The primary aim of this thesis Me he korokoro kōmako [‘With the throat of a bellbird’] is to demonstrate the existence of a distinctive Māori aesthetic in Māori literature written in English. Its introductory section, of three chapters, investigates the ways in which mainstream critical discourse in various ways appropriates Māori literature to its own Western-derived models of meaning and values, and proposes instead a definition of a Māori aesthetic grounded in the principle of whakapapa, whose whole cultural components for Māori literature include distinctive textual functions for myth, orality, acts of naming, other aspects of language, and symbolism. The concept of whakapapa also provides the organizing principle and methodology of the central chapters of the thesis, which are divided into two Parts – each of six chapters. These are framed by a Prologue and Epilogue, whose subject is the profound cultural symbolism of the waka in the work of a founding figure for Māori writing in English, Jacqueline Sturm, and in Star Waka, by a major later writer in English, Robert Sullivan. Part One devotes three chapters each to the adult fiction of one female writer, Patricia Grace (Potiki and Baby No-Eyes), and one male writer, Witi Ihimaera (The Matriarch). Part Two, following the principle of whakapapa, devotes six chapters to Māori literature for children. Its primary text is the major anthology of such writing – Te Ara O Te Hau: The Path of the Wind, Volume 4 of Te Ao Mārama, edited by Witi Ihimaera, with Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D.S. Long. It grounds its reading of the volume’s many texts (literary and visual, in Māori and in English) in the many distinctive cultural behaviours and meanings attached to the figure of Māui. Each of the authors and texts has been chosen in order to study and exemplify a particular aspect of the Māori aesthetic defined in the Introduction, through close readings which draw strongly on the work of major Māori social historians, authors of iwi histories and genealogies, and interpreters of cultural meanings attaching to the natural worlds, and recent work on literary stylistics by Geoffrey Leech and others. It also draws on conversations with numerous Māori informants, including some of the authors discussed. The readings are designed to reveal the rich, culturally contextualised knowledges which Māori readers bring to the texts, and which their authors share and invoke through their deployment of the values and practices of whakapapa. While such representations and explorations of self offer new interpretive possibilities for Pākehā readers, they are also part of a global movement in which indigenous peoples engage in the politics of decolonisation from a position of strength, the stance of self-knowledge. E kore e hekeheke he kākano rangatira Our ancestors will never die for they live on in each of us. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / This thesis is a history of Maori ship and flourmill ownership set into the wider economic context of mid-nineteenth-century New Zealand. It examines why and how Māori purchased flourmills and trading ships in this period and questions the currently popular view that these were ill-advised investments driven by a desire for status symbols or mere fads resulting from a culturally characteristic neophilia. It argues that both industries were generally well-considered enterprises, appropriate to contemporary conditions, and that they made significant contributions to the New Zealand colonial economy at a particularly fragile stage. An examination of Māori trading practices from the time of European contact establishes that certain aspects of their social relationships and commercial practice were 'traditional' and therefore provide points from which to consider the process of change. It is argued that customary modes facilitated the optimisation of economic benefits presented by a hugely expanded marketplace but that contemporary Christian and western political economic ideas, which gave ideological support to flourmill and ship ownership, also contributed significantly to the involution of Māori commercial enterprise. Māori necessarily responded to these teachings, but a consideration of the rationale behind their acquisition of these assets supports the appropriateness of such investments under contemporary conditions. Evidence from a wide range of Māori and Pakeha sources forms the basis for examining the motivations and management of Māori shipping and flourmilling enterprises and for tracking changes in understandings of proprietary rights. In this context, philosophical and political intervention by missionaries and other Pakeha agents, including the valorisation of individual ownership and enterprise, can be seen to have enticed those from the lower echelons of Māori society to forsake the obligations of a communal economy. As well as undermining the communal nature of Māori society and the authority of traditional leaders, these interventions also fostered greater rigidity in Maori social, economic, and political structures so that the advantages of customary ways were lost. Combined with the loss of resources and a concomitant rise in the political power of the rapidly growing Pakeha population, these changes made it increasingly difficult for Māori to sustain their economic predominance.

Recent research focusing on improving educational outcomes for Māori students in mainstream secondary schools in Aotearoa/New Zealand have asserted that building positive student-teacher relationships in the classroom are fundamental (c. f. Bishop, Berryman, & Richardson, 2003; Bishop & Tiakiwai, 2003; Ministry of Education, 2002, 2006). In contrast, attempts to investigate the educational benefits associated with Māori students participating in cultural learning activities, such as kapa haka, and the implications for improving levels of Māori student achievement, remains relatively unexplored. To embark on such an investigation, Māori kapa haka students and teachers from four mainstream secondary schools were invited to take part in an interview process informed by using a Kaupapa Māori theoretical approach. As a result, the study revealed quite emphatically that not only does kapa haka provide Māori students with an appropriate ‘culturally responsive’ learning experience, but that they also feel more confident and optimistic about school and their education. Moreover, kapa haka provides the opportunity for students to celebrate who they are as Māori and as ‘culturally connected’ learners in mainstream schooling contexts. In addition, Māori students through the kapa haka experience learn to ‘protect’, ‘problem-solve’, ‘provide’, and ‘heal’ their inner self-worth, essence and wellbeing as Māori. Similarly, most teachers agreed that kapa haka provides Māori students with a creative, dynamic and powerful way to access their learning potential as cultural human beings. An overwhelming response by both students and teachers is that kapa haka should be timetabled as an academic subject to provide greater access to indigenous and cultural performing art that affirms their identity as Māori, and our uniqueness as New Zealanders. Finally, the research proposes a ‘culturally responsive’ learning strategy to assist what mainstream secondary schools and teachers provide as valid and purposeful learning opportunities for ‘culturally connected’ learners who are Māori.

Thesis (Ph.D. History)--University of Waikato, 2007. / Title from PDF cover (viewed April 9, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-347)

Thesis (PhD) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2005. / Also held in print (240 leaves ; 30 cm.) in City Campus Theses Collection. (T 362.208999442 MCN)

Thesis (M.Couns.)--University of Waikato, 2006. / Title from PDF cover (viewed June 12, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-177).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Waikato, 2006. / Title from PDF cover (viewed June 11, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-149).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2002. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 373-389). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (MAppSc) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2004. / Also held in print (95 leaves, 30 cm.) in Wellesley Theses Collection. (T 599.940993 PUN)

Thesis (PhD--Education)--University of Auckland, 2009. / "A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education, University of Auckland, New Zealand, August 2009." Includes bibliographical references.