Think/Write Questions

1. If you agree with Dening that historians play an interpretive role to make history relevant to the present, then what is "good" history? Is "good" history that which is written with a clearly identifiable political agenda?

2. Do you think the history of Hawai‘i is more accurately written if it has a Native voice, either a Native Hawaiian historian or by reconstructing metaphors of a past culture as Kame‘eleihiwa does?

3. How much emphasis do you think should be placed on Hawaiian oral tradition in our attempts to understand the origins of the Hawaiians?

4. For those who are doing Service Learning. Why did you choose SL?  What do you hope to learn from this experience?

5. Do you think words like "exploitation" and "degradation" accurately describe the impact of prehistoric Hawaiians on their environment?

6. Kame‘eleihiwa argues that the women of ancient Hawai‘i were quite powerful and the ‘Aikapu does not prove that women were inferior to men. Do you agree with the explanation she gives? Why or why not?

7. Contrast Malo's and Kame‘eleihiwa's explanations of the relationship between ali‘i and maka‘äinana. Why do you think their descriptions are somewhat different?

8. Do you think the story of ‘Umi helps us to truly understand ancient Hawai‘i, especially considering that he was the exception and not the rule?

9. Why do you think Captain Cook is considered a hero to the Western world? Do you think he was a hero? Explain your answer.











10. For those who participated in the Kaniakapupu service project on Sunday (10/4). What did you learn about the site, the volunteers who maintain it, and Hawaiian history by helping at Kamehameha III's summer home in Nu'uanu?

11. Do you think Kamehameha was able to unite the Hawaiian islands because he used foreign weapons and advisors? Is this the only way to explain his success?

12. Do you think Stannard's pre-contact population estimate has been used in the political debates of modern Hawai‘i? Why do you think the numbers are so important to Hawaiian activists today?

13. Do you think the Hawaiian people of the 1820s and 1830s were exploited by foreigners? What part did the Hawaiians play in the moral struggles of that time period?

14. For those who participated in the Kualoa Ranch service project on Saturday (10/17). How did your service experience in Ka'a'awa Valley help you better understand Hawaiian history and/or yourself?

15. For those who are doing Service Learning. Describe your duties and responsibilities at your SL site. What new information are you learning and/or skills are you acquiring from this SL experience?

16. To answer this question you need to read two articles posted on Laulima: "Observations of the First Japanese in Hawaii" and "...the Journal of Toketa." Do you think the descriptions of the Hawaiian way of life provided by a shipwrecked Japanese sailor and a Tahitian missionary are more accurate than those provided by Americans and Europeans who were passing through?

17. Do you see any value in using Kame'eleihiwa's metaphorical approach to understand Ka'ahumanu's conversion?

18. To answer this question you need to read two articles posted on Laulima: "...the Journal of Toketa" and "Hawaiian Missionaries in the Marquesas." How important was a shared Polynesian culture in the missionary efforts of Tahitians in Hawaii and Hawaiians in the Marquesas? Do you think these islanders were more effective than American and European missionaries?

19. Do you think Malo's prophecy has been fulfilled? Do you believe that it is inevitable for smaller countries to be "gobbled up" by larger countries?

20. Do you think the missionaries who recommended capitalism & private ownership of land truly did so because they believed it would benefit the Hawaiian people? Or do you think their advice reveals an ultimately self-serving agenda?

21. For those who participated in the loko i'a (fishpond) service project on Saturday (11/14). Mai maka'u i ka hana; maka'u i ka moloa. (Don't be afraid of work; be afraid of being lazy.) Ma ka hana ka ‘ike. (In working one learns.) How did your work at Waikalua Loko help you understand either or both of these 'olelo no'eau?