resortrastasandhotelhula

"Resort Rastas and Hotel Hula" is an NYU masters thesis project by Elizabeth Morlock and Ornesha Reagan that examines the impact of anthrotourism (both positive and negative) on indigenous cultures and explores ways for these populations to capitalize on the interest market in their cultural otherness without sacrificing their identity for the bottom line.

Lei making class, Royal Hawaiian Center

: “Hawaiian culture is tied directly to the land. It’s what makes Hawaiians so rich on the inside. I believe you have to be on the islands to practice Hawaiian culture because the land is so much a part of it.” -Manu Boyd

: “The most kapu (sacred) instrument was the ‘uli’uli and none of our hula dancers used it without a short pule (prayer) chant. Why is the ‘uli’uli regarded so? It was the only feathered instrument. Feathers were used in the olden days to cover the images of the gods and for royalty. A commoner did not dare to wear feathers. Our god had several bird symbols, hence our regard for the feathered instrument, the ‘uli’uli, as being an ali’i instrument.” -Mary Kawena Pukui, 1950

: “We learn about the beauty of our world through hula.” -Lokomaika’i, kumu hula at the Bishop Museum (pictured)

: With Auntie Lokomaika’i, kumu hula at the Bishop Museum

: “Our cultural programming is geared to the beginner. It’s about getting the beginners to be a part of it, to understand our Hawai’i. What can they really get from a short lesson? It awakens their interest in us. We are so diverse and there are many aspects of our culture, but you have to whet their apetite first and then they will want to learn more on their own.” -Puake’ala Mann, kumu hula at the Royal Hawaiian Center (pictured here, in yellow)

: “With the increasing influence of western societies, our younger generations were no longer taught the cultural values. You have a hard time understanding aloha mentally until you can understand it with your heart; it has to come from within.” -Manu Boyd

: Kuhi no ka lima, hele no ka maka. Where the hands move, there let the eyes follow. – A rule in hula

: “No need make up fancy stories, we got pretty good ones already.” -Performer at The Royal Hawaiian Center

: “Most of the people in Hawai’i today weren’t born here and they don’t have the inherent connection to the heritage. If they can find it though they really embrace it.” –Manu Boyd

: “When every island had its own ruling chiefs, hula dancing was practiced by chiefs and commoners, by old and young. Dancers of one locality vied with those of another and many localities gained in reputation for having excellent dancers. A good hula master was always found in the court of his chief. In the olden days, the musicians or ho’opa’a were men and never women, but the dancers were both men and women. To become a ho’opa’a it was necessary to learn not only the mele but also the innumerable prayers. It was the ho’opa’a who eventually became kumu or teachers of the hula.” -Mary Kawena Pukui, 1942

: “At another time in Hawai’i, the ‘aina nutured the people, and the Hawaiians had a deep attachment to it. Each place had a name, history, and distinct personality. Modern man has forgotten their names and significance.” -Kapulani Landgraf, Hawaiian artist and activist. This mountain, made famous in photographs of Waikiki Beach, was originally known as Le’ahi (meaning fin of a tuna) by the natives, until the Europeans arrived and renamed it Diamond Head for the sand that they thought sparkled like diamonds.

: or alternatively the Hollywood version of an alluring and scantily clad island female, you are among an alarming majority of the global population that identifies this and similar sacred Hawaiian traditions with the kitschy imitations made famous in films from the Elvis era.

: A visit to the Hawai’i State Art Museum

: One of the inspirations for our project was exploring the utility of art for promoting social consciousness in anthrotourism and how artistic expression can be a means of reclaiming identity.

: A visit to the Bishop Museum, an excellent collection of Hawaiian artefacts and display of ancient Hawaiian traditions and history.

: “Kawena planted and nourished the seeds of Hawaiian wisdom in what became her own yard, that of the house of her beloved ali’i Pauahi, Bishop Museum. She has left the fruits so that they may be picked by us, her Hawaiian children, and by all those who truly love Hawai’i.” -Eleanor Lilihana-a-I Williamson, 1983. Eleanor worked with Mary Pukui to record Hawai’i’s oral histories.

: Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop established the Kamahameha Schools for the education of native Hawaiians and is the namesake of this museum.

: “The mind is like a tree that should have its roots deep in the ground if it is to stand firm and unshaken. The greater our understanding of past and distant cultures the deeper our roots and the stronger our tree will grow.” -David Malo

: “Makahana ka ike- through doing comes understanding, knowledge and wisdom. You have to experience hula to know it within yourself.” -Lokomaika’i

: “His values came from the sea. He walked through a western world, but he was always essentially Hawaiian.” -Kenneth Francis Brown, 1989, on Duke Kahanamoku as the original Hawaiian ambassador

: “The Polynesian Cultural Center gives us a stage to perform our culture and share the artistic aspect of our culture through song and dance. Here we are raised to dance and this is the best way to share our culture in a compact way. The Samoa we protray here is more for show and there is a compromise of culture, but we have to tweak it for the show. PCC does a good job of keeping it traditional and modest while contemporary.” -Fepuleai Lucky Edwards, American Samoan dancer at the Polynesian Cultural Center

: “Some shows mimic the real hula as entertainment and this is not necessarily a bad thing. They are not meant to be the bearers of tradition. It is ok to use tradition purely for entertainment; the entertainment shows have their own place too.” -Manu Boyd

: “Some shows mimic the real hula as entertainment and this is not necessarily a bad thing. They are not meant to be the bearers of tradition. It is ok to use tradition purely for entertainment; the entertainment shows have their own place too.” -Manu Boyd

: “It is true that no one of the common people could mortgage or sell his land, but the wisdom of this limitation is abundantly proved by the homeless condition of the Hawaiians at the present day.” -Queen Lili’uokalani, Hawai’i’s Story by Hawai’i’s Queen

: Rediscovering Hawaiian heritage through art

: “Hawaiian culture and tradition, including hula, is tied to the land and for this reason we are always rich on the inside regardless of economic realities.” -Manu Boyd

: “Hula is much more than just the physical dance itself. To perform the steps flawlessly is not enough, hula must be felt in your heart. There must be something going on on the inside and it will translate in the dance. Your audience will know it.” –Manu Boyd

: “Our culture is in song and dance and so the easiest way back into the culture was through the native song and dance. Even if it was vulgar to some people, it was our history and culture and that’s how we passed it on.”- A kumu hula

: “The Hawaiian Renaissance has reversed years of cultural decline; it has created a new kind of Hawaiian consciousness; it has inspired greater pride in being Hawaiian; it has led to bold and imaginative ways of reasserting our identity; it has led to a new political awareness.” -George S. Kanahele, 1979

: “Today’s interest is greater for the ancient than the modern or hapa haole hula. The more traditional the dance, the keener the interest. And because of this, I think the Hawaiians have finally retaken hula from the tourists.” -George S. Kanahele- native Hawaiian author, historian and activist, 1979

: “Our culture is in song and dance and so the easiest way back into the culture was through the native song and dance. Even if it was vulgar to some people, it was our history and culture and that’s how we passed it on.”- A kumu hula

: “The hula is Hawai’i. The hula is the history of our country. The hula is a story itself if it’s done right. And the hula, to me, is the foundation of life. It teaches us how to live, how to be, is the ability to create one’s inner feelings and no one else’s.” – Uncle George Na’ope, one of the founders of the Merrie Monarch hula festival on Big Island

: “Hula is a gift from the gods; it helps us remember what our story is.” -A kumu hula

: “Modern hula is strictly for entertainment. The hula is no longer religious, but it can still help pass on the traditions and culture by preserving the dance movements.” -A kumu hula

: “Hula is now worldwide- there are more hula dancers in Japan than in Hawai’i! Hula is being preserved in other cultures because tourism helped spread the culture. The business side of the tourism industry has exploited our hula, but if you take away the lights and the pageantry, you still have dancers doing Polynesian dances and so the culture is being preserved and passed on in some way.” -Manu Boyd

: “Hula is the language of the heart and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people.” -King David (Kâwika) La`amea Kalâkaua

: Pieces from Ron Artis’s Surfboard Gallery

: “…wisdom is both a gift from the land and a burden so that though [it is] a privilege, responsibilities are its constant companion.” -Faauuga Logovae, Samoan philosopher, 1982

: Surfers from around the world flock to the north shore of O’ahu for the winter swells.

: Winter waves at Waimea Bay, a powerful break on O’ahu’s north shore, famed for its big wave winter surf.

: Keahu

: Umi

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