Encounter Between the Hawaiians and Captain Cook
The arguments of Marshall Sahlins and Gananath Obeseyekere with regard to the cross-cultural encounter between Captain Cook and his men demonstrated different viewpoints and beliefs pertaining to whether or not Captain Cook and his men were perceived to be gods by the Hawaiians. Sahlins and Obeyesekere based the validity of Cook’s deification on several factors that will be focused on below. They both used the physical aspects of Captain Cook in relation to his being perceived as a god or not by the Hawaiians. Sahlins and Obeyesekere argued that the light color of Cook’s skin, his having a physical, human form, the different language that he spoke, his cleanliness, and thinness played a role in how the natives perceived Cook. Sahlins and Obeyesekere also discussed the question of whether or not Cook’s arrival occurred during the Makahiki festival and how this would have affected the views of the natives. The natives could have paralled Cook’s visit with the return of Lono during this festival, or they could have found to many discrepancies between their beliefs and what they actually observed to believe that Cook was Lono or even a god at all. Both men also attempted to determine whether or not the natives viewed Cook as a god using their own theories of how the Hawaiians thought. Sahlins held the belief that the natives perceived Cook and his men to be gods using his theory of stereotypic reproduction. He defined this theory as a “society replicating past structures by fitting in present events into pregiven categories”.1 On the other hand, Obeyesekere believed that this wasn’t so, arguing with his theory of practical rationality, which he defined as the common, biological cha...
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... Think: About Captain Cook, For Example (The University of Chicago Press, 1995), 245.
2. Gananath Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in The Pacific (Princeton University Press, 1997), 19.
3. Gananath Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook, 61.
4. Gananath Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook, 63, 64.
5. Marshall Sahlins, How "Natives" Think, 6, 8.
6. Gananath Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook, 65.
7. Marshall Sahlins, How "Natives" Think, 171.
8. Marshall Sahlins, How "Natives" Think, 77.
9. Gananath Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook, 59.
10. Marshall Sahlins, How "Natives" Think, 32, 33.
11. Marshall Sahlins, How "Natives" Think, 227.
12. Gananath Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook, 61.
13. Gananath Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook, 64.
The Hawaiian culture is known throughout the western world for their extravagant luaus, beautiful islands, and a language that comes nowhere near being pronounceable to anyone but a Hawaiian. Whenever someone wants to “get away” their first thought is to sit on the beach in Hawai’i with a Mai tai in their hand and watch the sun go down. Haunani-Kay Trask is a native Hawaiian educated on the mainland because it was believed to provide a better education. She questioned the stories of her heritage she heard as a child when she began learning of her ancestors in books at school. Confused by which story was correct, she returned to Hawai’i and discovered that the books of the mainland schools had been all wrong and her heritage was correctly told through the language and teachings of her own people. With her use of pathos and connotative language, Trask does a fine job of defending her argument that the western world destroyed her vibrant Hawaiian culture.
The oral history format dictates a first person presentation which, in a religious text, creates an urgency and connection to the events unfolding in the story. The stories combine to present a tale of folly, loss, sin, forgiveness, and resurrection. In the Introduction to Arthur C. Parker’s translation of The Code of Handsome Lake, the influence of Christian mythology becomes evident. The story of “How the White Race Came to America and why the Gaiwiio Became a Necessity” is included in the Introduction. Therein, Handsome Lake explains that post-invasion the “Creator was sorry for his own people [the Native Americans] whom he had molded from the soil of the earth of this Great Island.”8 The sentiment echoes the island from the Iroquois creation myths and the creation of Adam from the earth in the Christian creation
“Ask him, before he comes into the presence of the Lord, if he is willing to conform to the laws of the country in which he lives, the country that guarantees his idle existence.” This is the general belief shared among the missionaries, in order for the Native Americans to enter the “utopia” which the evangelists have created, the Indians must throw away their way of life and adapt completely to the white man’s culture. Mrs.Rowell’s claim and Miss Evans acceptance of this ideology reveals that the American missionary society believes that they are above these Native American “heaths”. Furthermore, in Gretchen Ronnow’s, “Native American Writers of the United States”, Ronnow declares, “He [John M. Oskison] often juxtaposes issues without indicating his own opinion about them: traditional values versus mainstream values, formal education versus the teachings of Native American elders, intermarriage versus separatism… (254).” The relation between American settlers (in this case, the missionaries) and Native Americans is enlightened since Oskison has been exposed to both cultures as a Cherokee American by birth. Therefore, Oskison works are based upon his observations growing up. Overall, from the perspective of Oskison and history, it is easy to prove that Americans believed their ways to be better. With this understanding, it is not surprising that Mrs.Rowell and Miss Evans would treat Harjo with contempt and believe themselves to be
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The Family Plot and Magnificent Obsession. p. 170. 2. Cook. p. 76-79.
Thurston, Lorrin A. “A hand-book on the annexation of Hawaii.” Foreign and Commonwealth Office Collection (1897).
Slaughter, Thomas P. Exploring Lewis And Clark Reflections on Men And Wilderness . New York: First Vintage Books Edition, 2003.
Uvalic, M. (2002, July). Regional Cooperation and the Enlargement of the European Union: Lessons Learned? International Political Science Review, 23(3), 319-333.
Since 1840 the Hawaiian Islands have been an escape to a tropical paradise for millions of tourists. People all over the world encounter alluring, romanticized pictures of Hawai'i's lush, tropical vegetation, exotic animals, beautiful beaches, crystal clear water, and fantastical women. This is the Hawai'i tourists know. This is the Hawai’i they visit. However, this Hawai'i is a state of mind, a corporate-produced image existing on the surface. More precisely, it is an aftermath of relentless colonization of the islands' native inhabitants by the United States. These native Hawaiians experience a completely different Hawai'i from the paradise tourists enjoy. No one makes this as clear as Haunani-Kay Trask, a native Hawaiian author. In her book, From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i and through her poetry in Light in the Crevice Never Seen, Trask provides an intimate account of the tourist industry's impact on native Hawaiian culture. She presents a negative perspective of the violence, pollution, commercial development, and cultural exploitation produced by the tourist industry. Trask unveils the cruel reality of suffering and struggling through a native Hawaiian discourse. Most of the world is unaware of this.
Stump, Colleen Shea, Kevin Feldman, Joyce Armstrong Carroll, and Edward E. Wilson. "The Epic." Prentice Hall
After WWII, many politically influential people saw a need to create some form of interdependence between the nation states of Europe as a means to preventing further war (Watts, 2008: p6). In 1951 Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg all signed the Treaty of Paris creating the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC); the beginnings of an integrated Europe which has seen many changes since its creation (Thody, 1997: p1). Today it has become the highly integrated European Union with 28 member states, 18 of which share a single currency (Archick, 2014: p1). The process of EU integration is a complex one, as can be seen in its history and will surely be seen in its future. There is no simple explanation that can successfully explain the growth of the EU from a economic community of six nation states to the political and economic union it has become today. However there are two competing theories for explaining EU integration that give opposing views on the matter, neo-functionalism and intergovernmentalism. In this essay I will examine both theories and attempt to reach a conclusion if either successfully explains EU integration.
Europe has a history of war and conflict that predates living memory and the idea of a united Europe is something that appears repeatedly in that history. Hitler, Napoleon, and the many Roman Emperors all sought a united Europe. Their quests although in many ways motivated by a horrifying desire for power sparked the minds of philosophers and other political thinkers to imagine Europe united in harmony and peace despite national differences. Today we have the European Union which is quite unique. After the horrors, bloodshed, and economic disaster of the twentieth century, in a desire for peace and harmony and economic and political prosperity twenty-seven states have limited their national sovereignty.2 With national interests and ambition still in mind these countries see the European Union and supranational governance and the benefits of peace and prosperity therein as something worthwhile. However, in the history of European integration there has been much conflict and Euroskepticism. Some see unity in diversity and diversity in unity as impossible, and the existence of differentiation in the EU as highly problematic. However, differentiation in the European Union’s integration process is not the hindrance it is often defined as, rather it creates further cooperation in Europe bringing the European Union closer to its objectives of peace, and economic and political growth, resulting in a more effective and efficient bureaucracy. Differentiation in the EU’s integration process has created more successful integration as it allows the nations who wish t...
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