Beyond the Constraints of Colonial and Social Hierarchies: Contributions of Korean Diasporas to the Multicultural Events in Early 20th-Century Hawai'i

This paper examines the cultural activities of the first Korean immigrants in the United States and their next generations, focusing on the Balboa Day Festival in Hawai`i during the early 20th century. The Pan-Pacific Union that Alexander Hume Ford founded with a view to improve relations among the peoples of the pacific countries, hosted the Balboa Day Festival in every September between 1917 and 1941. The Balboa Day festival shows evidence of multi-cultural events, where multi-national groups performed their own music and dance during the early 20<sup>th</sup> century Hawai`i. This study focuses on Korean immigrants, most of whom immigrated to Hawai`i when their homeland was under the Japanese control to examine how they participated in the multicultural event. This study delves into cultural interactions between Koreans and Japanese, whose relationships in Hawai`i were markedly different from the hierarchical colonial relations in Korea. Findings from the Manuscript Collections of Pan Pacific Union from indicate that, freed from the constraints of both colonial and traditional social hierarchies, Korean Hawaiians not only preserved Korean traditional music and dance, but through presentations at various multi-cultural events alongside fellow Asian immigrants, also developed repertories, programs, and practices distinct from those in the peninsula.

In addition, this study identified three crucial factors making Korean participation in the multi-ethnic events possible. Firstly, Korean presentation of the various performances at the Balboa Day festivals were attributable to cross-generational efforts (first, 1.5, and second generation) to preserve traditional culture. The Korean Hawaiians presented their efforts to conciliate political factions and integrate all Korean communities through cultural activities. Second, the Hawaiian local authorities worked on a range of initiatives to promote Hawaii as paradise across all ethnic groups. The Balboa Day festival was one of the multi-ethnic cultural events during the early twentieth century to accomplish the goal. Lastly, the multi-ethnic environments of Hawai`i, where different Asian immigrants were the majority population in Honolulu, had provided a good venue for Koreans’ close interactions with other ethnic groups from Pacific nations.

Under the backdrop of the early twentieth-century Hawai`i where Koreans lived in relative harmony with other Pacific nationals including Japanese, Korean organizations in Hawai`i such as the Hyung Jay Club and the University Club members sponsored and performed costume pageants, plays, various types of dances and folk songs. The various types of performances were highlighted as the heritages of Koreans in Hawai`i during the early twentieth century.

Most studies on immigrants in Hawai`i during the early twentieth century argue workers of each nationality transplanted their culture in Hawai`i in their separate camps. As these studies noted, the laborers themselves preferred plantation camps of their own, so they could practice the customs and traditions of their respective homelands and speak their native languages. No studies discussed musical activities of Korean Hawaiians in relation to other ethnic groups. As such, this study advances understanding of cross-cultural contact among diverse ethnic groups in the early 20th century Hawai`i.