By Tori Eldridge
A Kanaka Maoli author and tūtū strengthens her connection to homeland and heritage through her novels.
I carry the culture and influences of my youth wherever I go, as I imagine other Kānaka Maoli who were born and raised in Hawaiʻi and then moved away also do. But once I became a tūtū, that was no longer enough. I needed to connect more deeply. I had become the keeper of Hawaiian traditions for my moʻopuna, despite having lived away from Hawaiʻi for over 45 years.
I think this is a common challenge among the Hawaiian diaspora. All of us who care about our heritage must find, reconnect with, and/or continually rediscover what being Hawaiian means to us.
Many in the Hawaiian diaspora also question (or have been questioned by others!) whether we are Hawaiian enough.
This issue of identity is so pressing among Native Hawaiians and multicultural communities at large that I have explored this theme in nearly everything I write, especially in my most recent novels, Hawaiʻi Rage and Kauaʻi Storm.
In this new series, I incorporate the Hawaiian diaspora experience by writing about a hapa-Hawaiian national park ranger, born and raised on a Kauaʻi Hawaiian Home Lands homestead, who has been on the continent for a decade and is now trying to fit in with her family and community back home.
But I also wanted to write authentically about the challenges Kānaka Maoli in Hawaiʻi are facing today.
Once again, I questioned if I had been away too long.
Fortunately, my research led me to reconnect with and discover many empowering old and new local friends. It also inspired me to take immersion courses in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi to better understand the language I had sung and danced to in my youth. I even began chanting again to feel the sounds in my bones. It made me so happy that I began composing little mele to amuse my moʻopuna and lull them to sleep.
I wouldn’t have known how to do this if I hadn’t been inspired to learn and reconnect.
Mahalo nui loa to the editors of Ka Wai Ola News for inviting me to share my diaspora experience and my work. It means so much that you offer this space to give our people a voice. Mahalo wau iā ʻoukou a pau! I appreciate you all so much!
Tori Eldridge is the bestselling author of “Hawaiʻi Rage,” “Kauaʻi Storm,” the “Lily Wong” ninja thriller series, and “Dance Among the Flames.” Born in Honolulu of Hawaiian, Chinese, and Norwegian descent, she graduated from Punahou School with classmate Barack Obama before performing as an actress, singer, and dancer on Broadway, television, and film, and earning a fifth-degree black belt in To-Shin Do ninja martial arts. She lives in Oregon with her moʻopuna and has continued her studies and enrichment by writing about Hawaiʻi’s rich paniolo culture in her newest novel, “Hawaiʻi Rage.” Learn more at torieldridge.com.
