03-14-2007, 12:41 AM
Aloha e Buzz.
Yeah... in the Western world many people see it as being lost probably because they are not used to it being orally based whereas in the Western world material is based on what is written. Orally based cultures like ours does not necessarily correlate with our culture being lost. We adapt like other people and cultures do.
For example despite the influx of American food I still eat Hawaiian food though it is difficult to find sometimes. I think I've mentioned before too... that there is no book about Hawaiian food but I still eat Hawaiian food like ake, aku palu, oio, opelu, poi etc.
Another example is hula. Whereas haumana may write things down, kumu hula typically teach orally.
Many times it's out of respect for their kupuna too. It's just different but I don't think that its fair to say that we will lose our culture because we don't write things down. To me there is no correlation but in the Western world I think that they are unaccustomed to this. That may be why but its different with Hawaiians. We talk. Literally. In fact if you look online (here and elsewhere) rarely will you find Hawaiians who type which is another example but just because something is written about our culture does not mean that the culture won't be lost.
The culture you see... lives in its people. Not in books.
Y.W.N.
Edited by - Haole Girl on 03/14/2007 04:43:46
Yeah... in the Western world many people see it as being lost probably because they are not used to it being orally based whereas in the Western world material is based on what is written. Orally based cultures like ours does not necessarily correlate with our culture being lost. We adapt like other people and cultures do.
For example despite the influx of American food I still eat Hawaiian food though it is difficult to find sometimes. I think I've mentioned before too... that there is no book about Hawaiian food but I still eat Hawaiian food like ake, aku palu, oio, opelu, poi etc.
Another example is hula. Whereas haumana may write things down, kumu hula typically teach orally.
Many times it's out of respect for their kupuna too. It's just different but I don't think that its fair to say that we will lose our culture because we don't write things down. To me there is no correlation but in the Western world I think that they are unaccustomed to this. That may be why but its different with Hawaiians. We talk. Literally. In fact if you look online (here and elsewhere) rarely will you find Hawaiians who type which is another example but just because something is written about our culture does not mean that the culture won't be lost.
The culture you see... lives in its people. Not in books.
Y.W.N.
Edited by - Haole Girl on 03/14/2007 04:43:46
Y.W.N.