David A. Chang. The World and All the Things upon It

In The World and All the Things upon It: Native Hawaiian Geographies of Exploration, David A. Chang recovers the history and outlook of indigenous Hawaiians or Kānakas, with whom he identifies himself. The title, which exemplifies the book’s central point, is taken from a serialized geography of the world by Kānaka teacher and intellectual J. H. Kānepu’u, which was published in a Hawaiian-language newspaper in 1877 (103). Long before the Hawaiian Islands were “discovered” in 1778 by English sea captain James Cook, the Kānakas knew who they were, just as they still do. It is outsiders who have taken so long to figure it out. Far too many of us still take for granted the United States’ overthrow of an independent people, which led to the Hawaiian Islands being annexed in 1898, rather than seeking to understand indigenous Hawaiians as active participants in the course of events. Kānakas not only acted but also recorded their actions and those of their predecessors. An American missionary presence early on meant that “by the late 1830s, most Kānaka were literate” (ix). Chang’s fluency in the Hawaiian language and his incorporation of Hawaiian-language materials into the text is innovative. While a small handful of scholars, such as Noenoe K. Silva, emphasize Native voices, more histories need to be written from the Kānaka perspective.

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