Article: “Indigeneity, Sovereignty, Sustainability, and Cultural Tourism: Hosts and Hostages at ‘Iolani Palace, Hawai‘i”

in Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Violence and dispossession in tourism development: a critical geographical approach

Journal cover of Journal of Sustainable Tourism Vol 28 Iss 9
Author
Liza Keānuenueokalani Williams & Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez
Editors
Guest editors: Jennifer Devine and Diana Ojeda
Journal Issue
Volume 25, Issue 5
Publisher
Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
Pages
668-683
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This article focuses on the historical events of dispossession and overthrow in Hawai’i from the mid/late nineteenth century onwards, and contemporary movements, interpretations and acts for Native Hawaiian sovereignty centered around ‘Iolani Palace on the island of O’ahu. Formerly the seat of the Hawaiian monarchy, then the capitol building of an overthrowing power and an occupying state, and now a heritage site, ‘Iolani Palace operates as a metonym for how notions of hospitality were leveraged in the service of a colonial theft. The discussion explores the role of tourism’s growth, style and relationship with the evolving cultural politics of the Hawai’i archipelago. We use a site-specific exploration of this history to theorize what Jacques Derrida has described as the impossibility of hospitality in a colonial context. Furthermore, we show how aloha – a concept that has been overwhelmingly commodified by Hawaii’s tourism industry – can be a means to theorize a hospitality that is reciprocal rather than unconditional – and how this plays out through alternative tours and acts that attempt to re-establish moments of critique and sovereignty at the very site of overthrow. Finally, we gesture to sustainability as a socio-political concept tied to Indigenous sovereignty, rather than a mostly eco-cultural one.

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