Native Hawaiian Essay

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Week 10 Monday Arvin discusses the representation of Native Hawaiians and the complexity surrounding this identity. Native Hawaiians have been denied the status of indigenous people and had their land taken away. Arvin explains several cases of spectacle philanthropy which aim to solve issues like the growing homeless population while ignoring the deeper causes to these problems. Native Hawaiians are expected to simultaneously perform as “good citizens” working towards the American dream while at the same time be culturally different. Many Native Hawaiians do not consider themselves U.S. citizens and are often overlooked in media and political representation. Arvin argues that rhetoric surrounding Native Hawaiians is built on a U.S.-centered framework and must be examined with a global perspective in order to productively challenge modern thought. Analyzing Native Hawaiians and the Akaka bill in a comparative global frame can also assist in a broader understanding of citizenship and indigeneity. Arvin uses an episode of Extreme Makeover to illustrate the media’s “welfare spotlight.” In this episode, a large, new home was “given” to a …show more content…

I thought that the show’s creators would not think somebody who is part of a welfare program deserves a new house. It seems that because she is not using the food stamps personally, she is seen as hardworking and philanthropic. It is also interesting that the house was built on nonprofit land, causing tax complications and the need for the family to pay rent in the future. It causes the family to remain in an antiwelfare state and be good citizens after receiving their rewards. The fact that their old house was “gratuitously demolished” also shows the family’s lack of choice in the situation that was misrepresented to them and mirrors the takeover of land in the 1893

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