Talk-Story: A Quest for New Research Methodology in Neocolonial Hawai‘i

Abstract

Many elementary schools in Hawai‘i host May celebrations showcasing performance traditions of Hawai‘i and the various ethnic groups that populate the islands. This article focuses on talk-story as an approach to researching and creating dialogue among multiple perspectives of May Day. Talk-story is a Creole English phrase commonly used in Hawai‘i to refer to casual exchanges of personal narratives with a sense of mutuality. I borrowed strategies from collaborative, narrative, autoethnographic and performance traditions to develop a talk-story sensibility that would confront the power and privilege of my voice, the voice of an outside researcher, within the context of neocolonial Hawai‘i.

Acknowledgments

This study would not have been possible without the considerable talking, writing, and performing talents of Ginger Gohier, Annie Lokomaik‘i Lipscomb, and Aito Simpson Steele. Thanks to Donna Grace, Julie Kaomea, Beth Pateman, Richard Johnson, and Judy Van Zile for special care and consideration during the development of this research. This study was supported in part by a grant from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation.