Tourism and its Impact on Native Hawaiian Culture Preservation and its Barriers, Failures and Opportunities

Tourism is a uniquely situated prism. Using anthropology's culture glasses, we examine various factors such as cultural representation, identity, space/place, development, inequality, globalization, and cultural and environmental change. My research focuses on the cultural preservation of Native Hawaiian culture and its barriers, failures, and opportunities for the future. 
Since the illegal annexation of the Hawaiian Islands by the United States in 1898, a conflict has existed between Western and Native Hawaiian cultures. I use the domineering tourism industry as a research background as the Hawaiian Islands welcomed 10.4 million visitors in 2019 (Hawai'i Tourism Authority 2020). According to the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, this is the highest recorded visitor count in Hawai'i's history. In addition, cultural appropriation is visible as Hawaiian aspects of religious culture have been heavily appropriated in the west through the industrialized tourism industry. Before pre-contact and the written word, Hawaiians recorded their religion, genealogies, and mythologies through dance (hula), mo'olelo (stories), chants without dance (oli), and songs (mele). The essence of this culture is misused in staged hula and fire dances among tiki torches to supposedly present "America's Paradise" to the visitor. The elements are taken out of religious context to stereotype this Polynesian culture as savage and exotic for the visitors. Since annexation, though, Native Hawaiians consistently resisted colonial impositions but continually had to sacrifice their land and engage in public tourism performances. In the 1970s, Native Hawaiians began publicly revitalizing their culture and challenging the settler-colonial order. In a sense, Hawaiians became alienated from cultural values and responsibilities until the Hawaiian cultural renaissance began. With the cultural renaissance came the re-entrenchment to reassert the traditional values and ways of life. 
This research project is a foundation for future research on this topic.