Ancestral Places: Understanding Kanaka Geographies (First

Ancestral Places: Understanding Kanaka Geographies (First Peoples: New Directions in Indigenous Studies)

Ancestral Places explores the deep connections that ancestral Kanaka (Native Hawaiians) enjoyed with their environment. It honors the moâ€˜olelo (historical accounts) of the ancestral places of our kupuna (ancestors), and reveals how these moâ€˜olelo and our relationships with the â€˜aina (land) inform a Kanaka sense of place.

Katrina-Ann R. Kapaâ€˜anaokalaokeola Nakoa Oliveira elucidates a Kanaka geography and provides contemporary scholars with insights regarding traditional cultureâ€”including the ways in which Kanaka utilize cartographic performances to map our ancestral places and retain our moâ€˜olelo, such as reciting creation accounts, utilizing nuances embedded in language, and dancing hula.

A Kanaka by birth, a kumu â€˜olelo Hawaiâ€˜i (language teacher) by profession, and a geographer by training, Oliveiraâ€™s interests intersect at the boundary where words and place-making meet her ancestral land. Thus, Ancestral Places imbues the theoretical with sensual practice. The bookâ€™s language moves fluidly between Hawaiian and English, terms are nimbly defined, and the work of the field is embodied: geographic layers are enacted within the text, new understandings createdâ€”not just among lexica, but amidst illustrations, charts, terms, and poetry. Â

In Ancestral Places, Oliveira reasserts both the validity of ancestral knowledge systems and their impact in modernity. Her discussion of Kanaka geographies encompasses the entire archipelago, offering a new framework in Kanaka epistemology.
Country USA
Manufacturer Oregon State University Press
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2014-05-01
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Oregon State University Press
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2014-05-01
Format	Kindle eBook

Ancestral Places: Understanding Kanaka Geographies (First Peoples: New Directions in Indigenous Studies)

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