New section on Hawaii’s history

It’s a pleasure today to inaugurate a new section in the Independent, “Mooolelo Hawaii,” dedicated to recounting Hawaii’s long history, stretching back over perhaps 20 centuries.

The author, ‘Umi Perkins, is a scholar in Hawaiian history and political science, and I’m excited to share his research with the community.

A note about the name of this section: it’s an homage to Ka Mooolelo Hawaii, written and published in 1838 by students at Lahainaluna, including Davida Malo, and edited by Rev. Sheldon Dibble. In his introduction to the 2005 reprint of the original text, Puakea Nogelmeier notes that it “holds a distinguished position in Hawaiian history as the first book credited to Hawaiian writers, the first history of the islands published in the native language, and the first concerted effort to bring Hawaiian oral tradition into writing.”