FYI: Archival journal expected to enrich Hawaiian studies

[Scott McGinnis]

Courtesy of Peter Kiang, from the HONOLULU ADVERTISER...

> Archival journal expected to enrich Hawaiian studies
>
> Honolulu Advertiser
> Thursday, December 26, 2002
>
> By Vicki Viotti
> Advertiser Staff Writer
>
> For a people who lived for centuries without a written language, the
> Hawaiians certainly embraced it once it came. Now several scholars
> are laboring to bring more of that writing out of dusty corners and
> into the light.
> "Ka Ho'oilina" means "the legacy," and it's also the title of the
> periodical subtitled "Journal of Hawaiian Language Resources," a work
> that seeks eventually to publish a quarter-million pages of archival
> Hawaiian text alongside an English translation.
>
> The legacy is a glimpse into Hawaiian life in the 19th and early 20th
> centuries, descriptions of everything from the ordinary (the
> usefulness of the coconut tree) to the extraordinary (the outlandish
> appearance of the elephant). Inside are death dirges and anatomical
> studies, legends and political treatises.
>
> It is the only bilingual journal devoted to an aboriginal language in
> the United States, said Bob Stauffer, who heads the "Legacy" project
> for Alu Like, the organization that provides services to Native
> Hawaiians and the agency that founded Ka Ho'oilina. Most other Native
> American languages have relatively few archival documents to reclaim.
>
> He remembered consulting with a Navajo scholar, asking about archival
> works in that Native American language.
>
> "He said, 'What do you mean, archives? We don't have any archives,'"
> Stauffer said. "This is precedent setting."
>
> Sometimes the scope of the publication feels intimidating, said its
> editor, Kalena Silva.
>
> "The aim of the journal is as comprehensive and massive as any," he
> said. "The preservation, publication and dissemination of some
> 250,000 pages of materials in the Hawaiian language is a monumental
> undertaking and will take decades to complete."
>
> The first edition, a 159-page volume, came out last summer and the
> second is due out in a couple of months, Stauffer said. All of it is
> available online (http://hooilina.olelo.hawaii.edu) at a site where
> the reader can toggle back and forth between translations.
>
> The Web site, like the hard-copy edition, prints all the text in
> three forms: the original Hawaiian text, without diacritical marks
> and some variations in spelling; the modern Hawaiian, which uses the
> marks (the glottal stop, or 'okina, and the macron, or kahako); and
> English.
>
> With so much to do, the editors have had to establish publishing
> priorities, Silva said, and on top of the list they are including in
> every issue at least one work from the Hawaiian Ethnographic Notes
> (HEN) collection. These consist mainly of materials selected and
> translated in draft form by the late Mary Kawena Pukui, the noted
> Hawaiian scholar. The Legacy Project is starting with writings on
> agricultural lore.
>
> Here are the other primary targets, although the journal is expected
> occasionally to include other special items:
>
>  Government documents, starting with the constitutions.
>  Newspapers - a chronological record, starting with the first
> edition in 1834.
>  Newspapers from historically critical times, starting with
> those published in 1892.
>  Humanities - stories, chants and other literature.
>  Student materials, starting with a textbook on anatomy from
> the College of Hawai'i at Lahaina Luna.
>
> Translating all of this is meticulous work, Stauffer said, requiring
> a lot of consultation among the editorial committee, numbering around
> three dozen.
>
> And even when the staff feels satisfied, others have criticized the
> futility of rendering every Hawaiian nuance in English, Silva said.
>
> "Some critics have also likened the process of English translation of
> materials to the unraveling of other traditional items of fine
> Hawaiian manufacture - like taking apart an exquisite old lei hulu
> (feather lei) to show those unfamiliar with it how it was made," he
> said.
>
> But Silva said he's convinced the crew is doing the right thing,
> bringing writing that was published in newspapers for the general
> public back before that public again.
>
> "The journal provides a window in time allowing 21st-century readers
> to view the world through the eyes of Hawaiian language writers of
> the 19th century," he said.
>
> And, said archivist Janet Zisk, another team member, it will raise
> the profile of the Hawaiian language internationally.
>
> "This journal will be in every university in the world," she said.
> "Hawaiian will be more accessible to be respected and used."
>
>
> Article url:
> http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Dec/26/ln/ln35a.html
>
> ------------------Copyright 2002 The Honolulu Advertiser-----------------
>