Kanaka Maoli

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Hawaiian Kānaka Maoli; from kānaka "people" maoli "indigenous".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkɑːnəkə ˈmɒlɪ]

Noun

Kanaka Maoli (uncountable)

1. Native Hawaiians of Polynesian descent.
   • 1999, Houston Wood, Displacing Natives: The Rhetorical Production of Hawaiʻi, →ISBN, page 13:

     Many contemporary Hawaiians reject both the English name and concept to assert instead that Kanaka Maoli should be identified as a people with a particular relationship to specific places and people.

   • 2011, Jonathan Harris, Globalization and Contemporary Art, →ISBN:

     Joseph Nawahi leaves an important legacy for following generations about the nature and purpose of Kanaka Maoli and indigenous art.

   • 2015, Farzana Gounder, Narrative and Identity Construction in the Pacific Islands, →ISBN, page 132:

     Kanaka Maoli quickly noticed the power of this technology and called to the chiefs to allow the maoli knowledge to come through alongside the missionaries' words of enlightenment, the guise for colonization.