Geopathology on May Day: Expressions of Culture on Hawai‘i's Elementary School Stages

Abstract

In Hawai‘i's elementary schools, May Day programs feature children adorned with flower leis, singing and dancing hula about Hawaiian culture and performing traditions from major ethnic groups who settled the islands. Using the lens of geopathology, this research questions how various groups of residents long for belonging and struggle for emplacement through performances of culture on May Day. Following an ethnographic tradition, a collaborative research team attended May Day programs at elementary schools and interviewed a range of students, elders, teachers, administrators, parents, May Day coordinators, and arts specialists. The researchers processed themes in personal terms using auto-ethnographic reflections and original performances to bring multiple perspectives into dialogue. This critical discussion reveals four perceptions of May Day expressed by the study's participants: (a) American assimilation, (b) visitor attraction, (c) multicultural recognition, and (d) Hawaiian preservation.

Notes

1. The research team developed interpretive performance texts independently and collaboratively, in the forms of dance, photo montage, poetry, monologue, and dramatic vignette. Our intention was to build personal, internal meaning from our external observations, analyze the stories we had collected through interactive deconstruction and synthesis, and share a set of aesthetic interpretations with an audience both to engage and to challenge their prior perceptions of May Day. For a more detailed discussion of the intention, process, strengths, and challenges of this approach see Simpson Steele (2012). Selections of the full-length performance texts are available in Simpson Steele, Gohier, Lipscomb, and Simpson Steele (2012).