Imagined Communities reconsidered

Wogan, Peter

doi:10.1177/14634990122228809

“…Moreover, Wogan's (2001) critique also looks at the issue of language. Anderson (2006) argues that nations need a common language and that print culture can be instrumental in the creation of "monoglot mass reading publics" (p. 42).…”

Section: Scholarship From "Kahiki"mentioning

confidence: 99%

I Kahiki ke Ola: In Kahiki there is Life, Ancestral Memories and Migrations in the New Pacific

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<p>While exploring different topics and issues—examining everything from the importance of our Pacific genealogies, to the analysis of Hawaiian language literature, to the power of prophecies and predictions for the future, to the need to be reflexive in the creation of culture, and finally to the act of building a nation—each chapter of this thesis is connected by one shifting concept: Kahiki. Furthermore, they are joined by the idea that there is life to be found there. As an ʻōlelo noʻeau, or a Hawaiian proverb, states, “Aia ke ola i Kahiki,” “Life is in Kahiki”. This adage has served as the foundation of this research and each chapter has been written with the belief that there is life—in the form of reconstructed knowledge, new interpretations, and growing understandings—to be found in Kahiki. Encapsulated in this one term are our ancestral memories of migration. When islanders traveled to different parts of the Pacific region, they maintained knowledge of their homelands. Although the names of these homelands differ throughout the Pacific, the concept is the same: islanders knew that their life in a particular place, a particular group of islands, was dependent on other places and peoples that although out of sight were never completely out of memory. After generations, however, the specificity of these “homelands” was blurred, and one name came to represent the genealogical connection that people shared with other places in the Pacific. What was Pulotu for some, therefore, became Hawaiki for others, and eventually became Kahiki for my ancestors in Hawaiʻi. Thus, Kahiki became a general term for all lands in the region outside of Hawaiʻi, and more importantly, became a way for Hawaiians to explain their existence to themselves. In later generations, however, particularly when people from other parts of the world came to Hawaiʻi, Kahiki became a term used to refer to all lands beyond Hawaiʻi’s shores. This thesis, therefore, studies the life of this one concept through time: looking at it as part of our Pacific genealogies, as presented in oral traditions; examining it as a means of making nationalistic statements, and sometimes, even as a means of justifying colonialism in the nineteenth century; and then exploring contemporary articulations and engagements with Kahiki, particularly in the era following the Hawaiian renaissance, when a group of men on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi built a single-hulled canoe, brining tools, teachers, and knowledge from Kahiki to give new “life” to their people. Studying the way this one concept has shifted through time provides a means of understanding how people in each generation used one term to make sense of their experiences. Furthermore, it gives us the chance to examine our contemporary movements and to reengage with Kahiki in a way that will empower us to do and be more for our people, our region, and the world.</p>

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“…While helpful, however, his work is also a bit problematic. In his reflections on Anderson's book, anthropologist Peter Wogan (2001) argues that Imagined Communities is "premised on a fundamental opposition between print and orality… print is associated with cognition, universalism, monolingualism, and permanent memory, whereas orality is paired up with its opposites: emotion, particularism, multilingualism, and transience" (p. 404). These assumptions about orality and literacy are, according to critics, quite Eurocentric in that they imply that print enables groups of people to conceptualize the nation, whereas orality only inspires emotional attachment to it (p. 405-406).…”

Section: Scholarship From "Kahiki"mentioning

confidence: 99%

I Kahiki ke Ola: In Kahiki there is Life, Ancestral Memories and Migrations in the New Pacific

Case¹

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

<p>While exploring different topics and issues—examining everything from the importance of our Pacific genealogies, to the analysis of Hawaiian language literature, to the power of prophecies and predictions for the future, to the need to be reflexive in the creation of culture, and finally to the act of building a nation—each chapter of this thesis is connected by one shifting concept: Kahiki. Furthermore, they are joined by the idea that there is life to be found there. As an ʻōlelo noʻeau, or a Hawaiian proverb, states, “Aia ke ola i Kahiki,” “Life is in Kahiki”. This adage has served as the foundation of this research and each chapter has been written with the belief that there is life—in the form of reconstructed knowledge, new interpretations, and growing understandings—to be found in Kahiki. Encapsulated in this one term are our ancestral memories of migration. When islanders traveled to different parts of the Pacific region, they maintained knowledge of their homelands. Although the names of these homelands differ throughout the Pacific, the concept is the same: islanders knew that their life in a particular place, a particular group of islands, was dependent on other places and peoples that although out of sight were never completely out of memory. After generations, however, the specificity of these “homelands” was blurred, and one name came to represent the genealogical connection that people shared with other places in the Pacific. What was Pulotu for some, therefore, became Hawaiki for others, and eventually became Kahiki for my ancestors in Hawaiʻi. Thus, Kahiki became a general term for all lands in the region outside of Hawaiʻi, and more importantly, became a way for Hawaiians to explain their existence to themselves. In later generations, however, particularly when people from other parts of the world came to Hawaiʻi, Kahiki became a term used to refer to all lands beyond Hawaiʻi’s shores. This thesis, therefore, studies the life of this one concept through time: looking at it as part of our Pacific genealogies, as presented in oral traditions; examining it as a means of making nationalistic statements, and sometimes, even as a means of justifying colonialism in the nineteenth century; and then exploring contemporary articulations and engagements with Kahiki, particularly in the era following the Hawaiian renaissance, when a group of men on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi built a single-hulled canoe, brining tools, teachers, and knowledge from Kahiki to give new “life” to their people. Studying the way this one concept has shifted through time provides a means of understanding how people in each generation used one term to make sense of their experiences. Furthermore, it gives us the chance to examine our contemporary movements and to reengage with Kahiki in a way that will empower us to do and be more for our people, our region, and the world.</p>

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Imagined Communities Incorporated: Corporate Social Responsibility and Value Creation in a Globalised World

Buckler

¹

2016

CSR, Sustainability, Ethics &Amp; Governance

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Imagined Communities reconsidered

Cited by 19 publications

References 14 publications

I Kahiki ke Ola: In Kahiki there is Life, Ancestral Memories and Migrations in the New Pacific

I Kahiki ke Ola: In Kahiki there is Life, Ancestral Memories and Migrations in the New Pacific

I Kahiki ke Ola: In Kahiki there is Life, Ancestral Memories and Migrations in the New Pacific

Imagined Communities Incorporated: Corporate Social Responsibility and Value Creation in a Globalised World

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