“This Land Is Your Land, This Land Was My Land”
Abstract
Abstract This chapter focuses on the differences between the representations of ‘āina (land) in the contemporary literature of Hawai‘i, popularly referred to as “local literature.” It argues that there is a distinction between representations of ‘āina in Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) literature and Asian and other settler or “local” literature. The main differences in representation between these two literatures center on how ‘āina and Kanaka Maoli are described and portrayed, as well as the inclusion, use of, and attitudes toward language—‘ōlelo Hawai‘i (Hawaiian language), English, and Hawai‘i Creole English (HCE, commonly referred to as “pidgin”) in particular. These differences in representation exist because Kanaka Maoli and settlers are operating from different cultural paradigms and different language bases.