Synopses & Reviews
Winner, 2013 Best First Book in Womenand#39;s, Gender, and/or Sexuality History by the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians
Winner, 2013 Lawrence W. Levine Award, Organization of American Historians
Winner, 2013 Congress on Research in Dance Outstanding Publication Award
Aloha America reveals the role of hula in legitimating U.S. imperial ambitions in Hawaiand#39;i. Hula performers began touring throughout the continental United States and Europe in the late nineteenth century. These andquot;hula circuitsandquot; introduced hula, and Hawaiians, to U.S. audiences, establishing an andquot;imagined intimacy,andquot; a powerful fantasy that enabled Americans to possess their colony physically and symbolically. Meanwhile, in the early years of American imperialism in the Pacific, touring hula performers incorporated veiled critiques of U.S. expansionism into their productions.
At vaudeville theaters, international expositions, commercial nightclubs, and military bases, Hawaiian women acted as ambassadors of aloha, enabling Americans to imagine Hawaiand#39;i as feminine and benign, and the relation between colonizer and colonized as mutually desired. By the 1930s, Hawaiian culture, particularly its music and hula, had enormous promotional value. In the 1940s, thousands of U.S. soldiers and military personnel in Hawaiand#39;i were entertained by hula performances, many of which were filmed by military photographers. Yet, as Adria L. Imada shows, Hawaiians also used hula as a means of cultural survival and countercolonial political praxis. In Aloha America, Imada focuses on the years between the 1890s and the 1960s, examining little-known performances and films before turning to the present-day reappropriation of hula by the Hawaiian self-determination movement.
Review
andquot;Attentive to global forces of U.S. imperialism and to the agency of discrete cultural producers, Adria L. Imada conceives of Hawaiian hula as constitutive of colonial relations involving collaboration and resistance. Moreover and significantly, 'hula circuits' outside of Hawaii, she suggests, sustained Hawaiian culture (and hence nationhood) even as they transformed itandmdash;an astute and provocative contention.andquot;andmdash;Gary Y. Okihiro, author of Island World: A History of Hawaiandrsquo;i and the United States
Review
andquot;In Aloha America, Adria L. Imada shows how U.S. elites used a blend of tropicalism and orientalism to facilitate U.S. domination over Hawai'i. By foregrounding the eroticized bodies of Hawaiian women hula dancers, these elites created what Imada calls an 'imagined intimacy' between the U.S. public and the subjugated Hawaiians. The sexualized images of Hawaiian women helped to occlude resistance to U.S. imperialism in the Pacific and to make Hawai'i suitable for statehood by shifting Americans' attention away from its large Asian immigrant population. At the same time, hula served as a countercolonial archive of collective Hawaiian memory, preserving preconquest histories, epistemologies, and ontologies.andquot;andmdash;George Lipsitz, author of How Racism Takes Place
Review
andldquo;[An] extensively researched history. . . . Archival digs brought Imada into contact with surviving dancers and their families, whose stories she wove with her own experiences to produce a comprehensive account of how the andldquo;adaptive and resilient practiceandrdquo; of hula works in conjunction with tourism. . . .Fascinating photographs of the dancersandmdash;with careful commentary on poses and dressandmdash;illuminate the mannerisms and views of the performers. andldquo;
Review
andldquo;For a reader who is not deeply familiar with hula and its culture, and may be guilty of watching hula simply for the entertainment factor, Aloha America is a refreshing page-turner. Albeit the moderate level of scholarly information, Imada makes the text easy to digest, also injecting touching anecdotes of hula life behind the stage lights. The final product is a book that is more an interesting field study than strict academic rhetoric.andrdquo;
Review
“Aloha America is an important and timely contribution to the hula literature and, more broadly, scholarship investigating the complex relationships between gender, performance, politics, and the arts. This book is highly relevant for scholars and students in anthropology, Pacific and indigenous studies, American studies, performance studies, and ethnomusicology. It provides a useful model for interdisciplinary research into indigenous artistic practices, underscoring both the agency of its interlocutors and the multifaceted nature of expressive culture.” Honolulu Weekly
Review
andldquo;Well written and beautifully illustrated with archival photographs, the book provides dynamic portrayals of individual Hawaiiansandhellip;With chapter 3, on world exhibitions in the United States, as the bookandrsquo;s centerpiece, Imada tells a lively and layered history of hula circuits in the U.S. empire, an important story about hula practices and people operating beyond Hawaii but never outside its politics.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Aloha America is an impressive and provocative book. and#160;It will command a broad readership among scholars of American studies, colonial and postcolonial studies, gender studies, indigenous studies, performance studies, and U.S. history.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;In Aloha America, Adria L. Imada offers a nuanced and detailed study of how hula performers from Hawaiandrsquo;i negotiated the objectifying gaze of audiences...Imada writes in a clear and engaging style, breaking down the theoretical concepts she draws from in concise and digestible fashion.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Aloha America is an original, important contribution to Asian American studies as it foregrounds Hawaiian cultural movements, U.S. imperialism in the Pacific, and the embodied and emotional intimacies that shape gendered and sexualized relations between colonized and colonizer. It is theoretically sophisticated, empirically robust, and highly engaging...andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Aloha Americaand#160;is a richly textured and engaging narrative of the fraught relationship between the United States and Hawaiandrsquo;i as seen through the lens of hula, the regionandrsquo;s most recognizable and widely circulated cultural practiceandhellip;. This is an utterly engaging and thorough work of scholarship, and it is a welcome contribution to the fields of dance, theatre, and performance studies, one that also deeply engages indigenous studies, gender studies, and American studies frameworksandhellip;. What Imada provides is a deep understanding of racially mixed, commoner-status, (mostly) female artistsandrsquo; lives as they navigated the globe, imperial politics, and their own modern desires.andrdquo;
Synopsis
Aloha America reveals the role of hula in legitimating U.S. imperial ambitions in Hawai'i. Hula performers began touring throughout the continental United States and Europe in the late nineteenth century. These "hula circuits" introduced hula, and Hawaiians, to U.S. audiences, establishing an "imagined intimacy," a powerful fantasy that enabled Americans to possess their colony physically and symbolically. Meanwhile, in the early years of American imperialism in the Pacific, touring hula performers incorporated veiled critiques of U.S. expansionism into their productions.
At vaudeville theaters, international expositions, commercial nightclubs, and military bases, Hawaiian women acted as ambassadors of aloha, enabling Americans to imagine Hawai'i as feminine and benign, and the relation between colonizer and colonized as mutually desired. By the 1930s, Hawaiian culture, particularly its music and hula, had enormous promotional value. In the 1940s, thousands of U.S. soldiers and military personnel in Hawai'i were entertained by hula performances, many of which were filmed by military photographers. Yet, as Adria L. Imada shows, Hawaiians also used hula as a means of cultural survival and countercolonial political praxis. In Aloha America, Imada focuses on the years between the 1890s and the 1960s, examining little-known performances and films before turning to the present-day reappropriation of hula by the Hawaiian self-determination movement.
Synopsis
Paying particular attention to hula performances that toured throughout the U.S. beginning in the late nineteenth century, Adria L. Imada investigates the role of hula in the American colonization of Hawai'i.
About the Author
Adria L. Imada is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego.
Table of Contents
Note on Language ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction. Aloha America 1
1. Lady Jane at the Boathouse: The Intercultural World of Hula 29
2. Modern Desires and Counter-Colonial Tactics: Gender, Performance, and the Erotics of Empire 59
3. Impresarios on the Midway: World's Fairs and Colonial Politics 103
4. andquot;Hula Queensandquot; and andquot;Cinderellaandquot;: Imagined Intimacy in the Empire 153
5. The Troupes Meet the Troops: Imperial Hospitality and Military Photography in the Pacific Theater 213
Epilogue. New Hula Movements 255
Chronology. Hawai'i Exhibits at International Expositions, 1894and#8211;1915 269
Abbreviations of Collections, Libraries, and Archives 271
Notes 273
Glossary 337
Bibliography 339
Index 357