Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal

Breann Swann Nuʻuhiwa on Good Native Hawaiian Governance

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Breann Swann Nuʻuhiwa has published “Government of the People, by the People, for the People:  Cultural Sovereignty, Civil Rights, and Good Native Hawaiian Governance” in the Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal.

Here is an excerpt:

Yet “civil rights,” as they are understood and articulated by the federal government, are not necessarily congruous with core Native Hawaiian beliefs about leadership, relationships, and responsibility. Furthermore, as history demonstrates, the wholesale  appropriation of American rights principles by the Native Hawaiian people can hinder Native Hawaiian sovereignty and privilege non-community members over community members. Accordingly, the founders of the reorganized Native Hawaiian government must take special care to balance external expectations with Native Hawaiian beliefs and  values in order to develop an approach to civil rights that maximizes Native Hawaiian  sovereignty. This article seeks to provide information and analysis that may be of use to the Native Hawaiian convention participants as they design a civil rights approach.

New Scholarship on Native Hawaiians and NAGPRA

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

E. Sunny Greer has published ” Na Wai Hoʻōla i Nā Iwi?  Who Will Save the Bones:  Native Hawaiians and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act” in the Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal.

An excerpt:

This paper will argue that although the application of the Native American Graves Protection Act (“NAGPRA”) in Hawai‘i is problematic, it is imperative that Native Hawaiians include the care of ancestral remains and cultural objects as integral components of their cultural and political assertion of sovereignty.

New Scholarship on Congress’ Authority to Recognize a Native Hawaiian Polity United by Common Descent

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Derek H. Kauanoe and Breann Swann Nuʻuhiwa have published “We Are Who We Thought We Were: Congress’ Authority to Recognize a Native Hawaiian Polity United by Common Descent” (pdf) in the Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal. Here is the abstract:

In an attempt to fulfill the federal government’s moral imperative, the United States Congress has spent more than a decade considering several proposed versions of the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act (colloquially referred to as the “Akaka Bill”), which seeks to restore a small measure of Native Hawaiian self-governing authority by providing a process for the formal federal acknowledgment of a reorganized Native Hawaiian governing entity. The proposed Act changes significantly with each new Congress, but from its initial introduction in 2000 to the present, the Act has consistently required that the initial reorganization of the Native Hawaiian polity be carried out by the Native Hawaiian community, united by common Native Hawaiian descent without regard to blood quantum.