The Merrie Monarch Festival: Hawaiian Cultural Survivance Through Hula Performance

Abstract

The Merrie Monarch Festival, an annual event celebrating the cultural traditions of the Native Hawaiian people, has largely been overlooked in academic research despite its great cultural and historical significance. In particular, by providing an opportunity for the expression and celebration of Native Hawaiian culture, the Festival is strongly connected to its survivance, i.e., the Hawaiian Nation’s continuity and the sovereignty of Native Hawaiians. The aim of this research was therefore to explore this connection with a particular focus on the Festival’s hula competition. Employing interviews with hula dancers and hula instructors, and participant observation, I analyzed the Festival as both a physical and digital space for the expression of Native Hawaiian survivance through the celebration of Native Hawaiian culture, community building, and the sense of belonging and collective identity to which it contributes. Findings included the contribution of familial and communal interactions within the hālau (hula school), parade, art fair, and hula competition to the continuity and strength of the lāhui (Hawaiian Nation); the engagement and symbolization of natural elements throughout hula performances that attest to Hawaiians’ strong connection to the land; the extension of national boundaries into the digital world; and use of the Hawaiian language to create a sovereign space for articulating Hawaiian culture. Thus, this study contributes to scholarship on cultural and performance studies, specifically Hawaiian cultural resistance and survivance, emphasizing the importance of the Merrie Monarch Festival in promoting Hawaiian cultural continuity and sovereignty.