The Kamehameha Publishing book “No Mākou ka Mana: Liberating the Nation,” by Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer, recently garnered the prestigious Samuel M. Kamakau Award for Hawaiʻi Book of the Year at the Hawaiʻi Book Publishers Association Ka Palapala Poʻokela Awards.

The Samuel M. Kamakau Book of the Year is selected from among all Award of Excellence winners in the program’s 12 categories. Beamer’s book also received an Award of Excellence in the program's Hawaiian Language, Culture, and History category and placed second in its Nonfiction category.

The book, which released in July, 2014, discusses the complex ways in which the ruling ali‘i of the Hawaiian Kingdom engaged with foreign powers, crafting a sophisticated blend of traditional Hawaiian governance with ideas from the west.

Words of praise from the judges
Judges for the Hawaiʻi Book of the Year Award shared the following comments on the publication:

“A unanimous choice for this year’s top award, Kamanamaikalani Beamer’s ‘No Mākou ka Mana’ is one of those rare texts that could leave even the most jaded of readers feeling like a seemingly immovable tide, might actually be turning.

“In this important work, Beamer offers an analysis of Hawaiʻi’s past through what he terms, ‘‘ōiwi optics,’ an indigenous-grounded perspective of scholarship replacing a previously dominant colonial lens. He is not the first author to offer a vision of native agency in Hawaiʻi’s history, but his well-researched and engagingly written book brings a weighty presence to this topical discussion.

“Beamer employs both intellectual rigor and a deep familiarity with the cultural ʻike that often provides critical context to easily misinterpreted actions and words. As many of his kūpuna before him, the author gives witness to an uninterrupted moʻokūʻauhau of knowledge, ability, and determination.

“His presentation of this new historical landscape both inspires and challenges. A courageous book with a potentially wide audience, ‘No Mākou ka Mana’ works to liberate all who engage it from the sometimes hypnotic acceptance of an uncomplicated past.”

The Hawaiʻi Book Publishers Association sponsors the awards annually as part of its public outreach effort  to enhance the recognition of book publishing as an industry in Hawai‘i and to support local literacy. The term Ka Palapala Po‘okela can be translated from Hawaiian to mean “Excellent or Exemplary Manuscript.”

The Kamehameha Publishing book “No Mākou ka Mana: Liberating the Nation,” garnered the prestigious Samuel M. Kamakau Award given by the Hawaiʻi Book Publishers Association.

Award-winning author Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer

TAGS
kamehameha publishing

CATEGORIES
Kaipuolono Article, Newsroom

Print with photos Print text only