Title: Disability and indigeneity in Moloka'i : challenging colonial paradigm of leprosy
Source document: Brno studies in English. 2024, vol. 50, iss. 1, pp. 185-200
Extent
185-200
-
ISSN0524-6881 (print)1805-0867 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2024-1-11
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.81082
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
Rights access
open access
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
This study contextualizes the colonial conceptions of disease and disability in the context of Native Hawaiians, focusing on Alan Brennert's Moloka'i. The narrative investigates the interwoven nature of disability and indigeneity to challenge the colonial characterization of leprosy. Western colonial authority constructs a racialized image of lepers through various apparatuses, defining the Other as a subject for scientific curiosity and experimentation. Moloka'i delineates Kānaka resilience against Western stigmatization and marginalization by decolonizing the dominant colonial paradigms. Three interconnected themes – kinship, place, and knowledge-making – articulate the connections between Native Hawaiians, ‘āina (the land), and their ancestors. Contrary to the Western conception of a natural prison, the island of Moloka'i is positioned as a focal point for Indigenous revival and cultural resurgence. Traditional beliefs, kinship structures, and connections to the land actively shape the experience and understanding of disability in Kānaka epistemology. Reading on Moloka'i highlights Indigenous resilience against colonial impositions based upon the intersection between disability and indigeneity.
References
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[29] Indriyanto, Kristiawan (2022) Ma' i Lepera: Representation of Leprosy as Ecological Other in Selected Hawai'ian-American Literature. K@ta : A Biannual Publication on the Study of Language and Literature 24(1): 1–10. DOI 10.9744/kata.24.1.1-10.
[30] Indriyanto, Kristiawan, and Ruly Indra Darmawan (2023) Challenging Colonial Construction of Diseased Bodies : Polyvocal Narrative Voices in Bushnell's Moloka'i. Forum for World Literature Studies 15(1): 61–80.
[31] Inglis, Kerri A. (2013) Ma'i Lepera : A History of Leprosy. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
[32] Inglis, Kerri A. (2014) Molokai Can Be Anywhere: Global Influence in the Twentieth Century History of Hansen's Disease. Journal of World History 25(4): 611–28.
[33] Jarman, Michelle (2017) Race and Disability in US Literature. In: The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Disability, edited by C. Barker and S. Murray. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 155–169.
[34] Johnstone, David (2001) An Introduction to Disability Studies: Second Edition. Oxon: David Fulton Publishers.
[35] Kame'eleihiwa, Lilikala (1992) Native Land and Foreign Desires: Pehea La E Pono Ai? Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.
[36] Kern, Emily (2010) Sugarcane and Lepers: Health Policy and the Colonization of Hawaii (1860-1900). Penn History Review 17(2): 24.
[37] Krentz, Christopher (2020) Elusive Kinship: Disability and Human Rights in Postcolonial Literature. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
[38] Mitchell, Donald D. Kilolani (1982) Resource Units in Hawai'ian Culture. Revised Edition. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools.
[39] Moran, Michelle T. (2007) Colonizing Leprosy: Imperialism and the Politics of Public Health in the United States. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
[40] Norton, Scott A. (2007) Moloka'I. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 56(1): 173. DOI 10.1016/j.jaad.2006.06.018.
[41] Plumwood, Val (2003) Decolonizing Relationships with Nature. In: Decolonizing Nature: Strategies for Conservation in a Post-colonial Era, edited by W. M. (William M. Adams and M. Mulligan. London: Earthscan Publications, 51–78.
[42] Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Samuel H. Elbert (1986) Hawaiian Dictionary Hawaiian- English : Revised and Enlarged Edition. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
[43] Russell, E. (2006) Locating Cure: Leprosy and Lois-Ann Yamanaka's Blu's Hanging. MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States 31(1): 53–80. DOI 10.1093/melus/31.1.53.
[44] Said, Edward W. (1997) Orientalism. London: Penguin Books.
[45] Sherry, Mark (2007) Chapter 1: (Post)Colonising Disability. Wagadu 4: 10–22.
[46] Silva, Noenoe K. (2005) Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism. London: Duke University Press.
[47] Smith, Brett, and Andrew C. Sparkes (2008) Narrative and Its Potential Contribution to Disability Studies. Disability and Society 23(1): 17–28. DOI 10.1080/09687590701725542.
[48] Snyder, Sharon L., and David T. Mitchell (2006) Cultural Locations of Disability. Chicago: the University of Chicago Press.
[49] Strange, Carolyn (2004) Symbiotic Commemoration: The Stories of Kalaupapa. History and Memory 16(1): 86–117.
[50] Tanaka, K. M. (2013) Contested Histories and Happiness: Leprosy Literature in Japan. Health, Culture and Society 5(1): 99–118. DOI 10.5195/hcs.2013.133.
[51] Trask, Haunani-Kay (1993) From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
[52] Tuck, Eve, and Tuck K. Wayne (2012) Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society 1(1): 1–40.
[53] Watson, Keri, and Timothy W. Hiles (2022) Introduction. In: The Routledge Companion to Art and Disability, edited by K. Watson and T. W. Hiles. New York and London: Routledge, 1–4.
[2] Alpert, Joseph S. (2023) Leprosy in Literature and Art: The Covenant of Water. American Journal of Medicine 000(000): 1–2. DOI 10.1016/j.amjmed.2023.06.016.
[3] Amundson, Ron, and Akira Ruddle-Miyamoto (2010) A Wholesome Horror : Stigma of Leprosy in 19th Century Hawai'i. Disability Studies Quarterly 3(4): 15–36.
[4] Anon. (2019) An Interview with Alan Brennert. Bookbrowse.Com. Retrieved (https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm/author_number/992/alan-brennert).
[5] Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin (2013) Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts. Second Edi. Oxon: Routledge.
[6] Barker, Clare (2014) Interdisciplinary Dialogues: Disability and Postcolonial Studies. Review of Disability Studies 6(3): 1–12.
[7] Barker, Clare (2017) 'Radiant Affiliction': Disability Narratives in Postcolonial Literature. in The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Disability, edited by C. Barker and S. Murray. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 104–120.
[8] Barker, Clare, and Stuart Murray (2015) Disabling Postcolonialism: Global Disability Cultures and Democratic Criticism. In: The Disablity Studies Reader, edited by L. J. Davis. New York: Routledge, 61–73
[9] Barker, Clare, and Stuart Murray (2017) Introduction: On Reading Disability in Literature. In: The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Disability, edited by C. Barker and S. Murray. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–14.
[10] Brennert, Alan (2004) Moloka'i. New York: St Martin's Press.
[11] Bushwell, O. A. (1968) The United States Leprosy Investigation Station at Kalawao. The Hawaiian Journal of History 2(4): 76–94.
[12] Christ, Carol T., Alfred David, Barbara K. Lewalski, Lawrence Lipking, and George M. Logan (2006) The Norton Anthology of English Literature Eighth Edition. 8th ed. New York: W.W Norton & Company, Inc.
[13] Crosby, Alfred W. (1992) Hawaiian Depopulation as a Model for the Amerindian Experience. In: Epidemics and Ideas: Essays on the Historical Perception of Pestilience, edited by T. Ranger and P. Slark. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 175–202.
[14] Davies, Lloyd Margaret., and T. A. Lloyd. Davies (1990) Biblical Leprosy - A Comedy of Errors. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 83(2): 127–128.
[15] Day, Leanne (2017) Empire's Imagination: Race, Settler Colonialism and Indigeneity in 'Local' Hawai'i Literature. University of Washington.
[16] Emerson, Nathaniel Bright (1906) Unwritten Literature of Hawaii. Vol. 8.
[17] Ferguson, Philip M., and Emily Nusbaum (2012) Disability Studies: What Is It and What Difference Does It Make? Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities 37(2): 70–80. DOI 10.1177/154079691203700202.
[18] Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie (2002) Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory. NWSA 14(3): 1–32.
[19] Ghai, Anita (2012) Engaging with Disability with Postcolonial Theory. In: Postcolonial Theory, edited by D. Goodley, B. Hughes, and L. Davis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 270–286.
[20] Goodley, Dan (2011) Disability Studies : An Interdisciplinary Introduction. London: SAGE Publications, Ltd.
[21] Gron, K. (2007) Leprosy in Literature and Art. International Journal of Leprosy 41(2): 249–283. DOI 10.1093/fs/knl214.
[22] Gupta, Clare (2014) Sustainability, Self-Reliance and Aloha Aina: The Case of Molokai, Hawaii. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 21(5): 389–397. DOI 10.1080/13504509.2014.880163.
[23] Haley, James L. (2016) Captive Paradise- A History of Hawaii. New York: St Martin's Press.
[24] Handy, E. S. Craighill, Elizabeth Green Handy, and Mary Kawena Pukui (1972) Native Planters in Old Hawaii: Their Life, Lore, and Environment. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.
[25] Harris, Adrea Pitman, and Jonathan Matusitz (2016) The Exile of Hansen's Disease Patients to Moloka'i: A Diffusion of Innovations Perspective. Social Work in Public Health 31(4): 299–308. DOI 10.1080/19371918.2015.1137514.
[26] Herman, Rdk (2001) Out of Sight, out of Mind, out of Power: Leprosy, Race and Colonization in Hawai'i. Journal of Historical Geography 27(3): 319–337. DOI 10.1006/ jhge.2001.0325.
[27] Houston, A. (2016) 'Seiknes Incurabill': The Evolution of Literary Representations of Leprosy in Medieval and Early Modern English Narratives. Chicago Journal of History 30–41.
[28] Imada, Adria L. (2011) Transnational Hula as Colonial Culture. Journal of Pacific History 46(2): 149–176. DOI 10.1080/00223344.2011.607260.
[29] Indriyanto, Kristiawan (2022) Ma' i Lepera: Representation of Leprosy as Ecological Other in Selected Hawai'ian-American Literature. K@ta : A Biannual Publication on the Study of Language and Literature 24(1): 1–10. DOI 10.9744/kata.24.1.1-10.
[30] Indriyanto, Kristiawan, and Ruly Indra Darmawan (2023) Challenging Colonial Construction of Diseased Bodies : Polyvocal Narrative Voices in Bushnell's Moloka'i. Forum for World Literature Studies 15(1): 61–80.
[31] Inglis, Kerri A. (2013) Ma'i Lepera : A History of Leprosy. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
[32] Inglis, Kerri A. (2014) Molokai Can Be Anywhere: Global Influence in the Twentieth Century History of Hansen's Disease. Journal of World History 25(4): 611–28.
[33] Jarman, Michelle (2017) Race and Disability in US Literature. In: The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Disability, edited by C. Barker and S. Murray. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 155–169.
[34] Johnstone, David (2001) An Introduction to Disability Studies: Second Edition. Oxon: David Fulton Publishers.
[35] Kame'eleihiwa, Lilikala (1992) Native Land and Foreign Desires: Pehea La E Pono Ai? Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.
[36] Kern, Emily (2010) Sugarcane and Lepers: Health Policy and the Colonization of Hawaii (1860-1900). Penn History Review 17(2): 24.
[37] Krentz, Christopher (2020) Elusive Kinship: Disability and Human Rights in Postcolonial Literature. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
[38] Mitchell, Donald D. Kilolani (1982) Resource Units in Hawai'ian Culture. Revised Edition. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools.
[39] Moran, Michelle T. (2007) Colonizing Leprosy: Imperialism and the Politics of Public Health in the United States. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
[40] Norton, Scott A. (2007) Moloka'I. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 56(1): 173. DOI 10.1016/j.jaad.2006.06.018.
[41] Plumwood, Val (2003) Decolonizing Relationships with Nature. In: Decolonizing Nature: Strategies for Conservation in a Post-colonial Era, edited by W. M. (William M. Adams and M. Mulligan. London: Earthscan Publications, 51–78.
[42] Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Samuel H. Elbert (1986) Hawaiian Dictionary Hawaiian- English : Revised and Enlarged Edition. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
[43] Russell, E. (2006) Locating Cure: Leprosy and Lois-Ann Yamanaka's Blu's Hanging. MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States 31(1): 53–80. DOI 10.1093/melus/31.1.53.
[44] Said, Edward W. (1997) Orientalism. London: Penguin Books.
[45] Sherry, Mark (2007) Chapter 1: (Post)Colonising Disability. Wagadu 4: 10–22.
[46] Silva, Noenoe K. (2005) Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism. London: Duke University Press.
[47] Smith, Brett, and Andrew C. Sparkes (2008) Narrative and Its Potential Contribution to Disability Studies. Disability and Society 23(1): 17–28. DOI 10.1080/09687590701725542.
[48] Snyder, Sharon L., and David T. Mitchell (2006) Cultural Locations of Disability. Chicago: the University of Chicago Press.
[49] Strange, Carolyn (2004) Symbiotic Commemoration: The Stories of Kalaupapa. History and Memory 16(1): 86–117.
[50] Tanaka, K. M. (2013) Contested Histories and Happiness: Leprosy Literature in Japan. Health, Culture and Society 5(1): 99–118. DOI 10.5195/hcs.2013.133.
[51] Trask, Haunani-Kay (1993) From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
[52] Tuck, Eve, and Tuck K. Wayne (2012) Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society 1(1): 1–40.
[53] Watson, Keri, and Timothy W. Hiles (2022) Introduction. In: The Routledge Companion to Art and Disability, edited by K. Watson and T. W. Hiles. New York and London: Routledge, 1–4.