Ancestral Places

About this book

Ancestral Places explores the deep connections that ancestral Kanaka (Native Hawaiians) enjoyed with their environment. It honors the mo'olelo (historical accounts) of the ancestral places of their kupuna (ancestors), and reveals how these mo'olelo and their relationships with the 'aina (land) inform a Kanaka sense of place. Katrina-Ann R. Kapa'anaokalaokeola Nakoa Oliveira elucidates a Kanaka geography and provides contemporary scholars with insights regarding ancestral culture- including the ways in which Kanaka utilize cartographic performances to map their ancestral places and retain their mo'olelo. Examples of this include reciting creation accounts, employing nuances embedded in language, and dancing hula. A Kanaka by birth, a kumu 'olelo Hawai'i (language teacher) by profession, and a geographer by training, Oliveira's interests intersect at the boundary where words and place-making meet her ancestral land- Thus, Ancestral Places imbues the theoretical with sensual practice. The book's language moves fluidly between Hawaiian and English, terms are nimbly defined, and the work of the field is embodied: geographic layers are enacted within the text and new understandings are created-not just among lexica, but amidst illustrations, charts, terms, and poetry. In Ancestral Places, Oliveira reasserts the validity of ancestral knowledge systems and their impact in modernity. Her discussion offers a new framework in Kanaka epistemology.