Pukiki - The Portuguese Americans of Hawai'i

A documentary by Luis Proença

In 1876 the Reciprocity Treaty was signed between the Kingdom of Hawai'i and the United States of America, opening a huge market for Hawai'i's sugar plantations. Hawai'ian plantation owners needed skilled workers fast and a mass migration of Portuguese labor began. These thousands of Portuguese immigrants from the islands of Madeira, Azores and Cape Verde would unknowingly become a part of Hawai'i's multicultural plantation experience an integration process that would change Hawai'i forever.

Many Hawai'ians know of Portuguese contributions to modern day Hawai'ian culture and this project will touch on some of them including the ukulele originally called "braguinha") and culinary elements like malasadas, pão doce, beef and fish marinated in "vinha d'alhos," bean soup and sausages. However, this project will primarily focus on the people living in Hawai'i today and what it means to be of Portuguese ancestry in modern-day Hawai'i.

Through video interviews, Portuguese descendents documented their past and express modern-day reality in their own words so that language, dialect, diction, and character were all preserved. Stories focus on the Portuguese of Oahu, Maui and the Big Island. While these communities have a great deal in common, each region's distinctive character is preserved and compared with Portuguese descendents from other regions.

In terms of racial and ethnic integration, Hawai'i is arguably the most successful state in the union at achieving the American ideal of a true "melting pot" culture. While states like California, Florida, and New York have diverse populations, Hawai'ian families are more likely to contain members of different races than families from any other state. The Portuguese Hawai'ians of today reflect this spirit of integration and serve as examples to immigrants of all parts of the United States. The Portuguese of Hawai'i are not a pocket of isolated descendents that keep to themselves while speaking their native language and reading Portuguese newspapers. They, like other Hawai'ian immigrants, have wrestled with the complex task of maintaining a cultural identity while allowing themselves to be woven into the diverse fabric of Hawai'ian culture.

Themes of Immigration speak to all non-native residents of Hawai'i and to most American families on the mainland. Additionally, Portuguese stories have an especially interesting link with Hispanic cultures. Given Portugal's close geographical and cultural ties with their larger Iberian neighbor Spain, Portuguese share Catholicism, similar celebrations of religious and folkloric festivals, bull fighting, and several other traditions with Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and other Hispanic groups that have immigrated to Hawai'i. Hispanic and non-Hispanic communities will all see parallels with their own family lives.

The interviewee/storytellers are second, third, forth and fifth generation Portuguese descendents in Hawai'i (ages twelve to ninety). They will range from ranch owners to high-school students, a strong cross-section of all Portuguese in Hawai'i.



Luís Proença, SJ, - A television professional and full-time professor in the School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Luis Proença is also a scholar specializing in Theology and Communications. His documentaries, including "Pukiki - The American-Portuguese in Hawai'i" (2003), "Rhythms of Mozambique - The Fonte Boa Choir" (2001), "Ilhas do Porto" (2000), "A Arte ao Ar Livre do Vale do Coa" (2000), "Museu do Parque Arqueologico de Foz Coa" (1998) and others have attracted media and foundation support in the United States and Portugal. He is a frequent speaker on digital arts and spirituality, multimedia, and the creative process at international conferences in Europe.