{"product_id":"finding-meaning-kaona-and-contemporary-hawaiian-literature-9780816537945","title":"Finding Meaning: Kaona and Contemporary Hawaiian Literature","description":"\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Native American Literature Symposium's Beatrice Medicine Award for Published Monograph\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In this first extensive study of contemporary Hawaiian literature, Brandy Nalani McDougall examines a vibrant selection of fiction, poetry, and drama by emerging and established Hawaiian authors, including Haunani-Kay Trask, John Dominis Holt, Imaikalani Kalahele, and Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl. At the center of the analysis is a hallmark of Hawaiian aesthetics--kaona, the intellectual practice of hiding and finding meaning that encompasses the allegorical, the symbolic, the allusive, and the figurative. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e With a poet's attention to detail, McDougall interprets examples of kaona, guiding readers through olelo no'eau (proverbs)\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003emo'olelo (literature and histories), and mooku'auhau (genealogies) alongside their contemporary literary descendants, unveiling complex layers of Hawaiian identity, culture, history, politics, and ecology. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Throughout, McDougall asserts that \"kaona connectivity\" not only carries bright possibilities for connecting the present to the past, but it may also ignite a decolonial future. Ultimately, \u003ci\u003eFinding Meaning\u003c\/i\u003e affirms the tremendous power of Indigenous stories and genealogies to give activism and decolonization movements lasting meaning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBrandy Nalani McDougall is an assistant professor specializing in Indigenous studies in the American Studies Department at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. She is the co-editor of \u003ci\u003eHuihui: Navigating Art and Literature in the Pacific \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eand Home(is)lands: New Writing and Art from Hawai'i and Gu\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eå\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003ehan\u003c\/i\u003e and the author of a poetry collection, \u003ci\u003eThe Salt-Wind \/ Ka Makani Pa\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eakai\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Arizona Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328873697554,"sku":"9780816537945","price":33.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_fb95c198-b964-4d7b-9b09-83237c4e2048.jpg?v=1727753594","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/finding-meaning-kaona-and-contemporary-hawaiian-literature-9780816537945","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}