%0 Journal Article
%T Hawaiian style graffiti and the questions of sovereignty, law, property, and ecology
%A Masahide T. Kato
%J AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples
%@ 1174-1740
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1177180118786242
%X Based on the ethnographic insight gained from the fieldwork conducted between 2006 and 2012 on the island of Oˇ®ahu, this article attempts to capture the aesthetic and symbolic expressions of decolonization in aerosol writing pieces by a crew primarily composed of Kanaka Maoli (ˇ°true human being,ˇ± indigenous people of Hawaiˇ®i) writers. By focusing on the indigenous aesthetic practice of kaona (ˇ°hidden meaningˇ±), the article analyzes the ways in which Hawaiian style graffiti unveils the contested issues of jurisdiction, sovereignty, property claims, and ecological integrity under the prolonged colonial and military occupation. It simultaneously illuminates the decolonial vision brought forth by K¨ˇnaka Maoli writers that seeks to transcend and transform the realities imposed by the colonial and occupational power. Through socio-historical contextualization, the article draws parallels between the time of Hawaiian Kingdom and the present, to unravel the integration of ancestral knowledge and contemporary expressions in Hawaiian style graffiti
%K graffiti
%K indigenous aesthetics
%K kiˇ®i p¨­haku
%K sovereignty
%K property
%K ecology
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1177180118786242