Introduction

The inspiration for Olowalu Review stems from recent discussion within current US and global conversation on the ideas of “national languages”, English language learning policy, and my own observations of growing up in a falsely understood multilingual society.  As I began to partake in these scholarly discussions at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa surrounding the topics of multilingualism and education, I began to notice the strong interconnectedness between language and identity, and mores specifically how multilingualism can play a fundamental role in how leaners, speakers, and members of the larger society identified themselves or others.  

            Here in Hawai‘i, on the island of Oahu, where Olowalu Review began, at any day during any time one can see the diversity of this island’s residents. When walking in Waikiki one comes across the tourists, primarily made up of U.S. mainlanders, Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Canadians, and Europeans, alongside the working class locals. Already, in this relatively small neighborhood, a diversity of culture and language can be both seen and heard. Although beyond the waters isolating the beach locale, one comes across more people, filled with their culture, history, and language. Attempting to list the variety of people that make up this small island’s everyday world would not only be a exhaustive task but a tedious one, as most people here do not attempt to categorize themselves into a specific outsider ethnicity, rather they prefer to be locals, kamaina, of the land. Their voices, mixed with the sound of trade winds against palm trees, mopeds buzzing, and yellow birds and baby chickens chirping become olowalu, or the sound of many voices.

            The olowalu of Hawai‘i has long been suppressed and as a result a near extinction of the Hawaiian language occurred, although like a flower from concrete a new language developed, the local talk, of Hawai‘ian Creole English or more commonly referred to as pidgin. However, this introduction is not to act as a linguistic history of language in Hawai‘i, rather as a vindication for the need of Olowalu Review. These voices, both suppressed, born, or migrants to these islands are the voices of the islands’ people. It is misunderstood that English is language for communication, although once you enter the dusty streets of Chinatown, perfume filled air of Ala Moana Shopping Center, the sedimentary waters of Lo‘i patches, or the hot sands of the Waiʻanae beaches, you will hear that these people do not completely identify themselves with English, they have more faces that are accompanied by the languages that foster their identities. This literary magazine is for those who are lost, those who are oppressed, those who are learning, those who feel their identities must be heard rather than defined by the dominant constructs of our society. Olowalu Review is their place, to express whom they really are, and for their voice to be heard among others, all of which make up this island, and this world’s olowalu.

 

Olowalu Review has had the ability to go outside of the Hawai‘ian waters and has extended to writers across the globe, many of which have some ties to Hawai‘i. To all writers and readers of this magazine, we say mahalo nui loa and thank you for reading.

 

To better understand the underpinnings and theoretical framework in which Olowalu Review was developed the following goals have been established as a guiding reference for those who wish to see how these literary pieces contribute greatly to the appreciation and acceptance of multilinguism in the multilingual U.S. society that has been misconstrued as “monolingual”. 

 

The following goals, in no prioritized order are the core values and hopes of this literary endeavor:

1) raise multilingual and translanguaging awareness,

2) promote multilingual use and identity,

3) enable speakers and writers to exercise their multilingual knowledge,

4) contribute as another resource and example of translanguage/multilingual literature, and

5) promote arts and expression in the local, national, and global communities.

 

For those interested in understanding how these goals relate to the current linguistic, educational, and societal theory and practice, Olowalu Review has provided how the goals of this literary magazine empower and contribute to the greater understanding of multilingualism in our society and its multilingual members.  The following goals have been broken down discussed with their ties to current theory and practice of multilingualism.

 

1.) Raise multilingual and translanguaging awareness

In order to understand the goal of raising multilingualism and translanguaging awareness we must first define these constructs. Cenoz defines multilingualism as being the use of more than one language either for individual or social purposes (2013).  Although a number of more specific definitions have stemmed from this general understanding of multilingualism, the current definition adequately depicts multilingualism in the context of Olowalu Review. A number of societies and populations around the world are multilingual, such as Hawai’i described above, and the U.S. mainland where Spanish has become a dominant language among the working class migrants, and urban dwellings in the U.S. mainland hold a large diversity of multilingual speakers (see Garcia et al., 2013 for a list of languages spoken other than English in New York City). Multilingualism expands beyond the U.S. as globalization demands citizens from all nations to acquire a second language, primarily those nations of colonized imperialistic societies making langauges such as English, French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, etc., a significant sign of social status and come with increasinly more opportutnity. This does not account for societies across the world that practiced multilingualism prior to global colonialism and modern globalization (see Canagarajah & Liyanage, 2012, for a more elaborate discussion).  With an increase in multilingualism throughout the world, the question of “how do these multilinguals communicate?”, “how do multilinguals manage the uses of their multiple languages”, and “what language do these multilinguals identify themselves?” These questions can be answered by looking at translanguaging, which is a common phenomenon among multilinguals and plays a fundamental role in terms of communication, identity, and power.                         

            Translanguaging is an approach to the use of language that considers the language practices of multilinguals not as using two or more autonomous language systems as has been traditionally the case, but as one linguistic repertoire with features that have been societally constructed as belonging to two separate languages (Garcia & Wei, 2014). The following literary magazine is essentially multilinguals who are expressing themselves through translanguaging. They are using two or more languages they know, to express one idea. It is assumed that these writers used each language to the necessary extent to express their ideas, identity, history, stories, vision, or emotion. Where the speaker or writer decides to translanguage is completely up to them, as they feel in this moment it, it expresses what they want to say in the way they want to say it.

            Now, the question may arise, “why is it important to raise multilingual awareness?” The work of Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987), a book that heavily influenced the creation of Olowalu Review, describes the lives of multilinguals living on the “borderlands” of society. Perplexed with their own identity, unsure what side of the premade paradigm of society to belong to, and being neither accepted nor shunned, multilinguals in have for long been forced into certain identities and langauges to only survive on the fridges of society.

            Translanguaging is a common phenomenon for multilinguals, at points feeling the most natural form of communication or expression. Translanguaging acknowledges the multiple identities and languages of its speakers. However, many multilingual environments are falsely perceived as monolingual. This can be seen in the U.S. education system. Although multilinguals make up a large portion of students attending the public schools in the U.S., many are forced into speaking on English through the “English-only” policy, and in turn multilinguals are put at a disadvantage inevitably forced into circumstances where their linguistic identities are suppressed (Garcia et al. 2013). Nevertheless, when multilinguals and their identities are accepted, appreciated, and heard, these multilinguals become empowered, fostering the equity needed in democratic societies (see Davis 2009 for an example of empowering multilingual youth).  The ability to use the full linguistic repertoire through translanguaging and abolish the enslavement of multilinguals into one “standard” language, not only promotes equity and appreciation of cultural differences but can also be viewed as an innate right. Skutnabb-Kangas (2000), describes how translanguaging strongly connects with human rights by giving voice to those who simply language differently. Providing opportunities to translanguage gives voice to those who are marginalized, to those still wandering the borderlands.

 

2.) Promote multilingualism use and identity

Anzualdua’s Borderlands/La Frontera (1987) developed as a collection of essays and poems that incorporated a multilingual framework and through this process translanguaging emerged. Intrigued and interested by Anzualdau’s work I was inspired; to me, it was one voice, a voice that had a story in which not one language could tell. This prompted the development of a multilingual literary magazine with the hopes of giving others this opportunity. Therefore, Olowalu Review in its entirety hopes to promote multilinguals to translanguage and through this process be able to construct or reconstruct their multiple identities. As seen by Alim et al. (2009) in international hip-hop, multilingualism and translanguage does occur on a global scale in a variety of language contexts. However, there is a lack of platforms to adequately or comfortably translanguage. Therefore, Olowalu Review acts as one of several potential platforms for speakers to translanguage.

 

3.) Enable speakers and writers to exercise their multilingual knowledge

By providing a platform for multilinguals to express themselves, they are given the opportunity to exercise their multilingual knowledge. Olowalu Review is open to multilinguals at any proficiency, any age, any linguistic background. By giving the opportunity to express language through translanguaging, leaners have the ability to draw on resources from any language in their linguistic repertoire and feel comfortable using these resources (Garcia et al., 2013). Although there is not a sufficient claim that translanguaging will increase language “skill”, it does open the door for practicing literary skills required of that language.  

 

4.) Contribute as another resource and example of translanguage/multilingual literature

With hope, there is the possibility for Olowalu Review to not only be a comfortable place for multilinguals to express themselves but also act as a much needed resource or artifact that reveal the usefulness and predominance of translanguaging of the globalized multilingual society, both for local and international contexts. By allowing this opportunity for suppressed identities to share their different voices, researchers and policy makers in multilingual education or literature can draw on what has been exposed in Olowalu Review to support the expansion of our current understanding and policy on multilingualism.

 

5.) Promote arts and expression in the local, national, and global communities

As we have already seen from Anzaldúa’s (1987) work, creating literary platforms for expression helps to promote arts and expression. Alim et al.’s (2009) analysis on multilingual hip-hop also shows how translanguaging can cross-borders and be a form of expression for speakers of more than one language. Olowalu Review has the goal to give voice to those who reside in Hawai‘i while also extending its reach to multilinguals on the U.S. mainland and even further to a global level. From the submissions, one can see that the hometowns of the writers goes far beyond these small islands in the Pacific and has helped give voice to multilinguals globally. The understanding and appreciation of literature and art plays a fundamental role in challenging current paradigms both individually internal, and on a societal level. Through promoting art and expression, we can gain a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us, expressing what we believe needs to be heard or seen for a better humanity.

 

References and further reading

Alim, H. S., Ibrahim, A., & Pennycook, A. (2009). Global linguistic flows: Hip hop cultures, youth identities, and the politics of language. London: Routledge.

 

Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera. San Francisco: Spinsters / Aunt Lute Book Company.

 

Canagarajah, S., & Liyanage, I. (2012). Lessons from pre-colonial multilingualism. In M. Martin-Jones, A. Blackledge, & A. Creese (Eds.), The routledge handbook of multilingualism (pp. 49-65). London, UK: Routledge

 

Cenoz, J. (2013). Defining multilingualism. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 33, 3-18.

 

Davis, K. (2009). Agentive youth research: Towards individual, collective and policy transformations. In T.G. Wiley, J.S. Lee & R. Rumberger (Eds.), The education of language minority immigrants in the USA (pp. 202-239). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

 

García, O., Zakharia, Z. and Otcu, B. (2013). Bilingual community education for American children: Beyond heritage languages in a global city. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

 

Garcia, O. & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

 

Skutnabb-Kangas, (2000). Linguistic human rights and teachers of English. In Hall, Joan Kelly & Eggington, William G. (eds). The sociopolitics of English language teaching. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters (pp. 22-44).