Churchill, Ward, and Venne, Sharon H., eds. Islands in Captivity: The International Tribunal on the Rights of Indigenous Hawaiians.

• Author: Garcia, Cheryl Crozier
• Position: Book review

Churchill, Ward, and Venne, Sharon H., eds. Islands in Captivity: The International Tribunal on the Rights of Indigenous Hawaiians. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2004. 783 pages. Cloth, $40.00.

In 1893, a group of white business people, with the unauthorized assistance of a U.S. Navy warship, overthrew the lawful sovereign of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and created the Republic of Hawaii. In 1898, the Republic was annexed as a territory to the United States, and in 1959 Hawaii became the fiftieth state. The effect of these events on the indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands was nothing short of disastrous; Hawaiians were evicted from their traditional homelands and stripped of their language, religion, and culture. The effects of these actions continue to be felt among present-day Native Hawaiians, who, like other indigenous peoples, are now pushing for the restoration of their sovereignty, the return of their land base, and the rebirth of their inherent dignity.

In 1993, the centennial anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, a group of Native Hawaiian sovereignty activists gathered before an internationally recognized panel of experts on indigenous rights and international law to document the history of the Native Hawaiian people from their own perspective, to publicize the wrongs they allege were perpetrated against them by the U.S. government, and to elucidate their needs for redress.

Churchill and Venne, who served as judges on the people's tribunal, compiled numerous background essays submitted to the tribunal, and edited hundreds of hours of testimony and exhibits. The result is Islands in Captivity, a comprehensive history of Hawaii from the perspective of its native children, which documents the almost universally negative impact of Western contact on Native Hawaiians and their demands for redress for the wrongs done to them.

The scope of the collection is broad and deep. Volume I contains a number of essays chronicling life in pre-contact Hawaii. The essays discuss estimations of population density; religious practice; culture and lifestyle; agriculture, aquaculture, and industry; gender and age roles; traditional forms of government; and, the relationship of pre-contact Native Hawaiians to the land and to nature. Volume II delineates the charges against the U.S. government and contains the transcripts of testimonies from witnesses for the complainants. These testimonies were taken on the islands of Oahu, Maui...