Ka Ia Hamau Leo: Silences that Speak Volumes for Honouliuli

Abstract

This article will examine the silences that surround the ia hamau leo (the silent-voiced fish) known as the pipi (oyster), which was a major food source for the ahupuaa (land division) of Honouliuli and the entire moku (district) of Ewa, I will do that by first describing the respect given to the pipi by Kanaka Maoli (the Native Hawaiian people) and the interdependence and interconnectedness between the pipi, the people, and their environment. This interdependence exemplifies the unique relationship that existed between the Native Hawaiian people and their environment, which was based on mutual respect and a seeking of pono—harmony and balance between the needs of people to extract resources from a place for life and livelihood and the needs of a place and its other inhabitants to their own life and livelihood. The article will then examine another form of silencing that resulted from various forms of colonial influences, which created a rift in the relationship that existed between Kanaka Maoli, the pipi, and the environment in which the people and the pipi once lived and thrived. Various Hawaiian resources form the foundation of this work. These resources will include olelo noeau (proverbial sayings), mele (song, poetry), and moolelo (histories, stories) that were written and published in Hawaiian language newspapers and books in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I will interpret these in terms of historical, political, and cultural content—in order to better understand and articulate the intimate relationship that Kanaka Maoli established and nurtured with their land base in order that we, of this and future generations, can give life to these places through the knowing of them, by giving voice to their names, and their stories, and thereby honoring their lives.