Detours

“This brilliant and beautiful collection—which features interviews, personal essays, collaborative pieces with community elders, family histories, and more—is a rich ethical project that offers so much for so many. Mahalo!” -- J. Kehaulani Kauanui, author of * Paradoxes of Hawaiian Sovereignty: Land, Sex, and the Colonial Politics of State Nationalism *
“[Detours] seeks to flip travel writing's static script, telling tourists that they are not entitled to all things Hawaiian because the Hawai‘i of their imagination is obliterating the Hawai‘i of Kānaka Maoli. . . . [Aikau and Gonzalez are] hoping to reach those who intend to become better guests, even if they're in the minority.” -- Bani Amor * Fodor’s Travel *
"The stories, art and ideas collected in Detours are a guide to the contributors’ connections to Hawaii. As a collective, the stories demonstrate how readers can learn about Hawaii beyond the veneer of tourism, and approach the island-state in a way that honors and reduces harm to the local cultures and communities." -- Crystal Paul * Seattle Times *
"This important book challenges readers to think critically about the violence of colonialism that is expressed through tourism. . . . Detours is valuable not only to those studying Hawaiʻi, but more broadly to scholars of indigenous studies and anyone interested in the colonial legacies of tourism. Highly recommended. All levels." -- L. Kessler * Choice *
"If you know a particularly intuitive traveler, someone who wants to find the hidden histories of a place, the guidebook Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai‘i . . . will give them perfect examples of ways to reapproach tourism and travel—in other words, to decolonize their experience."
  -- Kit Dillon * Wirecutter *
"By collecting the stories of Kanaka, this guide educates its readers with rich, wise primary sources. It effectively amplifies the voices of those most knowledgeable and does not shy away from harsh facts and truths that are often glossed over. . . . I highly recommend this guide to everyone who has or plans to have contact with Hawai’i. What you learn from reading should impact the way you approach your visit and bring to light new considerations to uphold a pono (just, fitting) experience." -- Erica Cheung * International Examiner *
“Detours is more than a book. In fact, it may only incidentally be a book. Rather, this collection feels like an extension of Kanaka innovation that reinvents intergenerational knowledge transmission and documentation.” -- Natchee Blu Barnd * American Indian Culture and Research Journal *
“After reading this book, you cannot journey to Hawai’i without a very different way of knowing this place and its people.... Detours sets an important milestone and has made an invaluable contribution to decolonizing tourism.” -- Freya Higgins-Desbiolles * Journal of Sustainable Tourism *
"A fascinating collection, an attempt to use the framework of the travel industry to destabilize the travel industry . . . scraping at the fantasy version of this place to find what’s been buried." -- Chris Colin * Afar *
“As a text that brings together so many voices, Detours is indispensable to scholars in Indigenous studies and Pacific studies, as well as activists and organizers at the intersections of decolonization and demilitarization.... Detours is a critical disruption to business as usual.” -- Gregory Pomaikai Gushiken * Native American and Indigenous Studies *
“With its eclectic collection of stories and histories, Detours reroutes the tourist gaze and offers travelers, scholars, and island residents richly diverse perspectives on Hawai’i.” -- Kirsten Møllegaard * Journal of American Culture *
"It’s rare to find such an honest, deeply informative overview of a destination; the Detours guide to Hawaii should be required reading for anyone planning to visit the islands, and the same will surely be true of future Detours issues about other spots." * Conde Nast Traveler *