Native Hawaiian Perspectives on Imperialism, Colonialism, and Nationalism in the 19th Century

What if we were to understand indigenous people as active agents of global exploration rather than its passive objects? What if, instead of conceiving of global exploration as an activity of European men such as Columbus or Cook, we thought of the colonized themselves as actively engaging in exploration and remapping? This study takes up these questions in regard to Native Hawaiian people. It concludes that struggles over colonialism were mapped out in struggles to discursively construct the meaning of spaces and the relationship between them--what I am calling the politics of geography. 'A World of Power' traces how Native Hawaiian people in the 19th century explored the outside world, constructed their own understandings of it, and strategically engaged the politics of geography. The project argues that to understand Hawai'i and other places in struggle over colonialism, scholars must turn their attention to the political valences of sites and of the relationships between them.