Virginia Boucher

Cindy Rouzer

Soc1DE1

Las Positas College

26 May, 2006

Family

Ohana

Three generations from one family.  The ethnic blending of intermarriage is visible in their features (Goldsberry, 210)

Family or Ohana is the core of Hawaiian life.  The scope of what is defined as family has evolved through the blending of cultures by immigration and by the Western influence of the Mainland.  In earlier times the families were based on polygamy but the advent of Christianity led to the more westernized version of marriage and family.

In the earliest times, the islands were uninhabited.  The first to arrive were the Polynesians and they brought with them their culture and their beliefs regarding family. 

“It is commonly speculated that the first Polynesians to reach Hawaii came from the Marquesas Islands in what is now French Polynesia.  These islands are some of the least hospitable in all of the South Pacific” (Barnes, 11).

Their culture was very warlike due to their origins in a land of scarce resources.  This warlike culture lends credence to the sociological theory of Conflict.  A group who desired access to the restricted resources but who were lacking in strength to overcome those who guarded them jealously would take another approach and migrate to an area where they could have control.  

From a Functionalist perspective, these migrations served to spread the culture across a greater geographic area and provided a mechanism for several strong groups to flourish rather than killing each other off.

From the Interactionist perspective, the journey to a new land and the attainment of sovereignty and power created heroes and the opportunity to preserve what the group deemed important while perhaps casting off elements they no longer valued.

Children "keik'i" of Hawaii  (Goldsberry, 21)

The groups in these earliest migrations had to be comprised of enough people from a broad background of families to carry forward the gene pool.  They also had to have the right skills, not only for the hazardous 1000 mile journey, but to build a settlement and manage to feed the population.

There was, within the culture, a strict caste system.  The social lines were drawn into three classes.  The Hawaiian aristocracy was known as ali’i and within it there were the highest level of chiefs, known as the kapu moe and a position much like a Prime Minister, called the ali’i nui.  Although outside many social norms, the highest status was achieved by marriage between siblings.  Children born of these unions had a higher incidence of birth defects and those children were put to death immediately.  This was accepted as an essential practice to maintain a “vigorous” leadership.

The next class was the kahuna.  The word kahuna is generally defined as a specialist in one of many disciplines.  In this cultural context it is used to indicate a religious leader.

The commoners were in the class called maka’ainana.  These individuals were not slaves, but generally served the ali’i of the land on which they lived.  They were free to move on if the ali’i behaved in a manner they disliked.  Thus, the only way a chief to gain more power or followers was to avoid mistreating the maka’ainana.  The crops raised were shared with the chief and the commoners assisted with various community projects like building or other chores.  

Over the hundreds of years since the first Polynesians arrived, there have been waves of immigration.  Some of these waves were commercially sponsored, to bring in cheap sources of labor.  The end result is a multi-ethnic blend that is characterized as “Hawaiian”.

Even with this blending, there are still social tensions and family resistance to intermarriage with some other races.  Haoles (people from outside the islands, especially those of Caucasian ancestry) are often regarded as interlopers and even symbols of oppression.  There is resistance within many families toward intermarriages of this sort.