Indigenous
Peoples Specialty Group Selected Sponsored sessions, |
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Renee Louis, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa "Re-Placing the Native
Voice: Hawaiian Place Names and Hawaiian place names and, more importantly, their meanings are no longer victims of colonial geographic naming politics. They are setting a precedent and changing the way people, especially Hawaiians, view and interact with the cultural landscape. In April 1999, the Unites States Geological Survey (USGS) offered to begin adding Hawaiian diacritical marks to those place names with a Hawaiian component found on the 7.5-minute topographic maps now under revision for the first time in 15 years. The Hawai`i Board on Geographic Names (HBGN) accepted the task as long as the Hawaiian diacritical marks were added with a very deliberate attention to accuracy. The HBGN specified that these additions must be made in consultation with accepted authorities on Hawaiian place names including the Hawaiian speaking kupuna (elder generation) who might have special knowledge of specific geographic areas and the meaning of the names given to places. This paper discusses issues the HBGN has faced thus far in the linguistic, political, and cultural realms and provides insight for Native Americans attempting to accomplish similar tasks. email: rlouis (at) aloha.net
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