ABSTRACT:
In contradiction to the myth that Native Hawaiians passively accepted the erosion of their culture and the loss of their nation, this book documents many forms of native resistance. These include adopting newspaper publication as a form of resistance to culture and language loss, insistence on performance of native dance, writing and publication of traditional stories and songs, and organized political resistance to colonial takeovers.
In 1897, as a white oligarchy made plans to allow the United States to annex Hawai'i, native Hawaiians organized a massive petition drive to protest. Ninety-five percent of the native population signed the petition, causing the annexation treat to fail in the U.S. Senate. The book draws on little-used Hawaiian language texts, primarily newspapers produced in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century to produce a critique of colonial historiography.
