Moke is a term used by residents of the Hawaiian Islands

Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...

 to describe segments of the local Polynesian

Polynesians

The Polynesian peoples is a grouping of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic languages within the Austronesian languages, and inhabit Polynesia. They number approximately 1,500,000 people...

 population. In practice, the word "moke" is similar to "redneck", as it is only used to describe a certain personality type, instead of an entire ethnic group.

"Moke" in Hawaiian culture

Many people in Hawaii compare the Moke to the southern "redneck" in terms of personality. Much like a "redneck", the word Moke can be used as both a pejorative term and a term of pride . Also much like a redneck, mokes may stereotypically carry an affinity for pickup trucks, and are construed as uneducated. Mokes also have similar stereotypes to the Mexican-American "cholo", in mannerisms and appearance.

The common stereotype of a Moke is a local male of Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander descent, who speaks a form of English known as "pidgin", wears tank-top t-shirts, or no shirt, boardshorts

Boardshorts

Boardshorts are a style of men's and, recently, women's summerwear. They were originally developed for aquatic sports, specifically for surfing, but in more recent years they have grown in popularity outside of these sports, and have become a popular form of general beach and summerwear.The name...

, and cheap rubber sandals (also known as the "rubba slippa"). The term also suggests a person who is needlessly aggressive in dealing with others—particularly when the "others" are Caucasians ("haole

Haole

Haole , in the Hawaiian language, is generally used to refer to an individual that fits one of the following: "White person, American, Englishman, Caucasian; American, English; formerly, any foreigner; foreign, introduced, of foreign origin, as plants, pigs, chickens"...

s") -- and who views violence as the first and best way to get anything he wants or in response to any perceived slight.

History of Mokes in Literature

John William's

John Williams (missionary)

John Williams was an English missionary, active in the South Pacific. Born near London, England, he was trained as a foundry worker and mechanic...

 A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands (1832) is one of the earliest records of Mokes in literature. Williams, a missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 with the London Missionary Society

London Missionary Society

The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Nonconformists, largely Congregationalist in outlook, with missions in the islands of the South Pacific and Africa...

 equates mokes with "Heathen Darkness," a claim that portends the later antagonism between whites and Hawaiians over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Later portrayals include W. S. Merwin's

W. S. Merwin

William Stanley Merwin is an American poet, credited with over 30 books of poetry, translation and prose. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thematically characterized by indirect, unpunctuated narration. In the 1980s and 1990s, Merwin's writing influence derived from...

 The Folding Cliffs, and Paul Theroux's

Paul Theroux

Paul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work of travel writing is perhaps The Great Railway Bazaar . He has also published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his...

 Hotel Honolulu.

Also of note is the reference in Captain Joshua Slocum's

Joshua Slocum

Joshua Slocum was the first man to sail single-handedly around the world. He was a Canadian born, naturalised American seaman and adventurer, and a noted writer. In 1900 he told the story of this in Sailing Alone Around the World...

Voyage of the Liberdade, where the term refers to a native of the Bahamas.

Other uses of "Moke"

By way of contrast: Within Northern Ireland, particularly South Belfast, a Moke (also known as a spide or steek) is a person of working class origin usually living in deprived parts of the city. They stereotypically tend to wear sporting attire (Nike and Adidas tracksuits) and counterfeited designer clothing.