What is Local?
Local is a culture and when used in Hawaii its referring to some deep stuff that makes people feel like home as well as make people feel what they represent as well as who they are and what brings them together. Local is a word that has a lot of use and many variables that made it change from generation to generation to mean more and more things as it was used by people talking with the term. This is no different from any other word that has had a lot of use and commonly happens with words that reach a large amount of people to have many ways of using it, until it hits a pattern of how it is used. Then people go on to use it the way it is best known and then the rest is looking into the words history through stories from people, newspapers, websites, and how its usage is involved when talking about local. The way people use local is important to look at to understand how it was used and how it is being used. Everchanging usage of Local Word that has gone through so many changes is hard to pin point. The thoughts come of: (1) Local Identity, (2) Traits of a Recognized Local, (3) Family Lineage of Hawaii, (4) A Marketing Term for Products, (5) and Time Era definition. All of these have to do with the way that the term is used, so with so many variations there is no firm singular way to use the word Local. These changes in use over time are especially important as it can explain the status of a word as it slowly changes and has additional ways of being used by people who live in Hawaii as well as overseas. The word Local had gone through term Amelioration as the word would rise in status of meaning, since Local used to mean something negative due to after the war Local stigmatization by the U.S. Military. It would also mean a lower-status person, one is who was not well educated since many couldn't afford to go attend school as it was a luxury. It would later on become a advertising term meaning authentic, or lifestyle outlook and community, as well as a melting pot of the plantation. These changes did not happen in a day and the terms definitions would overlap and in some cases mean something almost opposite as it would start to co-exist with its older meanings as it wasn't always a positive to be local. Falling Out of use After the War After the War the usage of local would be spoken in the homes and around friends who were identified as locals, so usually asking where a person graduated or if they were born as Kama'aina would be a way to figure out if someone could be local. There is no sure fire way to find out how local is someone is, since there were many who would grow up from parents who had a bad experience in being local during the war and that would have them teaching their children to not act local, speak local, be involved in local issues, and not identify with a local ohana mulit-generational surnames. Much of it would ride on the local perception to describe how the word local would be used. Local Culture Distinction from the Mainland Local in word usage is also used when showing the understanding and acceptance that Hawaii is originally the home of the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) as a way to differentiate Kanaka Culture from Local Culture and Haole Culture. In this case it has also been used to judge people as a way of gatekeeping and having someone plead to be approved of being a local. In this case it would be if someone is correctly local or incorrectly local, but that is assuming that everyone's definition of local is the same. While there are definitely things to look out for in the local lifestyle the word usage is different for each persons experiences and this idea of local can drastically be different depending on which island is referring to the term. In Reference to Local Language In the past it has been used to describe Hawaii Pidgin English in Local Language (2015 official language). But since then it has been used in literature, comedy, media, political, journalism, cooking, arts, and by Hawaiianologists for many years. It has also been used to describe the local culture that thrives on the mainland from those who left Hawaii or practicing ways of life based on how people in Hawaii live. Local Culture has tendencies to reflect the National Culture of Hawaii in a way that is communicated through a mixture of people who are there to properly communicate and have something shared from one another and that would be Hawaii. Explaining of Local Allies of Hawaiianologists There are transplants who research what is local and what is Hawaiian in culture prior to trying to assimilate. To not be confused with a Kama'aina (Hawaii born) the term Hawaiianophile was used as a title to not have confusion of those who actively study and participate with respect and honor of culture on Hawaii, especially Kanaka culture. Showing knowledge of local attire, local society, local culture, local history, and local olelo paiai (pounded language) or olelo language (hawaiian). Some have self proclaimed themselves as Hawaii Studies Geeks. As that is the usage for now there will be surely more ways the term local is used for the good and the bad and the better. As words evolve there will be many more ways to use the word local. All Hawaii Stand Together Another usage is that all people who are in Hawaii are for all people of Hawaii, which can often be echoed from Liko Martins song All Hawaii Stand Together. It is a phrase used in many different mottos in Local Culture, most often to inspire unity and collaboration amongst Hawaiians and Non-Hawaiians. Its a core concept that is important in Local culture history with collectivist notion of Lokahi (unity), Kuleana (duty), and Aloha aina (land) – that binds ideals of union, coalition, alliance – work with Hawaiian and Non-Hawaiian as a team instead of being divided. While not all ideas are embraced by every individual it is at least respected as a particular direction to further define what is local and how to use the term local by sticking together as a group of people under the local banner.
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Word History
The term Local is said to have become a published term in (1932) as a way for publications to differentiate people from Hawaii against those not from Hawaii in group divisions. Its controversies comes from the most famous case in Hawaii Legal History “The Massie Trial” (1932) that formally institutionalized racism in Hawaii from the Territory of Hawaii. It did this through: Wealthy Haole Exploits, American Military Aggressors, and Oppression of Polynesian and Asians. Important figures from the case are: Thalia Massie & Grace Fortescue for enabling "Rich Haole Hate", Joseph Kahahawai who was murdered by Albert "Deacon" O. Jones (White Naval Officer) who called him a "Black Nigger" before the homicide. Racial & Economical Divide It would connect American issues of Black Racism and the fight against People of Color through this case. American publications nationwide would be reporting the case as it would paint those who were Local, especially Kanaka as barbaric people as shown in a comic strip. It would also forever separate the "Hated Rich Class" from the "Oppressed Working Class" as well as a stigma for "Haoles" discriminating against "Locals" that would seek to use and abuse those who would be under the identity of a Local. Word Popularization The Term Local became popularized from the Hawaii Tourism Industry as it advertised the term "Local" as a descriptor for working-class longtime residents that could have a understanding of: Local English-Pidgin, Plantation Racial Harmony, Growing up in Hawaii, Residents Commitment to Local Community. Much of this would be communicated without mentioning the importance of local genealogical ties of being: Family Genealogy (Hawaii home), Kama'aina (Hawaii born) or Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian). This would have many Transplants from all over the world self-proclaiming "Localness" and "Hawaiianess" that would upset the residents of Hawaii as a display of entitlement or willful ignorance of Hawaii History. The Term of Local
What does Local Mean in Hawaii? According to Ethnic Studies professors it means to have a relationship to a place and in this case it is Hawaii. A lot of it has to do with maintaining a place in the islands and that can lead to many books about history and reading and finding out the meaning of Local. A person can't move from another place and call themself a local, because its about a way of life about local dialogue that is different from the mainland. The history of the island does have a point of time where there were many cultures that would come together from families marrying into multi-ethnic households and survival of Hawaiian ethnics, but those who identified as Americans or trying to turn Hawaii into someplace other than its root history would be seen as invaders of culture. This would change as many places around the earth would with the coming of global cultures growth through the information age, but that just placed a stronger focus on asking the question of what is Local? Social Stigma of Local Identity In the 1970s, the word "Local" or identifying as "Hawaiian" would have a Pejoration of degrading and depreciate the words meaning. The projection from Mainland people (aka. Continental United States) was that Locals were considered Hawaiian and that had many implications considering locals of dark skin from any other race would be clumped under discriminatory practices of America's color system. Locals would have to constantly explain to tourists that Local and Hawaiian were not synonymous as on was based on ethnicity while the other was connected to certain people. This sort of confusion would have people calling locals by the ethnic category of Kanaka and have no understanding or care to understand either Kanaka Identity or Local identity. Measurements of Localness The stigma had come from the poverty stricken Kanaka from the Hawaii Overthrow and the Oligopoly of the Big Five and the Plantation system that played an ethnic component in Hawaii Poverty. This had created the expectation that the ethnicities that were of the immigrants of the plantation including the Hawaiians were the "Locals" while those from the mainland were "Haoles" as described by the white man. This stigma would not only follow with locals of immigrant ethnicity as the years went on "Local Haoles" that did not agree with the Mainland and the Mainland people who came to disrespect the way of life of residents in Hawaii would also get hassled. So, anyone who would be trying to live like a local or trying to spend years learning the ideas of "Localness" would be a discussion that would cause many arguments. Local Inequalities Much of it conveys race-ethnicity is healthy, ethnicity genealogy is a family legacy, and recognizing that there has historically been strong ethnic differences with racial groups that gather to battle the social and economic inequalities of the islands. That brings the idea of localness in its many forms of what it means to be a local, so some ways of identifying that would be: Local by Genealogical Credentials, Local by Social Claims, Local by Cultural Choice, Local by Values, Local in Appearance, Local by Pidgin English Language, Local by Political Behavior, and Mainstream Local Stereotype. Many who fought publically on these issues would be the likes of: Daniel Ken Inouye, Patsy Mink, Spark Matsunaga, John Burns, Daniel Akaka, and many more for those who want to read up on it. These topics have contributed to arguments about Localness in loyalty to the islands in many angles, especially after World War II and Systematic Racism was the strongest it ever was in Hawaii. Some of these angles are: Local vs Mainland, Made-in-Hawaii vs Made Outside of Hawaii, Local Owned Business vs Outside Hawaii Owned, Hawaii Sustainable vs Overseas Exploited, and so on. This is mostly to have Hawaii be independent from locally affected issues by ways of costs like: Limited housing, Government Support of Overtourism, Big Business Shipping Exploitation, Fossil Fuel Overreliance, Small Business Repression, Local Voter Suppression, and the list goes on. Ethnic Grouped Stereotypes Luckily it was difficult for people to identify single-claim race in Hawaii to make stereotypes about local people, but eventually there was a stereotype about those who identified as locals. Locals in Hawaii would be depicted as tourist guides with obligatory aloha, limited to a highschool intelligence for asking "Where you wen grad?", fat or out of shape for eating plate lunches exclusively, racial harmony with no conflicts, has no fashion sense with a wardrobe of tee shirts and jeans, a geek of Hawaiian history and local trivia with glasses of nostalgia with no sense of places outside of Hawaii. This overgeneralization has been significantly seen during political, economic, journalism, and socially used to belittle the importance of Local Culture. Stereotyping Locals has has also led to ideas of Colorblindness Acts to Perpetuate Racism in Hawaii with claims of no racism in the social climate and pointing at a specific time in history with only its benefits and nothing of the struggles or ethnicities involved. The Massie Case brought racism in a big way to the people in Hawaii and that systematic racism is seen socially through Racial Colorblindness. Mainland-Haole statements of "Ethnic Color Blindness" have been seen in Hawaii through the word "Melting Pot" of paradise, which is the opposite of Local Ethnic Color Recognition and misuses the term melting pot. It has been referred to as "Melting Pot Colorblindness" where a dismissal of race, culture, and ethnicity the anti-thesis of Local is used as a way to ignore racial disparities, inequities, and history of violence and generational trauma perpetuated within racist society. Terminology Semantic Shift & Melting Pot Colorblindness The Definition would change overtime with through American-English broadening as a generalization of the words meaning to become more inclusive of people "Living in Hawaii" as residents. This would contribute to rebranded history in the views of the Mainland instead of the Local perspective and create additional definitions that would be seen more as misinterpretation rather than authentic to the history of the term Local. But in Old Hawaii its earlier meaning of Hawaii Pidgin-English was certain residents of Polynesian and Asian lineage. In Hawaii-English a local can refer to many sorts of people and that makes the word mean less, since it can be almost anyone. While each person will argue which of the many definitions the word local has come to represent there is little to do about it in the literal sense, since it has to do with how people grow up and how its most used globally, nationally, and lastly locally. The Definition of Local
Local takes its influence primarily from Hawaiian culture and then has influences of: Chinese, Japanese, Okinawan, Filipino, Portuguese, Puerto Rican, Korean. And to a lesser degree: Vietnamese, Samoan, Tongan, Marshallese, and Micronesian. It can be most commonly used to describe someone who is local from a perspective of Hawaii history and looking out for the future of Hawaii. The word is seen as controversial at times and may only be used in a given appropriate setting or else be socially judged for it. The Term In American-English the word means belonging to a particular area or neighborhood exclusively, but in Hawaii-English it takes on something very different due to the Massie case of 1931 where it classified Polynesian and Asian. The term Local comes from being exclusively to a place and in this case it is the islands of Hawaii. The word Local started from the media to separate people in Hawaii of Polynesian and Asian group cultures. A Local tends to participate in things that are seemingly Hawaii Local Culture related. Throughout the years the term has changed with many definitions and context is necessary to know what the word may mean in its usage. The Use Often times a Local will have certain basic attributes to them, such as: (1) doesn't follow skin-color but instead ethnicities with no blood quantums included [og. kanaka], (2) looks beyond race for the investment of families over oligarchy and oligopoly [og. the big five], (3) separates Hawaii culture from Mainland culture. Due to the Hawaii Tourist Authority, Government terminology, Transplant Term Hijacking, and controversy involving Local History of its origins the term Local is not always a good way to have casual conversations without getting into a controversial subject. |
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