Hawaiian Antiquities (Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication, No 2)

by David Malo

1951 2nd. ed.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

278 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skimmed more than read. This book was mentioned in Sarah Vowell's Unfamiliar Fishes as a primary source, which led me to it.

The intro(s) explain that Davida Malo was Hawaiian nobility and mingled with kings / had access to folklore that was all oral tradition before Hawaiian had a written language. He was the first (only?) to write these things down, in Hawaiian, in the early 1800s, after he'd converted from native religion to Christianity. Then translated to English, with a terribly patronizing intro, by Emerson.

The book is an ethnography of ancient Hawaiians, as well as a record of flora/fauna, and Malo editorializes a few times re: his Christian beliefs where they're at odds with what he calls "idol worship." The facts as he presents them can get a little dry: "There are many kinds of fish. These are the kinds of fish." Etc. I was in it for the stories -- mythologies and religious practices -- hence skimming, and those sections were worth it. Tabu, gender roles, festivals, creation myths, all good stuff. Also, though I found the translator to be irritatingly...white?, it's true his footnotes helped fill in gray areas here and there.

Worth skimming if you're curious.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a staple for anyone interested in Hawaiian culture. This text becomes more complex when you take into account Malo's influences at the time. He had Christianity on one side and tradition on the other. In a lot of ways, Malo is trying to write about everything that is Hawaiian and does a good job at it. It becomes a very modern text due to Hawaii's contextual nature.

[Kaatje · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. This is an impressive collection of pre-contact Hawaiian cultural traditions and practices, especially given the time and context of writing. It’s quite dense, so probably not ideal to read cover-to-cover, but instead when specific topics spark interest. I learned a lot, and I feel that I will have to further look into Hawaiian and Polynesian history as a whole.

Malo’s conversion to Christianity prior to writing brings an interesting opportunity for analysis. Though, there is definitely colonial bias imported by Malo in the writing and Emerson in the translation and notes.

[Jon Thysell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hard book to review. It is by all accounts an amazing resource, a primary source document of pre-missionary Hawaiian-life.

However, we have an author who, as much as he's trying to document this knowledge, is also in the process himself of becoming a Western-educated priest, which is a bias you have to keep in mind when reading his words, especially his opinions.

You also have to take into consideration the biases of the translator, and their own limitations, as they frequently (in rather lengthy footnotes) refer to random unnamed third parties as to further eludiate topics that the author doesn't describe too clearly. Then there's all the expected "savage race" garbage.

On top of all that, you have later editors commenting about the problems of author amd the translator, often refuting the translator's unnamed sources, and directly questioning the results, yet still maintaining the racism.

So you have to parse all of this information with the understanding that all three, author, translator, and editor have ulterior motives in this work.

The part that disappointmented me the most was the "chapter" on hula, one of, if not the prime symbols of Hawiian culture, given scarcely a single page. And its given more hate, more derision and disgust than any of the previous material, which the three were all too happy to salaciously describe.

It's like sometimes they decide to describe something as it was, sometimes they describe something to point out "look at these despicable savages", and sometimes they describe something as "woo, did you hear what the sexy savages do?".

But for hula, they all went straight Puritan dancing-is-the-ultimate-evil-that-must-not-be-named. Pages and pages of Leviticus-style descriptions of exactly how temples are measured, built, and blessed. Hula: the worst thing Hawai'i ever produced, so let's not talk about it at all.

[Briana Grenert]

This book is definitely a treasure! I've seen it referenced in so many other books (e.g. La'au Hawaii) and in many interesting panels at the Bishop Museum, so I knew I had to read it. Even though Emerson is definitely patronizing/rude, I appreciated his notes and many of the facts he had to add, and the translation is still very readable despite being published more than 100 years ago. It was interesting to compare this translation with the Chun translation.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two stars here is more for the version I downloaded for Amazon Kindle than the work itself, as whatever scanner used to make this book digital completely mangled many Hawaiian words, making it very difficult to actually learn what some of the words meant. Other than that, this was a sometimes interesting, sometimes sloggy treatise by a native Hawaiian circa 1850s on the basics of Hawaiian culture, from its line of kings to what people liked to do for fun, what they ate, what they wore, and how they worshipped. There were certainly some fascinating tidbits to digest here, but I wish there was another, less officious translation than that by Nathanial Bright Emerson, who kept butting in in his notes to say in various way how David Malo was wrong.

[Artnoose McMoose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically, this is an account of a Hawaiian native who was raised in a traditional lifeway and then converted to Christianity later in life. He gives a unique historical narrative about how native Hawaiians lived in the first years post-contact.

A lot of it is pretty dry and is like, "Here's a list of the names of some fish, etc." but the long, detailed descriptions of the taboo systems make it pretty important. I had no idea how much killing there was under the kapu system.

This is a pretty important historical document, even if the author became slanted against "idolatry" by the time he was writing it.

[Warren Fretwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a text, of sorts. The book is a collection of thoughts and details acquired by author, David Malo, a native Hawaiian born in 1793, who converted to Christianity and which may have shaded some of his recollections as he rejected the heathen ways of his ancestors. Nevertheless, his writings add to an understanding of the ways of the ancients.

Much of the book addresses definitions of Hawaiian language and lineages. It is not for anyone seeking a cogent story, but, rather, relevant to those seeking particulars about Hawaii's cultural and religious practices prior to missionary contamination.

[Ron Sanderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little difficult to read primary source Hawaiian history. Must read for all who are interested in Hawaiian history.