The Afterlife of Princess Ka‘iulani
“The Afterlife of Princess Kaʻiulani” examines the performance of the memory of one of Hawaiʻi’s most beloved figures, providing a close-reading of a play, a film, and a ghost tour. These sites offer us different understandings of not only the ongoing “aloha” that people experience through the performance of Princess Kaʻiulani’s memory, but ultimately the kaumaha (sadness) that Hawaiians experience because of the potentiality that was not fully realized as a result of Kaʻiulani’s untimely death. The constant performance of Kaʻiulani’s story functions as a form of aloha that reminds Kānaka Maoli of our ongoing connection to our aliʻi (royalty) that is buttressed by a modern thriving cultural nationalist movement.