W ade G raham . Braided Waters

Molokai—fifth largest of the Hawaiian Islands—occupies paradoxically both center and periphery. Geographically, its middle position puts Molokai at the center of the archipelago, yet for centuries the thirty-eight-mile long island has been culturally and economically peripheral. In Braided Waters: Environment and Society in Molokai, Hawaiʻi, Wade Graham addresses this paradox and attempts to understand how and why Molokai has persisted in this marginality in spite of repeated efforts by outsiders (malihini) to drag it into the mainstream of Hawaiian economic development. The answer is partly environmental, rooted in unique resource limitations and challenges, but also partly cultural, in deep-seated practices of resistance that trace back to pre-European days and continue to the present. Molokai pule oʻo—“Molokai [of the] potent prayers”—a well-known saying referring to the island’s traditional penchant for sorcery, is frequently invoked even today. In certain respects, Graham has written a sweeping environmental and economic...

Archaeology · Archipelago · Mainstream · Political science · Resource (disambiguation) · TRACE (psycholinguistics) · Computer Science · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies