Can you be Hawaiian, but not be of the Hawaiian race??? (transplants, schools)

[VanHa]

I often hear the term "Hawaiian" being used. But what is being Hawaiian really. Are you describing a race of people or are you describing a culture and traditions.

If you believe that being Hawaiian describes a race, then the Hawaiian race is doomed to disappear over time with multi race marriages etc. But if you think that being Hawaiian actually describe a culture and the culture is accepting of new comers, then surely it will never die.

So I ask...what is being "Hawaiian"...is it a race or is it a culture?

[KoaKine]

Aloha,
Of course this thread was ostes by you Van you always post good questions.

I think its both. Of course your Hawaiian if you have a blood line . but lets say you were born there from parents that weren't born there your Hawaiian just like you a Californian dosnt matter what race your are. Then there's the naturalized Hawaiian like if you have lived there a long time or marrie a Hawaiian . lol I always teased my DW because she moved to Calie met me we got married and call her a naturelizd Calie girl. (was during the time in Calie when everyone have the yellow diamonds in there windows that said native Calie )

But for the most part I think you need the blood just my opinion tho

[hotzcatz]

Generally "Hawaiian" is of the land, culture or blood and "Local" is everything else pertaining to here. But, that is just a general statement, there is a lot of flexibility in it's use.

A lot of the exact meaning of the term to what it is used in regard to. "Hawaiian" Airlines doesn't have anything to do with either the culture or blood, "Hawaiian" food is the food eaten by the traditional Hawaiian folks such as kalua pig, poi, laulau, haupia, etc. (I really don't know how lomi salmon got on the Hawaiian menu, though since they wouldn't have had much access to salmon) In regards to food, "local" food is also what Hawaiians in general eat now, but it is also a much more current menu. Chili spaghetti and Spam musubi would be a "local" foods, not a "Hawaiian" foods, although I don't think they are served in many places other than here.

You can be born in Hawaii but not have the blood, so technically, you are a local "insert ethnic variety here". As a Vermonter would say "just because your cat had kittens in the oven would you call them biscuits?"

If you have Hawaiian blood, you have different opportunities available to you, such as going to Kamehameha schools and Hawaiian homelands. It is somewhat similar yet different from native North American rights on the mainland.

[Mar0]

No, I think to be described as Hawaiian you need the blood. I especially reserve this term for those who have Hawaiian blood as a means of respect. Like you said, you aren't going to Kam school if you don't have Hawaiian blood. Yes the bloodline is not as strong as it used to be, but there are still many people (especially here on Kauai, with all of the Niihau transplants) who have a dominance of hawaiian blood.

If you are not of hawaiian descent, I would refer to you as being local. You aren't gonna call a portagee/japanese/filipino/haole a hawaiian, even if he/she lived here all their life. A lot of tourists would refer to these ethnic groups as hawaiian, but they don't know better. I think that a local japanese still has many different traditions than hawaiians. In the future, when the bloodline is not as strong, more of the other ethnic groups will be mixed with the hawaiian blood and maybe then you will refer to them as being Hawaiian. But I think now, the hawaiian blood is still strong enough not to allow other ethnic groups to be called Hawaiian- just local.

[wati]

I'll summon it all up in categories.

1. Kanaka Maoli - person of ancestry
2. Hawaiian - person of blood
3. Part-Hawaiian - person of blood percentage
4. Hawaiian at Heart - person not of blood but of relationship with culture and its people.

Will Hawaiians be gone?. To me when the aloha spirit is gone then the Hawaiians are gone and until then we are just as strong today as our tutu was back in the taro patch days.

[breeze823]

This is an interesting discussion and I've never pondered it before,lol...I would think being Hawaiian would be a cultural thing/blood lines, but then really why? I mean, any state you live in, you become a Californian, Virginian, etc...that has nothing to do with blood lines so why would Hawaii be different? If you live there, you would be Hawaiian, but then most of us would think "you don't look Hawaiian" lol...things that make you go hmmmm

[wati]

Originally Posted by breeze823

This is an interesting discussion and I've never pondered it before,lol...I would think being Hawaiian would be a cultural thing/blood lines, but then really why? I mean, any state you live in, you become a Californian, Virginian, etc...that has nothing to do with blood lines so why would Hawaii be different? If you live there, you would be Hawaiian, but then most of us would think "you don't look Hawaiian" lol...things that make you go hmmmm

Maybe since Hawaii was a Royal Kingdom at one time that Hawaiians would be considered royalty in their mother land ... lol things that make you go hmmm.

[VanHa]

Thank you for your kind words Koa! I pose this question because I am truly interested in seeking what people feel/think about this issue of being Hawaiian....being selfish for a second....I would love to be "Hawaiian"...not having a blood line...makes me sad in a way since I could never be a true Hawaiian if that was the requirement....

[wati]

You may not be Hawaiian of blood but you can still become Hawaiian. Hawaiian in music, in hula, in cultural practices and or in language. Hawaiian is not all of blood its of taste. One cannot become a Hawaiian just living here for so amount of years and be called Hawaiian, one need to manifest themselves into the culture .. into the HA - the breathe of life. Feeling the mana and spirit alike be as one with the land and of the people. Only then will you become Hawaiian. So you still get chance.

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by wati

I'll summon it all up in categories.

1. Kanaka Maoli - person of ancestry
2. Hawaiian - person of blood
3. Part-Hawaiian - person of blood percentage
4. Hawaiian at Heart - person not of blood but of relationship with culture and its people.

Will Hawaiians be gone?. To me when the aloha spirit is gone then the Hawaiians are gone and until then we are just as strong today as our tutu was back in the taro patch days.

Here are a couple of links that explain the definitions of "Hawaiian", "Native Hawaiian", "kānaka maoli", "Part-Hawaiian", etc. a little more precisely....
Native Hawaiian Data Book 1998: Appendix (http://www.oha.org/databook/databook1996_1998/appendix.98.html - broken link)
Native Hawaiians - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As long as hypodescent and hyperdescent exist, it's unlikely that "Hawaiians" will die out.