In The Heart of Being Hawaiian, author Sally-Jo Keala-o-Ānuenue Bowman presents a collection of essays, articles and profiles exploring today’s Hawaiian people, their culture and practices in an attempt to answer the question, What does “being Hawaiian” mean today and how do we appreciate the culture?

Twenty years ago, the author began searching for her own Hawaiian identity by researching and writing articles on modern Hawaiian culture. Bowman grew up “in the Forties and Fifties, a time when it still was not cool to be Hawaiian.” Her family, and many others, had left the Hawaiian language behind, along with many customs and much knowledge, and she lacked even a Hawaiian name. The book’s opening essay, “Aloha, Anuhea,” in which a high school classmate gives her a name, Keala-o-Ānuenue, The Path of the Rainbow, marks the beginning of her quest. The final piece, “Inescapably Hawaiian,” ends her huaka‘i, her journey, when she sees that it has led her from “no-name shame” to a sense of being rooted in her own culture at last.

The selection of works included range in subject from lua (Hawaiian martial arts), lomilomi (massage), hula, the Pūnana Leo language immersion school, Kaho‘olawe, Kalaupapa, the experience of attending the Kamehameha Schools, profiles of several Hawaiian kupuna and more.