Over the past week we have been reading Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid. Her story over the citizens of Jamaica being used by their corrupt economic system. Over these class discussions and documentary Life and Death, I decided to talk about my ethnicity Hawaiian, and how their culture is being oppressed with tourism and the US government.
https://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/tourism-and-the-prostitution-of-hawaiian-culture
In this article, Tourism and the Prostitution of Hawaiian Culture, discusses how tourism is actually driving Hawaiian natives out the state for numerous tourism problems. The article states facts how tourism is negatively hitting the Hawaiian natives such as, nearly one-fifth of Hawai'i's resident population is classified as homeless due to tourism because with tourism is foreign investment which means high inflation,and high cost of living. It is very depressing to know that some of family go through these hard times due to tourism. These natives were there from the very beginning and to have the US government just take over their land, my families land, and Hawai'i's government and use tourism against these residents, "tourism is the state's only money maker". Hawai'i is known for way much more than the US government tells us.
This article is awesome because it breaks down the prostitution of Hawaiian culture. Quoted from the article which sums it all up short story short "Hawai'i, our ancient and erotic land, is the female object of degraded and victimized value. Our lands are no longer the source of food and shelter, but the source of money. Land is now called "real estate", rather than Papahanaumoku, "she who gives birth to islands".
How would you feel if this happened to you? All this issues to live a life in Hawai'i, what if all these issues were where you were living? How would you make ends meet?
