From "Squatter" to Homesteader
Being Hawaiian in an American City
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2262894 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Judith Schachter (Carnegie Mellon University) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 23-47 |
| Publication date | 2016-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | City & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0893-0465 • E-ISSN: 1548-744X |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ciso.12072 |
| OpenAlex | W2344198233 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
Papakōlea, a neighborhood at the edge of downtown Honolulu, was granted legal status as a Hawaiian Homestead in 1934. The urban homestead represented an important departure from the 1921 Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, a congressional act whose purpose was to "rehabilitate" Native Hawaiians by returning them to the land. My paper examines the steps through which residents of a city neighborhood turned to their advantage an act emphasizing the rural basis of authentic Native Hawaiian identity. I argue that from the 1920s until the present, activists have drawn on interpretations ofbeing Hawaiianas a primary tactic for claiming rights to urban land in an American legal context. In conclusion, I suggest that Papakōlea exemplifies the role that legal protection of a social space, the essence of the homestead idea beyond its ill-fated rural model, can play in establishing and preserving indigenous identities, community engagement, and the activism of an urban population. [Indigeneity, Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, Honolulu, social activism
Asian American and Pacific Histories · Latin American and Latino Studies · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy
| Highly cited | No |
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