From a Native Daughter - Essay Example

From a Native Daughter From A Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai’i by Haunani-Kay Trask is one of the most fervent and provocative works ever written on the abuse of Native Hawaiian rights, institutional racism, and gender discrimination. In this celebrated collection of seventeen essays, the author Haunani-Kay Trask, a renowned activist, puts forward the compelling case of the indigenous Hawaiians who have been devastated by the dominant culture of the day. One of the most central concerns of the author in this book is to define identity and to preserve local knowledge, and this book remains the authoritative historical account of the Native Hawaiians.

As Shephard (2005) argues, this work “sets the standard for talks in and around the issues of self-determination, blood quantum, federal recognition, and sovereignty amongst Native Hawaiian people. This book is germane in a discussion of citizen empowerment for it is the first one of its kind that discusses both the perceptions of plight and strengths in Hawaii from a variety of perspectives.” (Shephard, 1) Significantly, one of the important chapters of the book, “From a Native Daughter” offers a compelling illustration of the native Hawaiian experience in the historical context of colonialism and the author narrates the story of her people in a persuasive manner.

This chapter remains a crucial essay on the Hawaiian sovereignty movement and it is so convincing that it changes the way one thinks about the land Hawaii and the native Hawaiians. In a reflective exploration of the main substance of the chapter “From a Native Daughter”, it becomes lucid that the author mainly narrates the story of her people which she heard twice as a young girl: from her parents and her teachers. It was about the life of the native Hawaiians that she learned from her ‘ohana’, or family, and it included how the natives fished and planted by the noon, how they shared the fruits of their labor, and honored the unity of their world.

As the author recounts, the native Hawaiians sailed thousands of miles to settle in their sacred islands and flourished abundantly until the arrival of the Whites. Similarly the author was given a detailed education about her native people as part of her education in the school. “At school, I learned that the ‘pagan Hawaiians’ did not read or write, were lustful cannibals, traded in slaves, and could not sing… I learned the first of these stories from speaking with my mother and father.

I learned the second from books. By the time I left for college, the books had won out over my patents, especially since I spent four long years in a missionary boarding school…” (Trask, 113-4) Therefore, Haunani-Kay Trask is mainly concerned with the story of the native Hawaiians in the chapter “From a Native Daughter”, as she learned it from different sources such as family, books and school. Significantly, the author recounts this story in an impassioned and provocative manner which appeals to the readers.

To reflect upon how the author writes in the chapter “From a Native Daughter”, it is essential to maintain that Haunani-Kay Trask writes in an effective and persuasive style which is based on her real-life experience. Significantly, the author convincingly documents the story of her people and her persuasive writing style helps the narrative reach the hearts of the readers. Her first person account of the case of indigenous Hawaiians is presented in the historical context of colonialism and the writer is able to persuade the readers about her point of view.

She makes the distinction between the different types of stories about her people and brings out the authenticity of the story she narrates. “There was the world that we lived in – my ancestors, my family and my people – and then there was the world historians described. This world, they had written, was the truth… But this was not the story my mother told me… None of the historians had ever learned out mother tongue… Historians, I realized, were very like missionaries. They were a part of the colonizing horde.

” (Trask, 114) In this way, Haunani-Kay Trask emphasizes the authenticity and validity of the story of the native Hawaiians as she narrated, and as she learned from her own people. Therefore, the author provides a convincing account of the history of her people in a holistic way of knowing and learning about them. Most remarkably, Haunani-Kay Trask narrates the story of the native Hawaiians as a person who is one among them, and her persuasive style and compelling evidences from the life of her people support her account.

It is important to recognize that the narrator has a greater access to the reality of the people in Hawaii, because she has the experience of living in a divided world for several years. According to her, the historians who wrote about these people were attempting to colonize the mind of the people, while the missionaries and other colonized the spirit of the people. “For so long, more than half my life, I had misunderstood this written record, thinking it described my own people. But my history was nowhere present.

For we had not written … To know my history, I had to put away my books and return to the land.” (Trask, 118) Therefore, it is fundamental to recognize that the author recounts the story of her people from what she learned from the people of the land, rather than what was told about them by the historians. It is in the sincerity and authenticity of these words that one must take interest, when reading the work “From a Native Daughter” by Haunani-Kay Trask. Works Cited Shephard, Daniel W. (Kana). “Book Review: From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai’i by Haunani-Kay Trask.

” The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal. Volume 10. Iss. 1. 2005. P 1. April 09, 2011. . Trask, Haunani-Kay. From A Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai’i. University of Hawaii Press. 1999. P 113-4.