Shark Tales: Hawaiian Epistemologies and Indigenous Resistance in Kiana Davenport’s Shark Dialogues and Kawai Strong Washburn’s Sharks in the Time of Saviors

Abstract

ABSTRACT The literary trope of the shark has been exploited as a symbol of monstrosity in classic Western literature, from the great sea novels by Herman Melville, Jules Verne, and Ernest Hemingway to Peter Benchley’s iconic Jaws. However, the demonisation of sharks in Western literature stands in sharp contrast to the cultural reverence and nuanced literary trope of the shark in Hawaiian narrative traditions such as moʻolelo (myths and legends) and ‘ōlelo no‘eau (proverbs and poetical sayings). This paper examines the reciprocal associations between sharks and humans in Hawaiian culture in two novels set in contemporary Hawai‘i, Kiana Davenport’s Shark Dialogues (1994) and Kawai Strong Washburn’s Sharks in the Time of Saviors (2020). These novels resist Western cultural hegemony by portraying sharks according to indigenous Hawaiian epistemologies and narrative traditions as ʻaumākua (ancestral guardians) and symbols of deep, oceanic genealogies. The analysis of the shark trope in Washburn’s and Davenport’s novels draws on the ethnographic studies by Martha Beckwith, Mary Kawena Pukui and Noelani Puniwai; traditional folktales and legends; as well as Oceanic cultural critics Epeli Hau‘ofa and Albert Wendt. Considering the alarming 70% decline in sharks since the 1970s and the ensuing collapse of oceanic ecosystems, it is time to rethink the portrayal of sharks as monsters in Western literature and popular culture.