American Presence in Hawaii

In the “Dole Street” section of Juliana Spahr’s Well then there now, American presence is everywhere. Dole street was named after “Sanford B. Dole president of the Provisional Government (1893-1894) and the Republic of Hawaii (1895-1898) and governor of the Territory of Hawaii (1998-1903).” As an annexationist Dole did not believe that Native Hawaiians should be allowed to vote. He said, “I believe it is exceedingly necessary to keep out of politics this class of people, irresponsible people I mean.” His words on the very first page of this section set the tone of the American presence in this part of the book. There are many other places in this section in which American presence is evident. The commodification of surfing by Americans is especially evident in part two of this section when it is described that, “companies like Local Motion and Roxy that sell surf products especially like to use this trinity of girls.” The trinity being surfing, girls and Hawaii. From this very obvious presence of America and the legacy of commodifying just about everything we learn that the exploitation of Hawaiian culture is the money maker and tourist attraction that make money for the Americans. The commodification of this culture is the foundation of big surf companies. Spahr says, “These companies sell Hawaii as they sell surfing gear and accessories.” This passage especially shows us how everything in Hawaii even it’s natural beauty and resources are used to sell a brand and bring in tourism. Non-native plants brought by Americans have damaged some of the landscape and it seems that every move made by the Americans leaves evidence of their presence and continue to find something else in Hawaii to exploit. 

-Loren