He‘e Nalu: Reclaiming Ke Kai

Chapter 1 distinguishes between the movements and languages of Kanaka Maoli surfers with those of the surf tourism industry. A Kanaka surfer becomes more than merely a body riding a wave; he or she can also become political through the sensibility of the act which re-articulates a Kanaka way of knowing that includes indigenous history, values, beliefs, and determinations. Practicing he‘e nalu within the neocolonial reality of the surf tourism industry redistributes what is allowed to be seen and heard by asserting autonomous voices in order to (re)connect. In contrast, the surf tourism industry in Hawai‘i becomes a colonial system that effaces indigenous history, place-names, and imposes a specific narrative about Hawaiian identity, violating the critical relationships Kānaka Maoli have to ke kai today.