[Reid-S]

Why do some mainlanders still have no idea Hawaii is part of the United States, despite the fact that A) Hawaii has been under U.S. control for 100 years and a state for almost 40 years; B) Everyone can speak English; and C) You don’t need a passport to come here?
Original Code G75. Click here to see responses from the original archives.

User Detail :  

Name : Reid-S, Gender : M, Race : Fourth-generation Japanese American, Age : 19, City : Kailua, State : HI, Country : United States, 

[Charles32274]

As a New Mexican, I get that a lot, too. I have friends who went to Atlanta for the Olympics. When they arrived to pick up their event tickets, they were told they’d have to check with their embassy!

User Detail :  

Name : Charles32274, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 24, City : Albuquerque, State : NM, Country : United States, Occupation : Architect, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Edwin F. Lesperance]

I have the experience of being both a ‘mainlander’ (a new term for me) and resident of Hawai`i for a long time (Kama`aina, ‘child of the land’ is used for me now). When I first arrived here I often talked about being ‘from the states,’ since I was unfamiliar with the term ‘mainland.’ People corrected me, largely because of the relatively RECENT state status (more like, we’re one of the states now, too). Younger have kinda taken an ehnocentric view of the responses, since for most of them Hawaii has been a state forever. I watched it become a state. Mainlanders typically view or think of ‘the states’ as the 48 states prior to 1959. We can drive to all of them. We know Hawaii and Alaska are states, but they are further beyond our reach. That is the mainland’s ethnocentrism. Ed L’Esperance

User Detail :  

Name : Edwin F. Lesperance, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Polyamorous, Disability : sorry, that's private, Race : Mixed Caucasian/Asian, Religion : We don't name it., Age : 56, City : Kahalu`u, State : HI, Country : United States, Occupation : Anthropologist, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Author]

Posts