Maori Oral Tradition

"For many indigenous peoples, oral history is a living intergenerational phenomenon that is crucial to the transmission of our languages, cultural knowledge, politics, and identities. Indigenous oral histories are not merely traditions, myths, chants or superstitions, but are valid historical accounts passed on vocally in various forms, forums, and practices. Rethinking Oral History and Tradition: An Indigenous Perspective provides a specific native and tribal account of the meaning, form, politics and practice of oral history. It is a rethinking and critique of the popular and powerful ideas that now populate and define the fields of oral history and tradition, which have in the process displaced indigenous perspectives. This book, drawing on indigenous voices, explores the overlaps and differences between the studies of oral history and oral tradition, and urges scholars in both disciplines to revisit the way their fields think about orality, oral history methods, transmission, narrative, power, ethics, oral history theories and politics. Indigenous knowledge and experience holds important contributions that have the potential to expand and develop robust academic thinking in the study of both oral history and tradition.--

Maori oral tradition is the rich, poetic record of the past handed down by voice over generations through whakapapa, whakatauki, korero and waiata. In genealogies and sayings, histories, stories and songs, Maori tell of ‘te ao tawhito' or the old world: the gods, the migration of the Polynesian ancestors from Hawaiki and life here in Aotearoa. A voice from the past, today this remarkable record underpins the speeches, songs and prayers performed on marae and the teaching of tribal genealogies and histories. Indeed, the oral tradition underpins Maori culture itself. This book introduces readers to the distinctive oral style and language of the traditional compositions, acknowledges the skills of the composers of old and explores the meaning of their striking imagery and figurative language. And it shows how nga korero tuku iho – the inherited words – can be a deep well of knowledge about the way of life, wisdom and thinking of the Maori ancestors.

Indigenous peoples have our own ways of defining oral history. For many, oral sources are shaped and disseminated in multiple forms that are more culturally textured than just standard interview recordings. For others, indigenous oral histories are not merely fanciful or puerile myths or traditions, but are viable and valid historical accounts that are crucial to native identities and the relationships between individual and collective narratives. This book challenges popular definitions of oral history that have displaced and confined indigenous oral accounts as merely oral tradition. It stands alongside other marginalized community voices that highlight the importance of feminist, Black, and gay oral history perspectives, and is the first text dedicated to a specific indigenous articulation of the field. Drawing on a Maori indigenous case study set in Aotearoa New Zealand, this book advocates a rethinking of the discipline, encouraging a broader conception of the way we do oral history, how we might define its form, and how its politics might move beyond a subsuming democratization to include nuanced decolonial possibilities.

Exploring the oral traditions of the South Pacific, this work demonstrates that oral media and native cultural forms are vital throughout the South Pacific. It appeals to scholars concerned with the relationships between verbal art, social change, gender, power, and social organization.

This work is an excellent introduction to the history of Maori and their myths and legends. It contains some of the best-drawn art inspired by Maori legend and tradition, and the illustrations are so impactful that they stay with you forever. Te Tohunga in Maori means a talented practitioner of any craft or art, religious or otherwise. Hamburg-born artist, Wilhelm Dittmer, has described the art with great detail and precision. The language remains easy to comprehend throughout the book. He includes descriptions of famous Maori art pieces titled: Tiki—the Ancestor of Mankind; The Creation of Hawaiki; The Battle of the Giants; The Death of Maui; The Fight of Night and Day, and many more. Maori Art is a traditional New Zealand art that consists of the art of the Maori people, who initially settled the island between 1250–1300 CE. Maori graphic art comprises mainly of four forms: carving, tattooing, weaving, and painting. Traditional Maori art was favorably spiritual and told details about their ancestry and other culturally essential topics. The dominant colors in the art were black, white, and red dominated.

The dominant tribal group of southern New Zealand is Ngai Tahu. This book sets out to examine the nature and forms of Ngai Tahu oral traditions and to identify methodologies for analysing and interpreting them. Illustrated with historical photographs, this major study will appeal to anyone interested in oral traditions or reading around the idea of history.

As we find ourselves in a technological revolution and the computer screen takes over the printed page, the history of the book has become a subject of study throughout the world. This collection of 15 essays looks at at a wide variety of topics from the history of the printed word in New Zealand.