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Heritage tourism and group identity: Polynesians in the American West

Heritage sites important to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) are scattered across the United States. The most famous is Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. A much more obscure site, Iosepa, is located in a desert valley west of Salt Lake City. Iosepa was a settlement of Hawaiian converts to the Mormon faith established in 1889 and abandoned in 1917. It was abandoned when plans for a Mormon temple in Hawaii were announced and most of the residents returned to the islands to help with its construction. Ignored until the centennial anniversary of its establishment, Iosepa is emerging as a heritage destination for Polynesians in the Utah region. The factors explaining its emergence as a heritage site are associated with a growing Polynesian population in the West and their recognition of the role early Hawaiians played in settling the region. The focal point of the site is the annual Memorial Day celebration when many people come to honour and celebrate the early Hawaiian pioneers. This paper examines the reasons Iosepa has turned into a heritage destination and its role in enhancing and maintaining the group identity of Utah Polynesians.