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Abstract
This article theorizes potential contributions of outsider analysis to the study of contemporary indigenous traditions, taking Native Hawaiian canoe voyaging and repatriation disputes as its primary examples. The argument proceeds by specifying analytical contributions of articulation theory in contrast to limitations of invention and authenticity discourses. A shared liability of the latter discourses is identified in their tendency to reify identity in ways that preclude engagement with the full range of cultural articulations constitutive of living tradition. Cultural struggle, in particular, is theorized as the aspect of identity articulation that is most explanatory of the character of tradition and least addressed by theories of invention and authenticity.
Abstract
This article is a brief response to Jennifer Graber’s The Gods of Indian Country and Pamela Klassen’s The Story of Radio Mind. The author responds to both texts with attention to questions of method and theory at the intersection of Indigenous studies and religious studies. This response includes comparative reflections from the author’s research contexts concerned with religion and law in contemporary Hawai`i and on Mauna Kea in particular.