Ancestors before Us

Is it sacred or secular? Was it used for ritual purposes in the past? How would it be used for ritual purposes in the present? Such are the questions raised by a recent dispute over a Hawaiian object (ki'i). The dispute erupted when a group of Hawaiian representatives discovered that the Roger Williams Museum intended to sell the object in question. Hawaiians sought repatriation of the ki'i under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), and the dispute was heard twice by the NAGPRA Review Committee. This article explores the dispute and analyzes discourses of "tradition" utilized by both parties. Primary attention is paid to Hawaiians' claims, particularly the way in which they linked aspects of cultural history to present conflicts concerning land issues and sovereignty. Engaging recent literature concerning the theorization of tradition in the Pacific, the article concludes by arguing that Hawaiian claims about the ki'i, though seemingly spurious at points, express the suppleness of tradition in ways that move beyond the mere invention of tradition, provoking us to contemplate traditional sources of novelty

Demise · Extraterritoriality · Native Hawaiians · Repatriation · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

• Facing Down the Representation of An Impossibility

  Greg Johnson•Culture and Religion•2005

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• Naturally There

  Greg Johnson•History of Religions•2004

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• Narrative Remains

  Open Access•Greg Johnson•Comparative Studies in Society…•2005

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• We Are Guaranteed Freedom

  Tisa Wenger•History of Religions•2005

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• Anthropological suspicion, public interest and NAGPRA

  Open Access•Kathleen S Fine‐dare, Kathleen S Fine-Dare•Journal of Social Archaeology•2005

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• Rethinking the Native Hawaiian Past

  Kanalu G Terry Young•Rethinking the Native Hawaiian Past•2014

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• Cultural Invention and the Dilemma of Authenticity

  Open Access•Jocelyn Linnekin•American Anthropologist•1991

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