Voices from Kalaupapa
Davenport uses the foundational background of Kalaupapa to draw us a picture of social context and how it relates to the life of her...
The Dark Underbelly of Plantation Literature
The life of a plantation worker in Hawaiʻi was the life of a slave. Sugar plantations thrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Before...
Power Diminishes Choice
During plantation times, the luna was the highest ranking position for a non-haole person, a position held with great honor and...
Pidgin and Humor: Shark Dialogues vs. Reality
It is difficult to properly imitate a dialect on paper – to do so requires a lot of research and a fierceness to remain true to its...
The Power of the ʻĀina: Chants of the Land
In her text “Within the Circle of the Sea” Katherine Luomala explores the connection between Polynesian chants and the origins of myths...
Nature as a Unifying Thread in Kiana Davenport's Shark Dialogues
Kiana Davenport’s Shark Dialogues begins with an introduction to a Hawaiian Kahuna, Pono, and her four granddaughters, “hybrids of the...