There’s a lot of discussion around the word māhū and usually that discussion comes not from the Hawaiian community but from people who feel like they know what the word means or rather what that personage really embodies. It’s a complicated situation in many ways because it was weaponized by people who came in to diminish others in our society and also has been used to hurt people who are not what others considered “heteronormal”.
When speaking about how authors take liberties with the Hawaiian language and culture I often get told that it’s not that serious and I pretty much should sit down and shut up. Or I get told well you know it’s just a book. You see, it’s not just a book. It literally is my culture and my people and my language and my mythologies and even my religion. I also know that my family doesn’t view me as Hawaiian in quite a few aspects because they really don’t know me at that level. Partially that’s my fault because I’m not really open when I talk about who I am but here I am talking about it.
Do I take offense when someone uses the word māhū and uses it as a excuse to label someone is gay or a derogatory label to make them feel small? Yes. Of course I would. Do I get angry when I am told by other people oh it’s not that serious? Fuck yes. Because it is serious. I get offended by plastic hula skirts and people dancing in the Lilo and Stitch hula which drives me insane because there is a hula for that song and they are not dancing it. I get it that it’s an easy lazy way out for corporations and individuals to not understand a culture that has been overthrown by the American government. We are not the first culture that that has been done to and probably will not be the last.
I know I’ve pissed off a lot of authors by saying hey that is not Hawai’i and that is not what these words mean. Because they do not want us to correct those fantasies. They don’t like being told that we’re not some exotic pet for them to keep in a cage of their making. And oftentimes that’s what it feels like. I’m not going to say I’m sorry for saying something isn’t depicted correctly or that this is an abuse of my culture, of any of my cultures.
I asked that people stop and look at what they’re doing and if you’re writing about someplace that you do not know anything about, don’t base it on that two week trip you did in Maui. Reach out to somebody who is local to that culture if you feel like you have a burning need to tell a story about that area and those people. But be prepared to be told that what you are writing is fully outside of the realm of reality because I have more than once read a book where I needed to burn the pages and I was reading on the Kindle.
So let’s start with the word māhū and really what it means. And not necessarily the way that it was twisted to become hurtful. Colonization isn’t just about taking the land but it is also about corrupting the culture and that is what we need to purge from the Hawaiian mindset. That our people and its culture and the positive things that we had as our own authentic selves should be perpetuated. Of course we do need to evolve for the time that we are in a modern world and adjust prejudices that we have had in the past or even social constructs that do need to be re-examined for equity and equality but not at the expense of what made us Hawaiian.
I’m sharing this because I have a deep love for this Creator and he always speaks very authentically and very much wholeheartedly with the intent of educating and supporting our people.
Rhys Ford 