| This study explores the narrative, performative, and artistic expressions of women on the "radical fringe" who choose to birth wholistically and with a traditional, lay midwife---often at home, on the land, or in the water---on the Island of Hawai'i, the homeland of native goddess and 'aumakua (ancestral deity) Tutu Pele. With homebirthers comprising less than 1% of all pregnant women in the United States, these subaltern, ethnically-eclectic, malihini (non-native) women use their pregnancies to renegotiate their identities, re-affirm their lifestyle choices, and re-tribalize in the emergent gaia (mother earth, goddess, matristic) tradition.;From the perspective of eco/spiritual feminism, these women embody three facets of "matristic creation"---procreation, cosmic creation, and artistic creation. Physically, they view their blossoming bellies as symbolically potent and empowering. Spiritually, they practice a blend of beliefs that honor the sacredness of Mother Earth and the interconnectedness of their bodies to nature, spirit, and humanity. Creatively, they manifest self-taught art---whether performative, behavioral, visual, or narrative---that is refreshingly raw and compelling, rich with metaphors of female agency, sexuality, and regeneration.;Exploring birth art and the art of birthing from multiple perspectives, this interdisciplinary research draws from works in feminist archaeology, medical and cultural anthropology, folklore and mythology, eco- and spiritual-feminism, lay- and spiritual-midwifery, and traditional and contemporary female shamanism. Each section of the manuscript is foregrounded by various expositions of birth in relation to native Hawaiian epistemology, ontology, cosmology, and cosmogony as introduced and presented by kanaka Maoli (native) scholar and educator, Manulani Aluli Meyer. Translating the vernacular tradition of talking story into text, this dialogic and dialectic model attempts a multivocal and polyphonic representation. Native and non-native practices and perceptions of birthgiving are juxtaposed in synchronicity, allowing for an experimental, autoethnographic, and decentered discourse that is predictably pastiche and open-ended, but potentially dynamic, revealing, and decolonizing.;An interactive digital version of the text, along with visuals and audio-video clips, has been created for a nonlinear, multi-layered, multimedia experience. The digital version is available for viewing from the author. |
