Popular Culture Review Volume 30, Number 2, Summer 2019 | Page 185

Popular Culture Review 30.2
hameha Schools ’ Native Hawaiian Educational Assessment suggests that the total Native Hawaiian population in Hawai ’ i is projected to be about 500,000 by 2045 , and 675,000 by 2060 ( Kahakalau 26 ). This increase in numbers heightens the urgency of preserving Hawaiian culture and land in order for this next generation of Hawaiians to have a tradition in which a part of their identity relies on .
As a result of globalization , learning about the authentic Pacific Islander identity is possible , but only after filtering through a plethora of Western constructed narratives as to see the Pacific through the eyes of natives . These groups are not exoticized others waiting to entertain tourists . They are strong , resilient , and increasingly taking charge of their own history and identities . As a sign of good faith to the people of the Pacific , Disney has translated Moana into Hawaiian , making it the first Disney movie to be translated into olelo ( Hawaiian language ).
Organizations that focus on conservation and sustainability can learn from traditional practices of Pacific Islanders . One applicable lesson that can be gained from an examination of Moana is the importance of the finely tuned relationship between natural resources and culture . Examining the loss of those connections in a rapidly changing world that followed Western contact and global warming can also display the importance of a tightly integrated relationship between resources and culture . The actions and forces that resulted in a breaking of that interrelationship contributed to our current conservation crises .
Consequently , the reestablishment of those relationships represents a reconnection for building a sustainable society that once again values and maintains its unique island legacy . To many Oceanic people , the natural world is in an ongoing
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