Paradoxes of Hawaiian sovereignty : land, sex, and the colonial politics of state nationalism /

Many native Hawaiians seek self-determination, but the paths to that goal are fiercely debated. Some Hawaiians prefer that the Hawaiian Kingdom to be restored and that they be recognized as Hawaiian nationals rather than US citizens. Others prefer that they be recognized as Indigenous people under a Native Hawaiian governing entity, with "internal self-determination" in a relationship with the US and the state of Hawai'i. Kauanui (American studies and anthropology, Wesleyan Univ.), a native Hawaiian and a participant in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, sees many problematic contradictions and paradoxes in this debate and subjects them to close analysis. These problems include, for example, the hierarchy implicit in a Hawaiian monarchy, which places elites over the people; the positioning of indigeneity within a nation-state; the conflict, in the West, between concepts of state and sovereignty; the role of colonialism and its settler colonialism variant, the privatization of land; and the influence of Christianity on biopolitics regarding gender, sexuality, and coverture. Preferring a non--state-centered approach, Kauanui opts for, as she writes in the conclusion, "decolonizing relations to land, gender, and sexuality," a process that strengthens cultural practices for the renewal and well-being of the Hawaiian people. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Franklin Ng, emeritus, California State University, Fresno