Taonga, marae, whenua - negotiating custodianship: a Maori tribal response to Te Papa: the Museum of
Paul Tapsell. “Taonga, marae, whenua - negotiating custodianship: a Maori tribal response to Te Papa: the Museum of New Zealand” Rethinking settler colonialism: History and memory in Australia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand and South Africa, edited by Annie E. Coombe, Mancheaster University Press, 2006, pp. 86-100.
“My knowledge, my understanding, my sense of accountability to my people, we're instilled in me by my elders” 86
“Of all my elders Tomairangi remained my closest guide and mentor, someone I could always turn to for advice concerning all things Maori” 87
As I understand it all of the main and important information is passed down within tribes verbally. This makes it very difficult for non Maori people to find and research the culture to understand it.
“deeper customary meanings represented by our tribal treasures” 86
Object and moments can hold a lot of meaning and as I found out last year when these Objects are misrepresented it can be highly offensive.
“spiritual and practical differences between lore and law” research further…
“see our world as a matrix of genealogical connections ultimately joined under one universe” 87
“if we look at the Poutokomanawa named Houmaitawhiti, each of us sitting around this taonga will see something slightly different. You may see him as a stylistic expression in wood, a post contact example of Maori utilization of European resources, or perhaps an exciting work of nineteenth century primitive art. Today, however, I invite you to look from my genealogical perspective at Houmaitawhiti - as a person who lived over twenty generations ago, an important figure in Te Arawa’s history….”87
This is questioning semiotics AGAIN! Which I need to do further research on!
“When we walk across our tribal lands we are walking besieged our ancestors and using the precedents they have set over the past twenty generations to guide us into the future.” 90
“We do not turn our backs on our ancestors; rather, we look at how they eat with situations in their time so that we ourselves might be able to find a way in ours, a pathway forward for all the people of our tribe. Such is the power of taonga - an image, a textbook, a spiritual guide, a signpost and a genealogical map all in one.” 90
“Although Maori and Pakeha (European settlers) have lived alongside each other for over 150 years, our Pakeha neighbors remain mostly ignorant of the inherent complexity of Maori tribal society and it's marae rules.” 90
That's probably because the Maori are not willing to share it with us! It is so hard to find information and white people are often criticized but not helped when seeking that information. It is all verbal knowledge so how can we understand if no one tells us? Also, ignorant is the wrong word, it implies we don't care or don't want to know but we do its just a struggle to be included.
“Today's urbanized Maori are more likely to seek access to perceived Pakeha - controlled opportunities via a pan - Maori identity rather then by empowering ancestral kin relationships through the home tribes’ marae, around which New Zeland’s cities have been built. Out of this ethnic identity contest has arisen a new phenomenon known as the urban, or Pan-Maori, marae, thus perpetuating the media's propensity to put all Maori into one racially biased basket.” 90
“When speaking to non-Maori audiences I have found it helpful to present Maori tribal society as a conglomerate of fiercely independent nations and the marae as our seats of Parliament” 90
“Marae flourished in the rapidly shifting power contexts of nineteenth century New Zealand, as the nation's first battled one another, before u if Ying forces to fight the Pakeha tide of colonization.” 90
“The Crown’s Museum of New Zealand Project, which evolved directly out of Te Maori, sought to recapture the exhibition’s Maori essence and combine this with emerging Pakeha ideas of nationhood.” 91
Te Papa - our place
Taonga - treasure
“casting Maori as one unified group detracts rom the on-the-ground complexity of Maori tribal society” 94
Yet last year a Maori student said to me that there are only 2 cultures in new Zealand, Maori and everyone else, so it's fine for them to condense everyone else but we can do it to them?!
The chapter goes on to describe the treaty and how the Pakeha have not followed it
It also describes time when Maori culture and their elders were offended in art galleries and museums but I can see that it is all a misunderstanding and how do they expect misunderstandings to be fixed if they don't he us learn?
