Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Investigation of Change and Continuity in Household Consumption in the Hinterlands of Early Nineteenth-Century Hawaii

College Of William And Mary, Williamsburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

Summer Moore will investigate the effects of colonial expansion and, in particular, the market economy on Hawaiian households in the daily lives of indigenous families living in remote regions. Researchers have long studied the processes by which culture contact in colonial settings drives social and cultural shifts at the micro-scale, or household, level. It has often been assumed that social change stemming from colonial interaction, such as adopting new forms of household economic organization, spreads uniformly through indigenous societies. In recent years, scholars have placed increasing emphasis on understanding how individuals and social groups shaped their participation in large-scale social and economic trends initiated by high-status elites in unique and independent ways. This research focuses specifically on colonial-era Hawai'i, examining how groups in isolated areas of the island chain chose to accept, reject, or modify newly introduced household practices based on local needs and concerns. Investigating small-scale, local responses to "top-down" social forces will provide a better understanding of processes of social change in both ancient societies and in the present. Hawaiian and Hawai'i-based students will take part in all phases of work, offering crucial training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate archaeology students in both excavation and laboratory techniques. Such instruction will help increase the representation of Hawaiian archaeologists working in Hawai'i, an under-represented minority group in the field. William & Mary students will assist with the laboratory analysis phase, which will also provide an important opportunity for applied training in archaeological research techniques. This research will explore how inhabitants of remote, outlying regions under nominal colonial control responded to large-scale social transformations, as well as how these responses may have shifted through time. Using a theoretical framework highlighting the self-determination of local communities, this research focuses on three communities on the Nâ Pali Coast of Kaua'i Island, Hawai'i, a remote region located far from Hawai'i's political centers. The Nâ Pali Coast is separated from the rest of the island by high cliffs that restrict overland access to the region. Lying in an isolated region at the margins of the newly emerging Hawaiian Kingdom, these sites provide a unique case study to explore responses to nineteenth-century colonialism. This project uses multiple lines of evidence, including household archaeology and information from historical documents, to compare consumption practices on Kaua'i Island's remote Nâ Pali Coast to patterns seen in more central parts of the archipelago. If early nineteenth-century Nâ Pali Coast households did pursue distinctive economic strategies, it will be compelling evidence that nineteenth-century social and cultural transformations were not progressive and inevitable, as now understood, but instead subject to local negotiation and contestation. This research has implications for understanding local responses not only to European colonialism in the modern era but also to large-scale patterns of social change in historical contexts world-wide.