Research Catalog

Title

He reo wāhine : Māori women's voices from the nineteenth century / Lachy Paterson and Angela Wanhalla.

Author

Paterson, Lachy, 1958-

Publication

• Auckland, New Zealand : Auckland University Press, 2017.
• ©2017

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Wanhalla, Angela

Description

x, 372 pages; 24 cm

Summary

During the nineteenth century, Maori women produced letters and memoirs, wrote off to newspapers and commissioners, appeared before commissions of enquiry, gave evidence in court cases, and went to the Native Land Court to assert their rights. "He Reo Wahine" is a bold new introduction to the experience of Maori women in colonial New Zealand through Maori women's own words - the speeches and evidence, letters and testimonies that they left in the archive. Drawing from over 500 texts in both English and te reo Maori written by Maori women themselves, or expressing their words in the first person, "He Reo Wahine" explores the range and diversity of Maori women's concerns and interests, the many ways in which they engaged with colonial institutions, as well as their understanding and use of the law, legal documents, and the court system. The book both collects those sources - providing readers with substantial excerpts from letters, petitions, submissions and other documents - and interprets them. Eight chapters group texts across key themes: land sales, war, land confiscation and compensation, politics, petitions, legal encounters, religion and other private matters. Beside a large scholarship on New Zealand women's history, the historical literature on Maori women is remarkably thin. This book changes that by utilising the colonial archives to explore the feelings, thoughts and experiences of Maori women - and their relationships to the wider world.

Subjects

• Tuhinga kōrero
• Women, Maori > History > 19th century > Sources
• Wāhine
• Women, Maori > Political activity
• Kōrero nehe
• Rauemi matua

Bibliography (note)

• Includes glossary, notes on sources, bibliography and index.

Language (note)

• In English, includes content in Te Reo Māori with English translations.

Contents

Introduction: Voice, text and the colonial archive -- 1. 'I am a woman who wrote this letter': land sales -- 2. 'I am pierced by war's alarm': accounts of war -- 3. 'I am living here a stranger on this land': Raupatu and compensation -- 4. 'Look at me, I am just a woman speaking': politics and mana -- 5. 'I will not desist from writing to you': Māori women's petitions -- 6. 'I am the prosecutrix in this case': legal encounters and Testamentary Acts -- 7. 'If I die, I am dying for the Lord': religion -- 8. 'I am burning like fire': private matters -- Epilogue: 'I am writing to you for you to hear'.

ISBN

• 9781869408664
• 1869408667

LCCN

• 2017434636
• 40027940473

OCLC

• ocn993615826
• 993615826
• SCSB-8956258

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries