This book is a historical-cultural geography of the Maori people in New Zealand from an outsider's (East Asian) perspective. The study in this book centres around the concept of geomentality, the mentality conditioning humanity-nature relationships. Topics discussed represent geographic themes of Maori culture which have received little attention.
Decolonisation is a term that alarms some, and gives hope to others. It is an uncomfortable and often bewildering concept for many New Zealanders. This book seeks to demystify decolonisation using illuminating, real-life examples. By exploring the impact of colonisation on Māori and non-Māori alike, Imagining Decolonisation presents a transformative vision of a country that is fairer for all.
The discovery of New Zealand, the last place on earth to be peopled, is surrounded by myths."Maori Mana: the power of New Zealand's first inhabitants" takes you on a journey exploring the histories of the country's first Polynesian discoverers, its encounters with Europeans and the subsequent settling by Westerners. Particular attention will be paid to the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and the Dutch immigration wave of the 1950s. Through a discussion of the meeting house and meeting grounds, the relationships Maori maintain to the land will be considered. The vital role of the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) and its present-day repercussions will be looked at. Finally the role of taonga or cultural treasures embodying the ancestral identity of a Maori kin group in relation to particular lands and resources will be explained. In so doing attention will be paid to taonga made from different materials by men as well as by women.
This critical examination of Maoriland literature argues against the former glib dismissals of the period and focuses instead on the era’s importance in the birth of a distinct New Zealand style of writing. By connecting the literature and other cultural forms of Maoriland to the larger realms of empire and contemporary criticism, this study explores the roots of the country’s modern feminism, progressive social legislation, and bicultural relations.
Preliminary Material -- “Things are not exactly black or white in Aotearoa”: The Many Facets of Kiwi Identity -- Fragmentation Reconsidered: Transcultural Identities in the Making -- Narratives of (Be)Longing: Māori Literary Voices Advancing -- Narratives of (Un)Belonging: Unmasking Cleavage, Cleaving to Identities -- Transcultural Readings: Recombining Repertoires -- Navigating Transcultural Currents: Stories of Indigenous Modernities -- Works Cited -- Index.
Tangata Whenua: A History presents a rich narrative of the Māori past from ancient origins in South China to the twenty-first century, in a handy paperback format. The authoritative text is drawn directly from the award-winning Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History; the full text of the big hardback is available in a reader-friendly edition, ideal for students and for bedtime reading, and a perfect gift for those whose budgets do not stretch to the illustrated edition. Maps and diagrams complement the text, along with a full set of references and the important statistical appendix. Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History was published to widespread acclaim in late 2014. This magnificent history has featured regularly in the award lists: winner of the 2015 Royal Society Science Book Prize, shortlisted for the international Ernest Scott Prize, winner of the Te Kōrero o Mua (History) Award at the Ngā Kupu ora Aotearoa Māori Book Awards, and Gold in the Pride in Print Awards. The importance of this history to New Zealand cannot be overstated. Māori leaders emphatically endorsed the book, as have reviewers and younger commentators. They speak of the way Tangata Whenua draws together different strands of knowledge – from historical research through archaeology and science to oral tradition. They remark on the contribution this book makes to evolving knowledge, describing it as ‘a canvas to paint the future on’. And many comment on the contribution it makes to the growth of understanding between the people of this country.
Ha‘ena is a land steeped in antiquity yet vibrantly beautiful today as any Hollywood fantasy of a tropical paradise. He ‘aina momona, a rich and fertile land linked to the sea and the rising and setting sun, is a place of gods and goddesses: Pele and her sister, Hi‘iaka, and Laka, patron of hula. It epitomizes the best that can be found in the district of northwestern Kaua‘i, known to aboriginal Hawaiians as Hale Le‘a (House of Pleasure and Delight). This work is an ambitious attempt to provide a unique perspective in the complex story of the ahupua‘a of Ha‘ena. Carlos Andrade begins by examining the stories that identify the origins and places of the earliest inhabitants of Ha‘ena. The narrative outlines the unique relationships developed by Hawaiians with the environment and describes the system used to look after the land and the sea. Andrade goes on to research the changes wrought by concepts and perceptions introduced by European, American, and Asian immigrants. He delves into the impact of land privatization as Hawai‘i struggled to preserve its independence. The Mahele and the Kuleana Act, legislation that laid the foundation for all landholding in Hawai‘i, had a profound influence on Ha‘ena. Part of this story includes a description of the thirty-nine Hawaiians who pooled their resources, bought the entire ahupua‘a of Ha‘ena, and held it in common from the late 1800s to 1967—a little-known chapter in the fight to perpetuate traditional lifeways. Lastly, Andrade collects the stories of kupuna who share their experiences of life in Ha‘ena and surrounding areas, capturing a way of life that is quickly disappearing beneath the rising tide of non-Native people who now inhabit the land. Ha‘ena: Through the Eyes of the Ancestors is a distinctive work, which blends folklore, geography, history, and ethnography. It casts a wide net over information from earliest times to the present, primarily related from a Native perspective. It should be of great interest to historians, ethnologists, sociologists, and students of Hawaiian language, literature, and culture.
I Ulu I Ka ‘Āina: Land, the second publication in the Hawai‘inuiākea series, tackles the subject of the Kanaka (Hawaiian) connection to the ‘āina (land) through articles, poetry, art, and photography. From the remarkable cover illustration by artist April Drexel to the essays in this volume, there is no mistaking the insistent affirmation that Kanaka are inseparable from the ‘āina. This work calls the reader to acknowledge the Kanaka’s intimate connection to the islands. The alienation of ‘āina from Kanaka so accelerated and intensified over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that there are few today who consciously recognize the enormous harm that has been done physically, emotionally, and spiritually by that separation. The evidence of harm is everywhere: crippled and dysfunctional families, rampant drug and alcohol abuse, disproportionately high incidences of arrest and incarceration, and alarming health and mortality statistics, some of which may be traced to diet and lifestyle, which themselves are traceable to the separation from ‘āina. This volume articulates the critical needs that call the Kanaka back to the ‘āina and invites the reader to remember the thousands of years that our ancestors walked, named, and planted the land and were themselves planted in it. Contributors: Carlos Andrade, Kamana Beamer, April Drexel, Dana Nāone Hall, Neil Hannahs, Lia O’Neill Keawe, Jamaica Osorio, No‘eau Peralto, Kekailoa Perry, and Kaiwipuni Lipe with Lilikalā Kame‘eleihiwa.
