Theorizing race in Hawai‘i: Centering place, indigeneity, and settler colonialism

Abstract

Scholars have argued that the sociology of race in the United States should be theorized within a settler‐colonial framework, while others have advanced a turn toward empire. Theories of settler colonialism are only recently gaining traction within sociology, however, and insights from Indigenous studies remain unfamiliar to many sociologists of race and ethnicity. Contemporary scholarship on Hawai‘i addresses settler colonialism and indigeneity in ways that could inform the sociology of race. The recent scholarship on Hawai‘i reviewed here advances the theorizing of race in three ways. First, it shows the complexity, endurance, and creativity of Indigenous agency, as well as resistance to colonialism. Second, by critically describing settler colonialism, it distinguishes colonial domination from racial domination, while also demonstrating their entanglements. Third, this body of literature examines how racializations are triangulated, organized by selective assimilation, and shaped by contestations over land, places, and resources. By engaging with these three themes, contemporary scholarship on Hawai‘i suggests pathways for future research at the intersection of race, place, indigeneity, and settler colonialism.

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