Rethinking the Native Hawaiian Past

This innovative study challenges scholars to rethink standard approaches to the study of Hawai'ian history by proposing a Native-centered historiography based on concepts derived from the Hawai'ian language and oral traditions. Historical approaches to traditional Hawai'i have tended to focus on the Ali'i Nui (high chiefs) as leaders of a stratified society, and on the decisions they made in the context of the arrival of the haole (foreigners). This study traces the history of the Kaukau Ali'i,