Hawaiian Literature Resources (HAW261 & HWST270): BOOKS: Polynesia and Place

Ancestral Places explores the deep connections that ancestral Kānaka (Native Hawaiians) enjoyed with their environment. It honors the moʻolelo (historical accounts) of the ancestral places of their kupuna (ancestors), and reveals how these moʻolelo and their relationships with the ʻāina (land) inform a Kanaka sense of place. Oliveira elucidates a Kanaka geography and provides contemporary scholars with insights regarding ancestral culture-- including the ways in which Kanaka utilize cartographic performances to map their ancestral places and retain their moʻolelo. Examples of this include reciting creation accounts, employing nuances embedded in language, and dancing hula. A Kanaka by birth, a kumu ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi language teacher) by profession, and a geographer by training, Olivera's interests intersect at the boundary where words and place-making meet her ancestral land. Thus, Ancestral Places imbues the theoretical with sensual practice.