The politics of Maori history in an age of protest

Urbanization, Maori political radicalism and the re-emergence of the Treaty of Waitangi have all been part of the resurgence of Maori pan tribal and tribal identity since the beginning of the 1960s. This article traces the impact of this political resurgence on the writing of Maori history. It argues that in the 1960s Maori politics had little use for history as Maori communities responded to the contemporary experience of urbanization. As critical Maori voices emerged from the late 1960s, they drew on contemporary sociological and anthropological theory to explain Maori disadvantage, only gradually finding historical explanations for political marginalization and economic disadvantage. These explanations had by the early 1980s emphasized the universal experience of colonization and national Maori sovereignty. It is argued that only gradually did these narratives become located in specific tribal experiences, reinforcing claims of tribal sovereignty. The work of the Waitangi Tribunal accompanied by the devolution of the state sector encouraged the development of these tribal histories, which were often contested. However, early enthusiasm by historians for Tribunal history was from the late 1990s accompanied by a more critical response, concerned about the extent that history was serving and being distorted by political purposes. The article concludes by exploring Maori history in the post-Tribunal era, not only freed from the limitations of supporting Maori claims under the Treaty of Waitangi, but also from the political polarization of the 1970s and 1980s.