Respecting the Romanticized Culture

By Kalea Ponce

“Students, let’s go around the room and say one fun fact about ourselves.” On my first day of high school, every student went around the room and talked about their dogs, siblings, hobbies… 

When it came to my turn, I exclaimed, “A fun fact about me is that I am part Hawaiian and my mother’s side of the family still lives in the Hawaiian islands.”

When my turn had passed, the blond girl next to me grabbed my wrists, looked me in the eye, and asked “OMG do you like, surf with dolphins and stuff?” 

I typically brush off the ignorant assumptions that I surf wearing a hula [huo-la] skirt once others learn I am Hawaiian; however, these assumptions promote fake Hawai’i culture to appease Non-Hawaiian and tourist expectations. The miseducation of the Hawaiian culture has a continuity of ignorance to that leads Non-Hawaiians to culturally appropriate Hawai’i while promoting tourism that hurts both the local Hawaiian economy and Ahupuaʻa [ah-who-pu-ah-a] or Hawaiian land. 

I learned about the history of Hawaii through my family before I was taught from the white history textbooks. My grandparents described the way Hawai’i [hah-vuh-ye] was annexed similar to that of a horror story. Fancy American white men came to the distant island in the middle of the Pacific looking for new land and people to exploit, as they said. I took AP US History because I wanted to learn more about American Imperialism which was the overarching period that included the annexation of Hawai’i. To my disappointment, Hawaiian annexation was skimmed over in a second: the US wanted to take over Hawai’i for its strategic military location and Hawai’i didn’t have the resources to put up a fight. No mention of the native people displaced. No mention of the culture lost. My peers in the class took notes on this one narrative and quickly moved on. Still, when Hawai’i came up in conversations anywhere else, Non-Hawaiians would speak of the beaches and grass skirts, sounding nothing like the horror story I listened to growing up. 

A year passed and I went into my sophomore year of high school. My predominantly white school was having a spirit week and one of the themes was “Hawaiian Day.” The flyer said, “Bring your grass skirts and coconut bras!!” I was furious. I stormed into our school’s event planning club, GRR, and ranted about how “Hawaiian Day” is not respectful to the rich Hawaiian culture [that exists today]. The members of GRR earnestly replied that they were not aware of the disrespect they were permitting with “Hawaiian Day.” I wasn’t surprised. After taking APUSH [in a majority white high school] I knew my peers were not educated about Hawai’i’s history nor culture. But still, it was disappointing to see that when my peers thought of Hawai’i apparel, the first thing they thought of was coconut bras. 

The connotation between Hawai’i and the coconut bras my peers make is a result of Hawaii’s commercial tourism. Consider The Hilton Hawaiian Village resort, one of the most popular resorts on Oahu, Hawai’i. Why is it so popular? Not only is Hilton Hawaiian located in downtown Waikiki Honolulu, but it also is one of the only hotels to have a private man-made beach for its guests. After these unique amenities, there are more events included, popular to commercial hotels: Hula shows on Saturday mornings, surfing lessons on Thursdays, fire dancing Friday nights, and, to top it, a tiki torch lighting with fireworks every Saturday night. When a tourist comes to a resort, such as the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the popular activities provided by the resort give a false notion that tiki torches and fire dancing is all Hawai’i has to offer. It is not to say that a tourist themself is ignorant to Hawaiian culture, but the commercial advertisements, targeted to tourists, explain why the girl next to me in school asked,  “OMG do you like, surf with dolphins and stuff?” and why my peers at school have the connotation of Hawai’i and coconut bras. Because of resorts like Hilton Hawaiian Village a Nonhawaiian visitor can be misinformed about the depth of culture in Hawai’i causing a shallow understanding of Hawaiian culture.

The cycle of miseducation in Hawai’i caused tourism to exploit Hawai’i’s natural beauty while still increasing Hawai’i sales tax revenue. Hawai’i’s natural beauty has been romanticized by commercial tourism and as a result Marisa Yamane, the director of Hawai’i Tourism Authority, has found there is a constant increase in tourism in Hawai’i. She states that 10,424,995 total visitors came to Hawai’i in 2019. To put that in perspective, Hawai’i’s permanent residential population is 1.416 million, meaning over 740% of Hawai’i’s residential population came to visit Hawai’i. In 2019 alone, Hawai’i experienced a 5.4% growth in tourism revenue. My Hawaiian-Chinese mother always told me, “Never mind the rich ignorant white folk. They can just go to Hawai’i themselves, spend money on a nice hotel, and the sales tax will help your grandparents that still live on the islands.” In a way, she’s right. David Y. Ige of Hawaii Tourism Authority explains that because of the rich tourism industry, Hawai’i generates $16.78 billion in visitor spending with $1.96 billion generated in tax revenue in an average year. Therefore there is more funding to help the residents of Hawai’i: better roads, more state jobs, and more funding to public schools. So it’s okay that people like my no-Hawaiian classmates romanticize Hawaii because then more people visit and it helps the local economy. Tourism is good, right? 

Yes and no. 

Hawai’i has become economically dependent on tourism making it financially unstable as tourism hurts the local  Ahupuaʻa [ah-who-pu-ah-a] or Hawaiian land. Although the economy has seen growth because of tourism, Hawaii is susceptible to external economic forces. For example, if Hawai’i’s airport providers chose to strike, it would decrease tourism revenue. Additionally, tourism has negative environmental impacts on Hawai’i. Typically speaking, resorts have large beaches and golf courses that receive little to no rainfall. Hawaii court case maintains that in a week of staying a tourist uses 40% more water than a resident. The use of water in needless resort amenities is a waste of resources because Hawai’i’s geography is already vulnerable to drought. Nonhawaiians continue to promote this double-edged sword of tourism without acknowledging the environmental or economic impact to residents. If tourism stops, there will be more water security for residents, but, sales tax will rise, making Hawai’i a more expensive place to live. Miseducated tourists think they are coming to Hawaii for a small vacation without considering the repercussions of their visit to local people.

Despite the lack of public knowledge of the Hawaiian culture, locals still have their own modern Hawaiian identity different than the stereotypes tourism creates. For example, observe the tongue of local residents for instance.  Hawai’i has its own form of slang called pidgin [pij-eon], an English-based creole many nonhawaiian do not know about. Within the Hawaiian culture, there is a sense of pride in speaking pidgin because local residents of Hawai’i find this blend of the Hawaiian and English languages to be a product of culture they can call their own without it being appropriated by tourism. 

“Brush that sand off your okole [oh-koh-le]” Aunty Suz exclaimed. Okole means butt in both Pidgin and Hawaiian languages.

“Howzit, we went to Alani’s and they brok’ da mout! De got the best Kaulua [kah-loo-ah] pig!” Uncle Ben shouted. “ Hey, how are you doing? We went to the restaurant Alani and they have the best food. They have the best Kaulua pig!” 

Any tourist would have no idea what Uncle Ben meant if he were to talk to them in pidgin and they may find him to be insane. An uneducated tourist would be baffled to find that Hawai’i’s isolation has led Hawai’i to have a strong sense of identity unknown to most mainlanders. The culture of Hawai’i is completely ignored by the general population and is merely recognized for its natural scenery, not to say the scenery isn’t stunning but the local social culture of Hawai’i brings out the true essence of the islands.

As a multiracial Hawaiian living in Chicago, I try to incorporate pidgin vocabulary when conversing with my peers as much as possible. Every school history fair, every project, every opportunity I had to grow and share my own ideas growing up, I circulated my topic around Hawai’i: trying to do what history teachers should take more seriously.  To stop tourism’s exploitation of Hawaiian land there needs to be an education for tourists about the true and false notions about Hawai’i. The romanticizing of Hawaiian culture leads to a larger dependency on tourism that takes resources away from local residents of Hawai’i. Non-Hawaiians should be educated about rich local and native Hawaiian culture even if they do not have an opportunity to visit and the correction of miseducation begins in the classroom. 

 Looking back to my first day of high school, I should have grabbed that blond girl’s wrists, looked her in the eye, and blurted, “No. I do not surf playing the ukulele [oo-ku-le-le]. My life is connected to the islands, and you are disrespecting that land with your assumptions! It is not my job to educate you about the cultural appropriation of Hawai’i so please do me a favor and educate yourself.” And with that, I should have excused myself and walked away.