In the article I Ka Olelo No Ke Ola: Understanding Indigenous Hawaiian History and Politics Through Hawaiian Language Sources by Noenoe K. Silva and J. Leliani Basham, they empathize that US colonialism have contributed to Hawaiian language erasure, which meant that Hawaiians are taught in English rather than their native language. Moreover, this means that colonialism is erasing the study of Hawaiian history and perspective, politics and anthropology by having it done in English. The language revitalization movement have given us the opportunity to study Hawaiian history from the Hawaiian perspective. Specifically, Silva examines the history of the Hawaiian overthrow and the opposition of the annexation of Hawaii by the US in the Hawaiian perspective and compares it …show more content…
Then, the colonizer wiped out the Hawaiian language and was slowly replaced with English which is the colonizer’s language. Colonialism also resulted in the erasure of Hawaiian culture, art, politics and dances, and ultimately strip the land connection that is central to Hawaiians. The mele gives us information about the Hawaiian perspective regarding about what happened to the Hawaiian kingdom and the Hawaiians thoughts about it. The first verse of the mele describes the events before, during and after the overthrow. Specifically, the queen requested her members to sign the new constitution, that will result in the return of her monarchial power. The historical information demonstrated that the queen was in the middle of devising a new constitution and that the cabinet agreed. However, the queen was deceived by “the soothing voices” and the cabinet didn’t sign the document. Then, the queen told her members to keep the harmony. The historians thought that the Hawaiians kept calm because they lacked spirit, but in reality, the Hawaiians obeyed their