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book reviews sexual shame even after our so-called colonization. An important part of Merry's evidence is that it can be interpreted many ways. While I don't have a problem with her interpretation, it is important that readers understand that she is using these data to support a very particular academic theory rather than composing new descriptions of Kânaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) culture. Frankly, that comes as a relief. It seems to me that Merry is objectifying our culture for the purpose of elucidating a very important theory about states and societies and how they discipline and control human beings. So while I may be dissatisfied with her descriptions of Kânaka Maoli society, I don't think they are the main point of the book, and I don't believe that a different rendering of our culture would make the application of her theory to the changes in nineteenthcentury Hawai`i any different. I wholeheartedly agree that law intruded where custom had not, and that the self-images of Hawaiians and Asians were certainly transformed for the worse as a result. Colonizing Hawai`i is an important and timely work. It has the unusual quality of being intellectually satisfying and plainly lucid. This book
The Contemporary Pacific – University of Hawai'I Press
Published: Jul 1, 2001
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