In The Power of the Steel-tipped Pen Noenoe K. Silva reconstructs the indigenous intellectual history of a culture where—using Western standards—none is presumed to exist. Silva examines the work of two lesser-known Hawaiian writers—Joseph Ho‘ona‘auao Kanepu‘u (1824–ca. 1885) and Joseph Moku‘ohai Poepoe (1852–1913)—to show how the rich intellectual history preserved in Hawaiian-language newspapers is key to understanding Native Hawaiian epistemology and ontology. In their newspaper articles, geographical surveys, biographies, historical narratives, translations, literatures, political and economic analyses, and poetic works, Kanepu‘u and Poepoe created a record of Hawaiian cultural history and thought in order to transmit ancestral knowledge to future generations. Celebrating indigenous intellectual agency in the midst of US imperialism, The Power of the Steel-tipped Pen is a call for the further restoration of native Hawaiian intellectual history to help ground contemporary Hawaiian thought, culture, and governance.
In The Power of the Steel-tipped Pen Noenoe K. Silva reconstructs the indigenous intellectual history of a culture where—using Western standards—none is presumed to exist. Silva examines the work of two lesser-known Hawaiian writers—Joseph Ho‘ona‘auao Kanepu‘u (1824–ca. 1885) and Joseph Moku‘ohai Poepoe (1852–1913)—to show how the rich intellectual history preserved in Hawaiian-language newspapers is key to understanding Native Hawaiian epistemology and ontology. In their newspaper articles, geographical surveys, biographies, historical narratives, translations, literatures, political and economic analyses, and poetic works, Kanepu‘u and Poepoe created a record of Hawaiian cultural history and thought in order to transmit ancestral knowledge to future generations. Celebrating indigenous intellectual agency in the midst of US imperialism, The Power of the Steel-tipped Pen is a call for the further restoration of native Hawaiian intellectual history to help ground contemporary Hawaiian thought, culture, and governance.
The Power of the Steel-tipped Pen: Reconstructing Native Hawaiian Intellectual History
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Overview
In The Power of the Steel-tipped Pen Noenoe K. Silva reconstructs the indigenous intellectual history of a culture where—using Western standards—none is presumed to exist. Silva examines the work of two lesser-known Hawaiian writers—Joseph Ho‘ona‘auao Kanepu‘u (1824–ca. 1885) and Joseph Moku‘ohai Poepoe (1852–1913)—to show how the rich intellectual history preserved in Hawaiian-language newspapers is key to understanding Native Hawaiian epistemology and ontology. In their newspaper articles, geographical surveys, biographies, historical narratives, translations, literatures, political and economic analyses, and poetic works, Kanepu‘u and Poepoe created a record of Hawaiian cultural history and thought in order to transmit ancestral knowledge to future generations. Celebrating indigenous intellectual agency in the midst of US imperialism, The Power of the Steel-tipped Pen is a call for the further restoration of native Hawaiian intellectual history to help ground contemporary Hawaiian thought, culture, and governance.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780822363682 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Duke University Press Books |
| Publication date: | 05/12/2017 |
| Pages: | 288 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d) |
About the Author
Noenoe K. Silva is Professor of Indigenous Politics at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa and author of Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism, also published by Duke University Press.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o is the author of numerous works of fiction, poetry, plays, and criticism, most recently, Birth of a Dream Weaver.
Read an Excerpt
The Power of the Steel-Tipped Pen
Reconstructing Native Hawaiian Intellectual History
By Noenoe K. Silva
Duke University Press
Copyright © 2017 Duke University PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8223-6368-2
CHAPTER 1
Joseph Ho'ona'auao Kanepu'u
He mea maikai ma ka hoiliili ana i ka Hae Hawaii, mai ka helu 1 a hiki i ka pau ana o na pepa 52, a e lawe aku ma ka Hale paipalapala ma Kawaiahao ia Samuela Russell nana e hana a paa. ... Makehewa ka poe lawe a hoolei, a haehae, a kiola, ua like ia me ka mea lalau i kana dala iloko o ka pakeke, a hoolei kuleana ole, me he pupule la.
Ina i paa i ka humuia ka Hae Hawaii a me ka Elele Hawaii paha, a hiki i ka wa e hoihoi ai oe e heluhelu, e kamailio pu no oe me ko hoa aloha au i ike ole ai e noho ana ma kahi loihi aku mai ou aku la, me he mea la e no[ho] pu ana olua ia wa.
* * *
In gathering the copies of Ka Hae Hawaii, from the first issue, number one, to the end at fifty-two, it is good to take them to the printer Samuel Russell at Kawaiaha'o who will bind them ... People who take the paper and toss it, tear it up, and dispose of it are like people who grab the money in their pocket, and throw it with no reason, as if they were crazy.
If the copies of Ka Hae Hawaii and Ka Elele Hawaii are bound, when you return to read them, it will be as if you are conversing with a friend you haven't seen who lives far away from you, as if you were both in the same place at that time.
* * *
JOSEPH H. KANEPU'U, "E Malama i ka Nupepa"
Joseph Ho'ona'auao Kanepu'u was born around 1824 in Kalawao on the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Molokai. His father was Aberahama Ka'alihi, but no other names in his mo'oku'auhau are known. It is known, however, that sometime in Kanepu'u's childhood, his family moved to Halawa, Molokai. Kanepu'u first entered school at the age of twelve at the mission school at Kalua'aha, near Halawa. Several of his classmates went on to the Lahainaluna secondary school on Maui, but he was not among them. As an adult, he moved to O'ahu, where, as he describes it, he received a teacher's certification in December 1853 "mamuli o ka hoopii ana o na makua o Maunalua, e lilo au i kumukula malaila" (because the parents in Maunalua [O'ahu] petitioned that I become a schoolteacher there).
From the 1850s until the 1880s, Kanepu'u was a regular contributor to the Hawaiian-language newspapers and one of the most ferocious and consistent defenders of the papers and of Hawaiian language, culture, and indigenous knowledge. He was a complex personality who also defended Christianity and wrote that Hawai'i's people needed education and that some native practices were of "ke ano pouli" or a "dark" or "unenlightened" nature. He was active as a schoolteacher and occasional political commentator, and he was the mea kakau (writer) of Molokai versions of important mo'olelo and mele.
Kanepu'u chronicled the establishment of and struggle over the first Kanaka Maoli–controlled newspaper, Ka Hoku o ka Pakipika (1861–1863). He also criticized the editors of that paper for cutting short the mele in Kapihenui's "He Mooolelo no Hiiakaikapoliopele," as mentioned in the introduction. His dedication to the value of the mo'olelo of our ancestors and to the generations of Kanaka Hawai'i in the future is striking. It was as if Kanepu'u looked directly into the future, into the next century, anticipating my own and younger generations of Hawaiian scholars and our enduring interest in and need for both the literature produced by his generation and the orature from all the generations before him. This orientation to the world and to his writing is what I have come to call mo'oku'auhau consciousness. He was among the first generation to take the oral traditions and create literature from them. His care for future generations extended beyond writing; he also foresaw that print copies of nupepa needed to be preserved, or the carefully written and printed words could still disappear. In the same letter in which he advised his readers to have their copies bound, he wrote,
No ka mea, eia ia'u kekahi olelo paa, "o na nupepa a pau i pai ia ma ka olelo Hawaii, a i lawe ia e a'u mai loko mai o na aoao a pau, e hiki no ia'u ke humu Buke, a e hooili ia no, no na hooilina. Aole au e haalele i kela nupepa, keia nupepa olelo Hawaii, a hiki i ko'u la e make ai."
* * *
Because, I have taken this vow: "all the newspapers published in the Hawaiian language, which I have subscribed to from all sides [political and/or religious], I can take and bind into books, and they will be bequeathed to heirs. I will not quit any Hawaiian-language newspaper until the day I die."
It is because of Kanepu'u's and others' commitment to the newspapers and their preservation that we are able to recover thoughts and themes from the literature of our ancestors. We are, in a sense, just continuing the work that he envisioned so long ago. He made sure that the connection to his ancestors and descendants (heirs) was made on his part, and other scholars and I are attempting to ensure a connection between his generation and our descendants. In this way, this work is a genealogy, a mo'oku'auhau of writing and scholarship. It seems crucial that the generations of Hawaiians following my own know that they have a long intellectual tradition.
Mo'oku'auhau consciousness also means a connection to 'aina and implies both aloha 'aina and malama 'aina (see the introduction). Kanepu'u exemplifies mo'oku'auhau consciousness in this way as well, as he documents indigenous Hawaiian geography, uses indigenous Hawaiian time markers such as month and moon night names, and incorporates place names as well as natural forms in his metaphors.
Some of Kanepu'u's writings are significant and others are perhaps less so. In this chapter, I review some of his more significant writings with as much context as seems appropriate. His more significant writings can be grouped into the following categories: journalistic reporting; advice and opinions, including two long serialized essays, entitled "Ke Ano o ka Wa Ui o ke Kanaka a me na Mea a Pau e Hiki mai ana ia Ia mahope Ona" (The nature of young adulthood and all the things that will happen to a person afterward) and "Ka Hana Kupono e Ao aku ai na Makua i ka Lakou Poe Keiki" (The proper behavior that parents should teach their children); history, especially the history of the Hawaiian newspapers; geography; ka'ao (legends) and mele; and short essays on various topics, such as the decrease of numbers of Kanaka and the value of using the indigenous counting system.
In these letters, essays, and mo'olelo, Kanepu'u promoted the teaching of Hawaiian language, literature, and indigenous knowledge along with the imported curriculum of the schools. The project of schooling, at least in part, was meant to "civilize" natives by replacing indigenous knowledge with what the missionaries and others believed to be the superior knowledge and values of Europe and the haole United States. Kanepu'u's intent to promote the value of indigenous knowledge is especially evident in the mele, the geographies, the short essay on counting in Hawaiian, his fictionalized autobiography, the two ka'ao from the oral tradition, and some of his unpublished essays for the Board of Education. Moreover, Kanepu'u served as a reporter of maka'ainana concerns and as a recorder of particular Molokai traditions. The following review of his works is organized by the newspapers in which they appeared and in roughly chronological order.
Ka Hae Hawaii (The Hawaiian Flag), 1856–1861
Kanepu'u made several important contributions to the newspaper Ka Hae Hawaii, published between 1856 and December 1861. Ka Hae Hawaii was the government newspaper under the direction and serving the purposes of the Papa Ho'ona'auao (the Department of Public Instruction). Richard Armstrong (Limaikaika), a former Calvinist missionary, was head of the department. According to Helen Chapin, author of Shaping History: The Role of Newspapers in Hawai'i, Armstrong controlled the content of the newspaper. James Fuller, also affiliated with the Calvinist mission or the 'Ahahui 'Euanelio Hawai'i (AEH, Hawaiian Evangelical Association), served as the editor. Until just before Limaikaika's death in September 1860, the paper was filled with laws, farming news, information about the value of farming, advice to parents, puritanical admonitions concerning everyday behavior, and some evangelizing. In addition, subscribers from all over the islands sent in news and opinions, kanikau (mourning and condolence mele), and lists of names of varieties of kalo and other Hawaiian-language terms. Kanaka missionaries in Nukuhiva, Fatuhiva, and Micronesia contributed accounts of their travels and work.
As Limaikaika's death approached, the number of mele in the paper greatly increased, and the first mo'olelo ka'ao and shorter mo'olelo appeared. The first two mo'olelo ku'una were very short renditions of part of the Hi'iakaikapoliopele cycle by B. Kalaihauola (a.k.a. B. K. Hauola). Traditional mele were sent in by Samuel Kamakau, B. R. Kalama, L. S. Kalama, and others, including Kanepu'u. Solomona Kawaili'ula (usually published as S. K.) Kuapu'u contributed three short mo'olelo that were explanations of the names of various lands. Kuapu'u shortly thereafter wrote the first long mo'olelo, the story of Paka'a and Kuapaka'a, serialized in ten parts (and much later made famous by Moses Nakuina and eventually translated into English as The Wind Gourd of La'amaomao). As soon as the mo'olelo by Kalaihauola was finished, Ka Hae Hawaii began publishing "He Moolelo no Kamapuaa" by G. W. Kahiolo, the first full-length mo'olelo ku'una. Thus, Ka Hae Hawaii, just before its demise, became a rich site for the publication of traditional knowledge. All of the mo'olelo just mentioned are replete with expressions of aloha 'aina; place, wind, and rain names; and 'olelo no'eau. Armstrong's son Samuel (also working at the paper) ran an ad in July 1860 asking for people to send in mele "no ka pae ana mai o Papa ma ... a me na mele no ke Kaiakahinalii, a me na Mele e hoike i ka manao o na kanaka kahiko no ka La, a me ka Mahina, a me na Hoku" (about the arrival of Papa and family ... mele concerning Kaiakahinali'i [Pele's mother and maker of tsunamis], and mele that show the ideas of the people of old concerning the sun, moon, and stars).
The publication of these mo'olelo at that time is perhaps indicative of a loosening of the grip of missionary prohibition on Hawaiian knowledge, although missionaries continued to decry any such loosening. Many if not most schoolteachers by this time were Hawaiian, and they expressed interest in collecting the mo'olelo, mele, and other forms of knowledge from the oral traditions. In July 1860, J. Ka'elemakule wrote an account of a four-day-long meeting of teachers in Hilo that was held in a church and open to the public. The teachers shared their knowledge of science and other subjects, and the major topic seemed to be mo'olelo ku'una. Ka'elemakule reported that Hewahewa told the story of Kana; Naia told a Maui story; Makuakane recounted the names of the nights of the month (moon phases); and others told of the 'ai kapu (restricted eating system), the voyaging vessels of old, and so on. At the end, Ka'elemakule wrote,
Ua maikai keia mau mooolelo i haiia, i mea e maopopo ai ka oiaio, a me ka oiaio ole. He hana maikai keia i hapaiia e ka Luna Hoomalu, i mea e paa'i ka mooolelo kahiko o Hawaii nei, i ka poe hou.
* * *
These mo'olelo that were told were good, as a way to understand what is true and what is not. This was a good thing taken up by the President, in order to preserve the traditional mo'olelo of Hawai'i for new people [younger Kanaka].
Kanepu'u was part of this first cadre of writers who took the traditional knowledge and transformed it into written mele and mo'olelo in Ka Hae Hawaii. The following section details his contributions, which are particularly significant because he was born and raised on Molokai.
THE EARLY MELE
Both of Kanepu'u's early mele, published in Ka Hae Hawaii, are associated with the mo'olelo of Kana and Niheu, which he himself did not write until seven years later. They are "He Mele no ke Kauo ana i na Waa o Kana ia Kauwelieli ma" (A mele about the hauling of the double-hulled wa'a of Kana, named Kauwelieli) and "Ka Moeuhane a Moi" (Moi's dream). It is evident from these mele that Kanepu'u must have been raised as one who was entrusted with the oral traditions. It is likely that he had memorized these mele and the mo'olelo of Kana. Although he does not say specifically who taught him the mo'olelo, someone must have taught him because there are no other printed versions of the mo'olelo or these mele prior to his, except a very short mo'olelo in response to one of his mele, and the later versions differ significantly.
Mary Kawena Pukui, the twentieth century's foremost scholar of Hawaiian language and culture and coauthor of the Hawaiian Dictionary, explains how mo'olelo were taught and how their teaching was restricted:
Hawaiians regarded the lore of their ancestors as sacred and guarded it jealously. Such subjects were not talked about lightly nor too freely. Those who were versed in poetry (mele), storytelling (ha'i kaao), genealogy (mookuauhau) and oratory (kakaolelo) found themselves in the courts of the chiefs. Before tellers of stories would relate the tales of the gods or of the chiefs who ranked next to the gods in sacredness, they first took note of whom they were relating the stories to and the significance of the occasion. A person who was likely to repeat all he heard was not trusted and so he did not learn very much.
Grandparents who were versed in the lore of their people and their homeland picked out the grandchildren with the most retentive minds to teach. Should a young person wish to learn from an old one other than his own grandparent, he asked permission to become a pupil and if accepted, became a member of that household. There had to be quiet during the story telling period so that the mind would not be distracted. Strict attention had to be paid to every word of the narrative. No unnecessary movement was permitted except to change the sitting position when uncomfortable. The call of nature must be attended to before the story telling began, for it was kapu to attend to such matters in the middle of a tale. Tales learned were not repeated casually without thinking to whom and where one spoke.
Perhaps Kanepu'u learned his mele and mo'olelo in similar conditions. Kanepu'u's illustrious contemporary, Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau, was trained at Lahainaluna in interviewing and in writing history but since Kanepu'u was not, it is more likely that Kanepu'u drew on his own knowledge from his 'ohana's (family's) traditions for his mo'olelo and mele. The most well-known versions of the Kana story, to which these mele belong, appear in Abraham Fornander's collection (published much later by the Bishop Museum), and they are substantially different from Kanepu'u's versions.
Kanepu'u provided this introduction summarizing the context for the mele:
Eia malalo iho ke Mele (oia hoi ka pule ma ka olelo Hawaii) no ke kauo ana i na waa o Kana, oia hoi kekahi kanaka kaulana o ka wa kahiko. He waa e kii ai i ka makuahine o lakou ia Hinalealua, ka wahine manuahi a Hakalanileo, a ka makuakane o lakou. Lawe ia hoi e ke 'lii o kekahi puu kaulana ma Molokai, oia hoi o "Haupukele." O Kapepekauila [sic] ke koa o ia puu ikaika [a] o Keolewa ke Alii. A ma ia lawe ana, uwe kanikau ko lakou makuakane, a hele e ninau i na keiki a pau, aole nae lakou i aa e hele e kaua me Kapepeekauila, o Niheukolohe ke keiki hope loa ka mea i aa e hele e kaua. A no ka pono ole o ka hana ana, kokua pu kona kupunawahine o Uli, a makaukau na mea a pau, a no ka hiki ole ke kauo i kai, hapai ae la o Kana i keia Mele.
* * *
Below is the Mele (called a prayer in Hawaiian) about the hauling of the wa'a [voyaging vessels] of Kana, a famous person of the past. This was a wa'a for the purpose of fetching their mother, Hinalealua, the second spouse of Hakalanileo, their father. She had been taken by the ali'i of a famous hill called Ha'upukele. Kapepe'ekauila was the warrior of that strongly held hill and Keolewa was the ali'i. When she was taken, their father wept in grief, and went to ask all the children, but they would not dare to go to war with Kapepe'ekauila; Niheukolohe, the youngest child, was the one who dared to go to war. And because his attempt was not pono [complete or correct or right], his grandmother Uli assisted, until everything was prepared, and when the wa'a could not be hauled to the sea, Kana took up this Mele.
Kanepu'u does not explain that though Kana is also a child of Hakalanileo, he was not known to the family, because he was born as a kaula (cord or rope) and raised by Uli in the uplands, away from the family. He became a kupua, a sort of magical being who could stretch his body like a rope to great heights. Kanepu'u must have assumed that most readers were somewhat familiar with the story and thus knew who Kana was.
(Continues...)
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Table of Contents
Foreword / Ngugi wa Thiong‘o ix
Acknowlegments xi
"Ke Au Hawai’i" by Larry Kauanoe Kimura xiii
Introduction 1
Part I. Joseph Ho‘ona‘auao Kanepu‘u
1. Joseph Ho‘onaauao Kanepu‘u 21
2. Selected Literary Works of Joseph Kanepu‘u 53
3. Kanaka Geography and Aloha ‘Aina 82
Part II. Joseph Moku‘ohai Poepoe
4. Joseph Moku‘ohai Poepoe 105
5. Singing (to) the ‘Aina 150
6. Mo‘olelo Hawai‘i Kahiko 174
Conclusion 211
Appendix A: Kanepu‘u"s Selected Bibliography 215
Appendix B: Poepoe Selected Bibliography 217
Notes 221
Glossary 241
Bibliography 247
Index 263