This dissertation examines the concept of haole, a Native Hawaiian articulation of whiteness, in two multimodal texts related to the proposed construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna-a-Wākea in Hawai'i. Specifically, I analyze the Aloha 'Aima mural at the University of Hawai'i and the 'Imiloa web interface, as two examples of delinking whiteness through decolonial enactment. Building on this analysis, this project theorizes a decolonial haole rhetoric by redefining the rhetorical character of whiteness from outside a Eurowestern frame. Haole is an example of decolonial enactment because it responds to cultural rhetorics by engaging with the loci of enunciation rather than attending to meaning. Haole rhetoric is a form of whiteness that responds to Hawai'i's specific history of, and resistance to, colonialism. I argue for white settler allyship that works from the rhetorical ground of colonial wounds to counteract the colonial control of meaning. In this dissertation, I have developed a haole methodology that includes the following tenets: 1) any presence of whiteness manifests coloniality; 2) Indigenous knowledges are always taken on their own terms and never through Eurowestern frames of thought 3) the aim is always to inform meaning-making practices for white settlers, as opposed to Indigenous people; and 4) engagement of cultural rhetorics aim of epistemic disobedience, or delinking, from settler logics. Shifting whiteness from communicative identity to inhabiting whiteness as a decolonial enactment manifests whiteness in the peripheries of decolonial futures. An embrace of decolonial haole rhetoric and methodology maintains the colonial history between white settlers and Native Hawaiians, where rather than feigning innocence, white settlers instead consider histories of colonialism as sites on which to build responsible relationalities that may be productive for efforts of decolonization. This project demonstrates how Indigeneity can inform haole epistemological delinking, and how obligations, friendship, and intimacies are forged in colonial situations. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation examines the concept of haole, a Native Hawaiian word for whiteness, in various texts, such as public murals and web interfaces, related to the proposed construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai'i. Specially, this project theorizes a decolonial haole rhetoric as a new way to be white that is obligated to of cultural knowledges of place and history of whiteness. I argue for settler allyship that understands whiteness not from its own understanding, but instead from the meanings and knowledges of Hawaiian conceptions of whiteness. In this dissertation, I have developed a methodology that includes the following tenets: 1) any presence of whiteness manifests coloniality; 2) Indigenous knowledges are always taken on their own terms and never made relatable towards Eurowestern thought; 3) the aim is always to inform meaning-making practices for white settlers, never Indigenous people; and 4) engagement of cultural rhetorics aims towards epistemic disobedience, or delinking, from settler logics. A haole rhetoric attempts to rethink whiteness in a way that doesn't double down on whiteness's own understanding of itself, but instead a way of inhabiting whiteness that is obligated and ethical to Hawaiian thought and culture. Embracing this a decolonial haole rhetoric doesn't forgive haoles for colonial wrongs, but instead focuses on colonial wrongs as sites to build relationalites of settler allyship.

Haole is a contested, multi-faceted word in Hawaii. It generally means “foreigner,” or “white person.” It is used to refer to both tourists, and haoles like me, or those who are born and raised in Hawaii. In either case, it is always negative, referring to something “other” and really, colonial. Paraphrasing rhetorician Kenneth Burke, this thesis analyzes how this word “works in the world,” and from there, explores how identity, culture, and belonging are constructed through language. The essential questions become: are culture and identity constructed and performed, through language, tradition, and cultural engagement? Or is some blood content or ethnicity warranted to claim cultural belonging, and in this case, a Hawaiian identity? The method for this research began with seven interviews with people from Hawaii—a mix of haoles, hapa (mixed race) people, and ethnic Hawaiians—followed by the analyzing of these interviews, and ending with my personal engagement with these findings autoethnographically. Writing this thesis has changed how I see my own identity in Hawaii. I have used this autoethnographic method to share this transformation, explore it, and through it, mimic the in-flux nature of identity construction and language at large. I see this thesis as fluid and subject to change; as a jumping off point for future research on an otherwise “silent” topic, silent in that people in Hawaii do not openly discuss this issue; as the beginning of a necessary dialogue on what it means to be haole, what it means to be Hawaiian, and the nature of identity and cultural construction at large.