ABSTRACT
The case of Native Hawai´i stands out because it is one of the indigenous groups in the United States that has strong nationalist sentiment with goals that include seeking statehood. The people who today call themselves Native Hawaiians migrated to the island chain from Samoa sometime between the fifth and ninth centuries and larger migrations joined them between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries (Minahan 1996). Native Hawaiians are in a “relationship between ourselves and those who want control of us and our resources is not a formerly colonial relationship but an ongoing colonial relationship” (Trask, H.1 1999: 103). After cultural renewal movements in the 1950s and 1960s, the 1970s brought nationalist sentiment to the Native Hawaiians (Minahan 1996). Native Hawaiians have remained at the bottom of the economic, social, and political ladders since their Queen lost power (Getches et al 1993; Minahan 1996).
