Rhetorical Vision of the Independent and Sovereign Nation of Hawai'i[1]: A Fantasy Theme Analysis[2]

Tamara: Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science, 2005 by Arsenault, Darin J

ABSTRACT

The rhetorical vision of the Independent Nation of Hawai'i, a sovereignty group seeking independence from the United States, was analyzed via fantasy theme analysis of two artifacts in their website. Spirit, Kupuna, and Lili'uokalani symbolized positive dramatis personae themes; the United States Government and haole invaders represented villains against Native Hawai'ian people. Cultural preservation, political determination, and environmental protection of all Hawai'ian 'aina is deemed paramount for Hawai'ian survival. This study demonstrates that the use of symbolic themes has been developed to persuade the public to support an Independent Nation of Hawai'i, which is a symbolic vision of the future.

INTRODUCTION

Social-scientific researchers have recently begun to focus increasing attention upon the Kanaka Maoli, descendants of the "original" people of Hawai'i, an indigenous culture of just under 10,000 pure-blood members (Blaisdell, 1993), who are prophesied to die out within the next hundred years due to interbreeding with outgroups and decreased blood quanta. Faced with extinction, and reviewing the vast changes that have swept the Hawaiian arena since it was first invaded by Captain James Cook in 1778, many modern Kanaka are angry at Western encroachment and want change (Francia, 1995; Trask, 1993). Indeed, within the Kanaka Maoli has sprouted the Native Hawai'ian sovereignty movement, a collection of grass-roots political organizations with slightly different aims and goals, yet all united under the rubric of making some sort of legal, social, and economic change within the multicultural setting of the Hawai'ian Islands. Proposals for change range from deportation of all foreigners and institution of a Hawai'ian government and economic system to a "state-within-a-state" model such as that utilized by many American Indian tribes today. This study focuses on a group known as the Independent and Sovereign-Nation State of Hawai'i (also referred to as the Independent Nation), whose stance on sovereignty is based upon Native Hawai'ians regaining their culture, lands, and economic freedom, beginning with the expulsion of the United States government and other foreign powers. This organization was selected because their views on sovereignty were extremely polarized, and it was thought that by understanding the symbolic and cultural aspects found within their argumentation, a greater understanding and appreciation for the plight of Native Hawai'ians who have lost their legacy to Westerners can be gained. The aims of this paper are hence threefold, and offer:

1) a brief discussion of the origins of the Independent Nation organization, including their approach to public information-sharing through modern electronic means such as the Internet,

2) descriptive and symbolic dissemination of two Independent Nation publications found within their Internet website: their 1994 speech the Proclamation of the Restoration of the Independence of the Sovereign Nation State of Hawai'i, and the 1995 Hawai'ian Constitution, which is a legal document, through a qualitative methodological approach known as fantasy theme analysis, and

3) exploration of how these documents are persuade the public to participate in supporting an Independent Nation of Hawaii, which is a symbolic vision of the future.

UNDERPINNINGS OF THE MODERN HAWAI'IAN SOVEREIGNTY MOVEMENT

Since 1778, when Captain James Cook of the English Navy was attributed as the first white man to step foot on Hawaiian soil, haoles (foreigners) have wreaked havoc upon the Hawaiian culture by introducing deadly epidemics, dispossessing the indigenous government, and claiming Hawaiian lands for their own (Dudley & Agard, 1993; Trask, 1993). These issues merit discussion because of their impact on modern-day Natives. First, reductions to the Hawai'ian population stem directly from Cook (Kuykendall & Day, 1976, Stannard, 1989): his men brought new diseases with them, such as tuberculosis and syphilis, decimating the population. Subsequent colonization of the Hawaiian islands by steadily increasing numbers of American and British missionaries and business owners, Chinese and Japanese plantation workers, and related kin, did not help increase Native numbers, and pre-Cook contact estimates of 200,000 to 400,000 have decreased to current estimates of just under 10,000 pure-blood quantum (Blaisdell, 1993; Stannard, 1989). This reduction of population has wreaked a social-psychological toll. Blaisdell (1993, p. 116) best summarizes the health status of Native Hawai'ians, noting that these people "continue to have the worst health and socioeconomic indicators of the various ethnic groups in their home islands of [Hawaii]."

Additionally, the foreign encroachment on Hawaiian lands through Westerners' gain of political power has also been devastating to Native Hawai'ians (Francia, 1995; Trask, 1993). On January 17, 1893, Queen Lili'uokalani was forced down from her position by haole businessmen who asserted that she was committing treason against the United States by her drafting of a new Hawaiian Constitution. Her arrest, incarceration, and consequent development of a haole-run government ensured that the already-begun transfer of lands from Native Hawai'ans would continue to benefit savvy foreigners. Of paramount significance here is that the Hawaiian culture had a concept of relation to the land radically different from the Manifest Destiny approach of most haoles. Hawaiians believed that mana, or power, was created by the giving away of land, whereas haoles believed that land was a commodity for profit-gaining. As Hawai'ians gave lands away in generosity the haole businessmen capitalized. Hawai'ians without land were prohibited from gaining political power in the haole-run government. When Hawai'i was declared a state in 1959, the American federal government assumed and regulated a trusteeship of almost half the Hawaiian soil. Pride in ethnic heritage has motivated a great number of Native Hawai'ians to participate in groups oriented toward reclaiming this trusteeship, an area comprised of approximately 1.4 million acres occupied or leased out by the federal government as "trust assets." Of the political groups currently involved toward change in Hawai'i, the Independent and Sovereign Nation-State of Hawai'i has become well known publicly because of its radical measures (Ambrose, 1994; Burlingame, 1995).