September 28, 2022. 4:00pm, Hamilton Library, Room 306 and on Zoom
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://hawaii.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJctceqsqzkrHdD211vkv1TsgyuDqZ1fBeAj

Marie Alohalani Brown will talk about her new book Ka Po‘e Mo‘o Akua: Hawaiian Reptilian Water Deities (UH Press – January 2022). The book explores the fearsome and fascinating creatures known as mo‘o that embody the life-giving and death-dealing properties of water. Mo‘o are not ocean-dwellers; instead, they live primarily in or near bodies of fresh water. They vary greatly in size, appearing as tall as a mountain or as tiny as a house gecko, and many possess alternate forms. Mo‘o are predominantly female, and the female mo‘o that masquerade as humans are often described as stunningly beautiful. Throughout Hawaiian history, mo‘o akua have held distinctive roles and have filled a variety of functions in overlapping religious, familial, societal, economic, and political sectors.

Marie Alohalani Brown is associate professor, specialist in Hawaiian religion, at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Alohalani was raised in Mākaha on Oʻahu a Kākuhihewa but her ʻŌiwi ancestral roots begin in Hoʻokena at the foot of the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaiʻi a Keawe. For the last decade, she has carried out extensive research in Hawaiian-language newspapers published between 1834 and 1948, a semi-public forum in which ʻŌiwi shared their knowledge and debated about the important topics of their time. She is currently researching the dynamicity and continuity of Hoʻomana Hawaiʻi.