Varied Outcomes of the Colonial Encounter in Hawaii Island's Hinterlands

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Rethinking Hinterlands in Polynesia" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Beginning in the late 18th century CE, the Hawaiian archipelago's sustained interaction with foreigners transformed the islands from independent kingdoms at the center of their world to a globalized frontier, trade entrepôt, military outpost, and, ultimately, an economic and political colony. At the same time, the seats of power and settlement patterns changed rapidly along with a contracting population, leaving many areas virtually abandoned. Consequentially, the notion of "hinterlands" may be applied to the islands during this period at several scales--globally, within the archipelago itself, and within each island's traditional land divisions. In many cases, the geographical marginality of these spaces afforded opportunities for a variety of social and cultural outcomes of the colonial encounter. A review of archaeological investigations within a few of these hinterlands on Hawai‘i Island provides examples of several of these outcomes, including the persistence of traditional lifeways, acculturation and adoption of foreign mores, and the emergence of novel subcultural forms. Results from these studies imply that the influence of elites and core regions in Hawai‘i's hinterlands was not always straightforward, and dependent on a number of factors.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Rethinking Hinterlands in Polynesia

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25019