Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i

Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i by Sara Kehaulani Goo

A large tax bill becomes an opportunity for the author to explore her Hawaiian heritage. She represents a Hawaiian mutt, with heritage from China, Hawaii as well as other areas. She grew up in California and lives on the east coast. She still connects with family in Hawaii, but feels somewhat distance from the place. Her family has some land near Hana. A trust was set up to help maintain it. However, a large tax increase puts that into question. There are some complications. They had donated a heritage historical site to a local park entity. However, the terms were still not fully settled and that makes it difficult to build on the land. The narrative in the book travels back and forth in time as the author explores her and Hawaii's history. There are interesting contradictions to explore in the process. Her "native" culture is really a mixed culture of many of the pre-tourist immigrants. Should this be prioritized over the modern culture? Or were these just as destructive to the early Hawaiian way. How do we react to the various capitalist exploiters? They were able to rake land due to better understanding of the legal systems. However, they were also able to improve it in ways the others could not. Chasing out the tourists may help win elections, but do people really want to go back to pre-industrial society. Is there a way to do things so that everyone benefits? Often the attempts to "stick it to the tourists" really just help benefit the big hotels. This just swaps one tourist out for the other. What would be the best endgame for Hawaii?