An Ethnography of Waikiki: Representation and Tourism
Hovedinnhold
Master's thesis submitted at the Department of Social Anthropology, autumn 2024.
By: Vilde Hitsøy
Supervisor: Associate Professor Geir Henning Presterudstuen
Hawai´i has a long and complex history of colonialization, exotification and mass-tourism. As a result of this, there are various representations of Hawai´i and the Hawaiian culture that presents a picture of Hawai´i as an island paradise with cultural experiences. Such representations are produced as a result of wanting to get tourists to the island. As a result of mass-tourism, the Hawaiian culture and Hawai´i was subjected to commodification and exotification to make the island more interesting for the global world.
In this thesis I will do an ethnography of Waikiki where I will explore material and symbolic representation found in Waikiki. I will explore this through empirical examples from my fieldwork on O´ahu, Hawai´i, USA, in the spring of 2023. Through these examples I will also show how Waikiki through various representations can be seen as a themed tourist place. I will explore and analyze these different aspects and processes through the concept of the tourist gaze by John Urry and Jonas Larsen. Through using my own tourist gaze and the gaze of an anthropologist, I will explore how representations aren’t just given through visualization but also through lived experiences. I will use the embodied gaze to further discuss how material objects and architecture in Waikiki together with tourist experience such as hula shows and guided bus tours are conveying different representation of Hawai´i, the Hawaiian culture and Waikiki. I will argue that these representations will further show how the urbanity of Waikiki in contrast to the rest of the island, reflects how Waikiki is a tourist place.
Through empirical examples from hula shows, bus tours and Waikiki, I will further discuss how representations often are simplified and can be part of the continuation of processes of exotification. Furthermore, I will argue how analyzing representations of Hawai´i in play today, will show how these representations still has elements of colonization in them. This will then show how representation found in Waikiki and in various tourist settings are still products of colonization and mass-tourism. This means that Hawai´i and Hawaiian culture is still subjected to processes of commodification and exotification today.
Key words: Waikiki, the tourist gaze, representation.
