Talking in Pidgin and silence: Local writers of Hawai'i

My dissertation, Talking in Pidgin and Silence: Local Writers of Hawai'i, reflects various ways in which writers dispel notions that speaking/writing in forms other than Standard English is "fractured," "broken," or "incoherent." Narratives and poetry by authors Lee Tonouchi, Lois-Ann Yamanaka, Juliana Spahr, Gary Pak, Zamora Linmark, Nora Okja Keller, and Lisa Linn Kanae demonstrate how Pidgin, otherwise known as Hawaiian Creole English, has a diverse, working-class heritage. During the first half of the 1900s, people of Korean, Portugese, Puerto-Rican, Japanese, Filipino and Chinese descent worked under oppressive conditions but rallied against the exploitative practices of plantation owners. In order to communicate with one another, they created a communal language. The language is representative of a polyvocal society, a society that continues to negotiate what it means to be a "Local" person who lives in Hawai'i. The organic inception of Pidgin has become a marker of Local identity, yet despite its working-class and cultural heritage, stigmas against Pidgin remain.; My scholarship discusses consequences of prejudicial labels and examines narratives that focus on themes of self-hatred and isolation. Imposed standards made people feel inadequate and incompetent about their scholastic potential; however, current work of Local authors undoes some of the misguided notions about Pidgin. Furthermore, this dissertation is controversial and necessary because it adds to the ongoing discussion in which scholars are attempting to distinguish Native Hawaiian literature from settler, not, immigrant literature. Local writers of Hawai'i portray life in plantation camps, laborers desire to go "home," the displacement and isolation that workers felt, assimilation in a new society, and exploitation of plantation owners in their narratives.