First, some context for this post: I am currently in Hawaii (Waikiki to be exact) with my mom, aunt, and grandparents. The main reason for us being here is because the USC football team is currently playing against University of Hawaii, and I’m just along for the ride, because I mean, am I honestly going to say no to a free trip to Hawaii? So there’s the main reason for this post. Also, in my women studies class fall quarter, we read a few articles on this topic that I am now reminded of. I wish I had them with me so that I could reread them before writing this, but oh well.
But anyway, my point (or what little of one I have): the main, if not whole, appeal of Hawaii’s tourist industry is exploitation of native culture. I mean, yes, there is some fantastic scenery, and the weather is by no means anything to complain about, but vacation in Hawaii is drastically different than vacationing anywhere else in the United States. In Hawaii, you can “get away” and see the exotic, but not have to fear leaving the safe little bubble of the U.S. And once you get here, everything you see is based on consumption of native Hawaiian culture. It starts before you even get here. Hawaiian Airlines has all of their employees decked out in Hawaiian shirts and saying Aloha and Mahalo all over the place. It’s part of the appeal – an “authentic” Hawaii experience. Once here, there are little shops where you can buy Hawaiian shirts, and dresses, and necklaces, and stickers, and shot glasses, and lighters, and pens, and cups, and towels, and the list goes on and on and on.
It begs the question: how much of this is the actual Hawaiian expression of culture, the way they want to portray themselves to the millions of tourists that come visit every year, and how much of it is them putting on a show, smiling and going along with the act because the economy of the state depends on those millions of tourists that come each year to attend Luaus and buy leis and watch people surf. Do the people who live here year round honestly want to spend their lives catering to the whims of people who come here on vacation, or do they do it because that’s just the role they’ve been pushed into because of the years of tourism that has come to define the state.
What I wonder is if Hawaii had stayed independent from the United States would they still have this massive tourism industry that they have now, or would they just be a small island nation (or collection of nations?) that quietly minds their own business and does their own thing without foreign people constantly coming in and out.
I just can’t help but feel, as I walk around and buy in to the appeal of Hawaii that I am contributing to the stifling of a culture that has been molded to fit the needs to those in power to the point where it is no longer an authentic culture, but rather a show for those who can afford to see it. I think that Hawaii is the most obvious example how the United States treats those that are native to it, since when people come to Hawaii they come to see that native culture, rather than when they are at home on the mainland, we mostly try to push Native American issues under the rug and try to ignore them as much as possible. Which is worse off – the culture that is used to entertain tourists, or the one that, for the most part, is ignored entirely.
No comments:
Post a Comment