Noenoe K. Silva

Serious book. Explains how Hawaiians used newspapers and petitions to resist missionary intentions , influence, killings, destruction, construction. Explains devastating effects of forcing English language upon Hawaiians.

“Trask has characterized Hawaiian historiography as “the West’s view of itself through the degradation of my own past.” (page 2)

“As Ngugi wa Thiong O has explained, “the biggest weapon yielded… by imperialism… is the cultural bomb. The effect of a cultural bomb is to annihilate a people’s belief in their names, in their language, on their environment, in their heritage of struggle, in their unity, in their capacities and ultimately in themselves.” (page 2)

“Ka Hoku o ka Pakipika (1861-1863) shocked the missionary establishment when those they had viewed as rather passive objects of their civilizing attentions suddenly transformed themselves into speaking subjects through this newspaper.” (page 10)

“It has been written many times that a young Kanaka Oiwi Oiwi named Opukahaia inspired the U.S. missionaries to come to Hawaii. Along with an even younger man named Hopu, Opukahaia and other Kanaka youths signed on as hands on the whaling and merchant ships that passed through Hawaii nei… He converted to Christianity in 1815 after meeting up with the zealous evangelicals of the growing U.S. mission movement.” (page 30)… (altro)