A huge thank you to Professor Gonzalez for traveling form Hawaii to Northwestern and taking the time to talk about her book "A Decolonial Guidebook to Hawaii."
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Olivia Krevoy’s Tweets
A:The stories are about approaching a place from a new perspective. How would you enter Waikiki, a huge tourist attraction,differently if you knew the history of occupation. In terms of physical comfort, some of the work and tours are not comfortable #decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Q: I was thinking about the connection between physical comfort and mental comfort and the ways that tourists are supposed to feel. Is there mental and physical unsettling in Hawaii?
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
A:Decolonization is a lot of things. In the book decolonization means that we return sovereignty to Hawaii. The kingdom of Hawaii had Asian settler loyal to the queen before the U.S. took over. It already existed as a cosmopolitan place in the Pacific #decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Q: Decolonization has a lot of different meanings, what does it mean in this particular context?
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
A: There is somebody who will be writing about the Northern Islands and what it means for him to be working in a place that is not possible or meant to visit. There are a few pieces in the book that talk about the way that the water flows through land #decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Topics to follow
Sign up to get Tweets about the Topics you follow in your Home timeline.
Carousel
Q: I would love to hear you expand on thinking about land and mapping. Specifically because tourism studies focus on land, but Hawaii is geographically different. Can you talk about how water plays in here, and is there decolonial tours in the water?
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Now Professor Gonzalez is leading a Q and A with the audience.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
"The aim of the book is to contribute to the decolonization of Hawaii and the removing of the U.S. military that abuse and occupy Hawaii. It is a humbling offering and wants to remind people that our project is about Ea," Professor Gonzalez said. #decolonialguidebooktohawaii
“Ea is based on the experiences of people on the land,relationships forged through the process of remembering and caring for wahi pana, storied places… Ea is an active state of being..Ea cannot be achieved" Noelani Goodyear-Ka'opua, "A Nation Rising"
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Part Four: Hawai’i Beyond the Big Eight/New Mappings
This explores the importance of the boundaries of Hawaii.
Hawaiians have voyaged past the eight main islands and the guidebook will challenge the idea that Hawaiian's are fixed in place and time.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Part three: Huaka’i: Tours for Transformation.
This explores geographic and social issues on the island and provides new ways of looking at the history and struggles that shape Hawaii. It is “not meant to be a leisurely walk on the beach,” but is instead a demanding journey.
Professor Gonzalez is the Chair of Undergraduate Research Opportunities Council at the University of Hawai’I. Among other things, she is an export on Tourism and Militarism in Hawai’i and the Philippines and her knowledge and passion is contagious.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Kosana and Tomita's postcards unsettle common notions of paradise that tourists hold to be true. The postcards are an active refusal of both a’ole and aloha.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Karen Kosasa and Stan Tomita “Whose Paradise” is a didactic detour project focused on explaining the juxtaposition between Hawaii as Paradise and the reality of Hawaii’s history. These beautiful postcards have text on the back that provides the ugly history of overthrow in Hawaii
Part Two: Hana Lima: Decolonial Representations & Projects.
“Hana Lima” means “to work with a hand” and signals the importance of needing muscle power to restore and re establish relationships between people and places.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
How does the average Hawaiian fit into the description of the new Kaka’ako Makai with all of the new high rises?
Why have native people been excluded from the new developments?
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
There are two terms that capture the essence of the book: Aloha (hello) and A'ole (no, never). This represents the need to tread with caution.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
In Hawaii, there are certain places that are off limits to tourists and outsiders. Thus, the book should not be construed as a blanket invitation because not everyone who reads this book will be invited and welcomed to the places described.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
In Hawaii, "People here struggle from colonialism, high costs of living, effects of changing climate, tourism, and militarism," said Professor Gonzalez.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
We begin with the understanding that Hawaii is not the paradise it is portrayed to be; it is a place with present day occupation and militarism. Readers must learn from and continue to the works of sovereignty in Hawaii.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
This guide is not a book that will help its reader discover paradise, it is mean to disturb this idea and invite the reader outside of the tourist gaze. It is meant to "unsettle" readers.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Over the course of the last year and a half, Professor Gonzalez has been working on a project that has evolved into the Guidebook of the decolonization in Hawaii, rather than a Guidebook to Hawaii. It minimizes the tourist aspect.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
"If you want to help in the struggle of decolonization, don't come," said Professor Gonzalez.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Guidebooks in Hawaii are used to attract tourists and portray Hawaii as a "myth of Paradise" that is created to attract visitors. However, the guidebook does not mention information about Hawaii's history.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
In 2014, tourists visits to Hawaii outnumbered local residents. Militarism and tourism shapes concerns of the states, "It is an economy and set of practices that offers to smooth over a history of colonialism and its legacies," Gonzales said.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Professor Gonzalez's lecture will focus on questioning our notions of hospitality and reciprocity.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
1
Natasha Sharma introducing Professor Vernadette Gonzalez, who has had a very busy day and has already hosted a workshop at Northwestern.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Natasha Sharma is introducing Professor Gonzalez whose speech is part of a larger Northwestern symposium going on in the spring.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Professor Gonzalez flew in this morning from Hawaii for her lecture.
Earlier today, she was interviewed for NPR!
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
I will be live tweeting Professor Vernadette Gonzalez Lecture: A Decolonial Guidebook to Hawaii at 5 CST.
#decolonialguidebooktohawaii
Missing the sun :(
The Victoria's Fashion Show provides women with an unrealistic definition of what is beautiful #AtMedill
Will you still eat at Chipotle after they closed many stores because of a possible link to an E-Coli breakout? Do you believe it? #AtMedill