Presentation Title
Access to Blue Space in Postcolonial Hawaiʻi Island
Abstract
Though access laws may seem straight-forward, they inherently give legal precedence to certain worldviews. The cultural context that access laws are implemented within may make it easier for certain user groups to access natural resources than others. This paper draws on a mixed methods study that resulted in both qualitative and spatial analyses to explore public access to shoreline spaces on Hawai’i Island. The implementation of Hawai’i Island’s public shoreline access laws relies on a Western, binary view of public/private space that has historically favored settler acquisition of property. The naturalization of these laws on Hawai’i Island has led to the disenfranchisement of non-Western ontological beliefs and has forced communities that have traditionally viewed land in other ways, such as Native Hawaiians, to ascribe. This dynamic is further complicated by Hawai’i Island’s economic reliance on a tourism industry which depends on the consumption of Hawaiian shoreline and culture. This paper examines perceptions held by different user groups of public shoreline access levels on Hawai’i Island. It draws on blue space and legal geographies to explore various cultural ideas of appropriate shoreline use and examines how legal codification of public shoreline access affects the performance of these ideas.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Beverley Wemple
Status
Undergraduate
Student College
College of Arts and Sciences
Program/Major
Geography
Primary Research Category
Social Sciences
Secondary Research Category
Food & Environment Studies
Access to Blue Space in Postcolonial Hawaiʻi Island
Though access laws may seem straight-forward, they inherently give legal precedence to certain worldviews. The cultural context that access laws are implemented within may make it easier for certain user groups to access natural resources than others. This paper draws on a mixed methods study that resulted in both qualitative and spatial analyses to explore public access to shoreline spaces on Hawai’i Island. The implementation of Hawai’i Island’s public shoreline access laws relies on a Western, binary view of public/private space that has historically favored settler acquisition of property. The naturalization of these laws on Hawai’i Island has led to the disenfranchisement of non-Western ontological beliefs and has forced communities that have traditionally viewed land in other ways, such as Native Hawaiians, to ascribe. This dynamic is further complicated by Hawai’i Island’s economic reliance on a tourism industry which depends on the consumption of Hawaiian shoreline and culture. This paper examines perceptions held by different user groups of public shoreline access levels on Hawai’i Island. It draws on blue space and legal geographies to explore various cultural ideas of appropriate shoreline use and examines how legal codification of public shoreline access affects the performance of these ideas.