Do native peoples invent their traditions?
I believe with the second author, the hawaiian activist, even though I found her argument a little bit jaded and emotional. I think that the problem with the first author's argument is the assumption that external influences are the only force which affects a peoples' traditions. I believe that external forces do influence traditions, but that the main factors involved in the creation/evolution of a peoples' traditions come from internal forces (political, social, religious, etc). To say otherwise would be to say that people's traditions are of little meaning to them, because it would be saying that other people have a greater influence on them than the people with the traditions themselves. Besides, we all create our own traditions, partly because of external influences, but mostly because of what we choose/decide within our own group.