The Colonization of Hawaii and Tourism Essay -- Hawaii Tourism History

The Colonization of Hawaii and TourismSince 1840 the Hawaiian Islands have been an escape to a tropical enlightenment for millions of tourists. citizenry all over the world encounter alluring, romanticized pictures of Hawaiis lush, tropical vegetation, exotic animals, beautiful beaches, crystal clear water, and fantastical women. This is the Hawaii tourists know. This is the Hawaii they visit. However, this Hawaii is a state of mind, a corporate-produced realise 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 Hawaii 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 Hawaii and with her poetry in Light in the Crevice Never Seen, Trask provides an intimate account of the tourist industrys impact on native Hawai ian culture. She presents a ban 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. around of the world is unaware of this. To examine various discourses, it is crucial that the idea of discourse and the way in which discourses operate is clear. A discourse is a language, or more(prenominal) precisely, a way of representation and expression. These ways of talking, thinking, or representing a particular issuing or topic produce meaningful knowledge about the subject (Hall 205). Therefore, the importance of discourses lies in this meaningful knowledge, which reflects a groups ideolo... ...e (Trask xix). This incident beautifully illustrates and signifies tourisms impact in American society. Like most Americans, this woman uses a discourse that has been shaped by tourist advertisements and souvenirs. The womans sta tement implies that Trask resembles what the tourist industry projects, as if this image created Hawaiian culture. As Trask asserts, Hawaiian culture existed long before tourism and has been exploited by tourism in the form of advertisements and items such as postcards. Along with the violence, endangered environment, and poverty, this exploitation is what the tourist industry does not involve to show. However, this is the Hawaii Haunani-Kay Trask lives in everyday. This is Hawaii, once the most fragile and precious of sacred places, now transformed by the American behemoth into a dying land. Only a whispering spirit remains (Trask 19).