Moana Jackson, the esteemed Māori lawyer and teacher, has died. The following is an excerpt from one of his last pieces of writing, the foreword to new book Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art. Art is the telling of stories. In some cultures, storytellers begin by saying, “In the days before we remember”, or, … Read more
An excerpt from an essay by Treaty and constitutional law expert Dr Moana Jackson, taken from Imagining Decolonisation, the latest in the BWB Text series from Bridget Williams Books. James Cook’s belief that he could take this country for England in 1769 because he had ‘discovered’ it, and the whole discourse in the 1830s about … Read more
In her second column for The Spinoff, activist Anjum Rahman recounts her experience at a recent media event as a way of examining what’s at stake in the free speech debate. To receive an invitation to the renowned Hamilton Press Club lunch is quite a thing, given that many media personalities and prominent community members … Read more
With actor Jason Momoa putting his problematic interpretation of haka on the world stage during the press tour for Aquaman, Tina Ngata revisits some of the myths and misunderstandings about Māori as a ‘warrior race’. “The notion of a warrior gene as a scientific fact is actually based on the history of a scientific and cultural … Read more
How do museums learn to tell the truth about what they hold in order to become ‘decolonised archives’ asks Puawai Cairns, kaihāpai Mātauranga Māori at Te Papa. ‘Museums are dangerous places because they control the storytelling’ – Moana Jackson For the last few months, my curatorial team – Mātauranga Māori – has been meeting regularly to discuss … Read more