Indigenous Religious Traditions in Five Minutes - Molly Bassett
52. Do Hawaiian religious practices have any political significance?
Indigenous Religious Traditions in Five Minutes - Molly Bassett
Marie Alohalani Brown [+]
University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa
Marie Alohalani Brown, a Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Hawaiian), is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa, specialist in Hawaiian religion. Her research is primarily carried out in 19th- and 20th-century Hawaiian-language materials. Her works include Facing the Spears of Change: The Life and Legacy of John Papa ʻĪʻī, which won the biennial Palapala Poʻokela Award for the best book on Hawaiian language, culture, and history (2016, 2017); The Penguin Book of Mermaids (2019) for which she is co-editor along with Cristina Bacchilega; and Ka Poʻe Moʻo Akua: Hawaiian Reptilian Deities (forthcoming, 2022).
Description
Hawaiian religious practices have a multi-nuanced political significance when considered through the lens of power. This point is evidenced by the traditional understanding of human-deities power relations, the Hawaiian word for that which in English is termed religion, and past and present Hawaiian religious practices.