioned, I view our contemporary literature as existing within a continuum, but one that is expressly dialogic and intertextual, defying Western logics of linear time and progression. Thus, while I use the term “contemporary” to refer to our literature written since the 1960s, I do not use “contemporary” in opposition to “traditional” or “ancestral,” as too often this construct has been used as a means to define and separate “authentic” from “inauthentic” Indigenous culture within a colonial context. Moreover, my examinations reveal that our ancestral literature constantly informs and guides our contemporary literature and our contemporary selves. In other words, the ancestral is always a part of the contemporary, and the contemporary is always a part of the ancestral, given that it is always subject to contemporary perspectives and readings [...] With this in mind, I look to our ancestor Hāloanaka, also known as Hāloanakalaukapalili, from whom we have the nourishing kalo, for inspiration. It is much more productive and appropriate to think of our oral literature as a kalo makua, a parent kalo, that is rooted and fed by ‘āina, with our written literature and, now, other introduced forms of media and performance as ‘ohā, or offshoots of the original stalk. After harvesting the kalo for its lau (leaves) and ‘i‘o (corm), the crown of the ‘i‘o and the lower hā (stalks) form the huli (sett), which is planted for further cultivation over and over. In this way, all kalo may also continue to live on in new plantings. Our literature also continues to flourish unbroken, with each literary ‘ohā growing alongside the mākua, intertwining their roots, even as they may have had to linger beneath the surface or grow in dark silences, even as they may have been tended over time with different, often introduced tools—they have remained and nourished us over generations nevertheless, and are the products of a continuum of Kanaka Maoli intellectualism."
Displaying 1 of 1 review