If you are doing serious study on Hawaiian culture go to the Bishop Museum. It will be self-guided. They have very little staff to interact with you. There was no luau last time I was there. It was display only.

If you want a day of entertainment with a little Polynesian twist go to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Most of the performers are college students from the islands of the Pacific and they are presenting their native culture. You can just sit and chat with a student from Tahiti or Samoa if you want.

Is it authentic? I don't know, but it is fun and worth going back to a second time.

Interesting how certain people jump all over Sarah for no reason whatsoever. She merely stated the truth about what happened to Pacific Islanders over the years since colonization, and what does she get: knee-jerk reactionary asswipes accusing her of ridiculous things. Why you people get so bent out of shape when you are confronted with simple facts is beyond me... unless you feel some sort of guilt about it. Sarah never accused anyone HERE or ANYWHERE of wrongdoing so WTF is your problem. Do you also get enraged over accounts of the Nazi Holocaust and deny it ever happened? Totally pathetic.

thanks xxx
End of the day I am happy to have planted some seeds for thought.

I will leave your thread open for the thoughts of others Kim.

PCC is fine; I've been there dozens of times.

I have an anthropology degree and can say that the Sarah type of arguement is fashionable PC trash, the Bishop museum (been there many times) is no substitute, and even the Asia Society (I've been a member) is not remotely a substitute. Some of the criticism has anti religious roots (and a total lack of appreciation of how hard it is to make such a cultural center economically viable).

like anyone with an anthropology degree would ever refer to historical accounts as "PC trash".