Abstract
Mele Lāhui (Hawaiian songs of political resistance and national resilience) emerged as a clear literary form in 1895, when hundreds of Hawaiian poets created mele to support the reinstatement of the Hawaiian Kingdom after its overthrow in 1893. This body of work provided our people with not only an unparalleled source of inspiration and love for our land, but also a blueprint for future compositions that similarly challenge imperial intervention in our obligations to that land and to each other. My paper will survey this genre as it has changed over time – from its emergence in 1895, through the Hawaiian Renaissance in the 1970s and 80s, and its resurgence in 2019 during Hawaiian resistance to the construction of a Thirty-Meter Telescope on Maunakea. At each point, poets have stretched and remolded the form and function of Mele Lāhui to meet the character of their time and their struggle in the most effective way. This study culminates in the examination of a single mele, composed in 2019, which pushes the genre – and with it, traditional concepts of mele (Hawaiian poetry) itself – perhaps to its limit.
Presenters
Kahikina de SilvaAssociate Professor, Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Literature, Poetry, Poetry of Resistance, Idenitity and Difference, Indigenous Studies
