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Settler Colonization in Hawaii

When Christopher Columbus left for his quest to reach India in 1492, no one knew that

his trip will result in the creation of A new world order. The world that was formed after the age

of exploration was based on the foundations of exploitation and genocides. Hundreds of old

civilizations in Asia, Africa, and America were conquered by colonial European powers. These

colonial structures were based on the suppression of the indigenous population and the

exploitation of their natural and human resources. The United States itself was founded on the

land snatched by Native American tribes through sheer brutality and force. However, the

European settlers in the United States soon claimed their sovereignty over the land and excluded

both the natives and their European peers from the administrative and social structure of society.

The United States, founded on the principles of liberty, was one of the first countries to raise a

slogan against colonialism. Still, the state itself was accused of committing the same crimes

against Native Americans in their own country. Though the United States is not known for its

colonial ambitions, there are few places like Guam, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii where the United

States did claim its imperialist sovereignty on the cost of local tribes. This paper also aims to

look into American colonialism in Hawaii. The paper is divided into four parts. The first will

provide a brief history of colonization in Hawaii. The second part will discuss the concept of

settler colonialism through a Hawaiian perspective and will also look into its functional
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structures. The third part of the paper will provide examples from literature written on Hawaii’s

settler colonialism while the last will give a conclusion to this paper.

The first European to visit Hawaii was the famous British explorer Captain James Cook.

He visited the island in 1778 and was killed in an encounter with the native tribes after his efforts

to kidnap their king. Soon many explorers and merchants from Spain, Britain, and France started

to visit the place to gain influence over trade. In the coming years, Hawaii became a major

interest of European and American merchants because of its ideal environment for sugarcane

plantation (Haley 24). At the time of United States independence, hundreds of residents of

American Colonies had a commercial interest in Hawaii. This interest increased after the United

States reciprocal agreement with the Indigenous Hawaiian government that created a surge in

American Sugar interests in Hawaii. Soon the influence of these white settlers grew so much that

they formed their own Hawaiian Patriotic League to pressurize the native government. These

non-native settlers rebelled against the king and forced him to sign their constitution in 1887.

King David Kalākaua was disposed of by these white settlers and replaced by his sister

Queen Liliʻuokalani. However, Soon a new organization Committee of Safety was formed by

American support and it that disposed of the Queen in 1893 and claimed sovereignty over the

island (Haley 65). They were supported by the US navy in their attempt and soon the white

settlers started to rule over the island while suppressing the local culture and traditions. This

culture continued much after the annexation of Hawaii in 1898 and its eventual adoption as a

state in 1959. Thus, creating the worst example of settler colonialism and native exploitation in

Hawaii.

To continue the discussion further, we must first understand what settler colonialism is.

Scholars like Veracini (6-8) define this concept as a form of colonialism that aims to replace the
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native population of a colonized territory with a society of settlers. This new society creates its

own cultural, social, and traditional superstructure that slowly diminishes the ancient structure of

native people. Much like all other forms of colonialism, it is based on the foundations of racial

domination and exploitation supported by an imperial authority that favors the settler’s

community. There are multiple ways through which a settler population can replace the native

civilization. This includes: mass genocides like the European settlers used in Australia against

Aborigines, Spread of foreign disease like the Spanish enacted against Inca tribes, Exclusion

from land and greater social framework of society like the Americans settlers did against native

tribes and forced assimilation of indigenous identity into colonial superstructure like The US did

in Hawaii (Snelgrove et al 29). 

Much like any other form of colonialism, settler colonialism is supported and to a certain

extent initiated by a greater imperial power who tends to replace local natives with a much

“superior” race of their kinsmen to exploit the physical, natural and human resource of native

land. The idea of settler colonization can also take a legal cover through which the government

allots land tracts to a certain race or nationality that was previously claimed by the natives. In

this manner, the native population slowly became a second-grade community in their land. These

legal covers were widely used in the USA to colonize lands of Native Americans include the

tribes of Hawaii and Alaska. This colonialism results in two major shifts in local society. First, it

slowly diminishes the native culture and tradition, forcing them to assimilate into the larger

colonial framework designed by the colonial settlers. Secondly, it creates an economical rift

between races and structurally downgrades the native race as compared to the dominant settler

race. South Africa and Sri Lanka are also good examples of these impacts.
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The impact of this settler colonist on native life can be observed through the works of

Betasamosake Simpson. The article depicts how native cultures and practices were replaced by

colonial narrative structures. The experience shared by Nishnaabeg elders shows their struggle to

keep their traditions alive. The Nishanaabeg culture was deeply rooted in the natural landscape

of Hawaii. Land, forests, animals, maintains were not just commodities for them but a part of

their cultural practice, their grounded normativity. However, the colonial infrastructure and

commodified social structure snatch their identity and their normativity form them. In the words

of Simpson himself:

“Colonialism has strangulated grounded normativity. It has attacked and. tried to eliminate or

confine the practice of grounded normativity to the realm of neoliberalism so that it isn’t so

much a way of being in the world but a quaint cultural difference that makes one interesting.

When colonialism could not eliminate grounded normativity, it tried to contain it so that it exists

only to the degree that it does not impede land acquisition, settlement, and resource extraction”

(Simpson, 21)

This created dispossession amongst the local population from their culture of grounded

normatively. This dispossession is also discussed by Tuck et al (2012). He claims that the worst

effect of colonialism was its destruction of indigenous culture and tradition through forced

assimilation policies. The traditional Hawaiian society was based on freedom and self-

determination. Hierarchy and coercion that result in power structures were not a part of local

culture but a gift of coloislaism. Notions of gender and sexuality were fluid and people were

expected to form their normative attitude freely through self-reflection. However, this all was

changed by the colonial settlers through the imposition of their own culture through creation of a

superstructure based on racism and colonial values of exploitation (Tuck et al 6).

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In conclusion, we can understand the structural dominance of settlers on natives in Hawaii

through this paper. This dominance has resulted in the decay of local culture and civilization.

However, this colonial hierarchy is changing rapidly in recent years. Since the official American

apology for the deposition of Hawaiian government in 1893, many efforts have been done by

locals and the government to create a revival of local culture and the state’s policy has been

shifting towards the promotion of the native traditions and values rather than assimilating them

into US culture.
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References

Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake. As we have always done: Indigenous freedom through

radical resistance. U of Minnesota Press, 2017.

Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Yang. "Decolonization is not a metaphor." Decolonization:

Indigeneity, education & society 1.1 (2012).

Haley, James L. Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii. St. Martin's Press, 2014.

Veracini, Lorenzo. "Introducing: Settler colonial studies." Settler colonial studies 1.1 (2011): 1-12.

Snelgrove, Corey, Rita Kaur Dhamoon, and Jeff Corntassel. "Unsettling settler colonialism: The discourse

and politics of settlers, and solidarity with Indigenous nations." Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education &

Society 3.2 (2014).