Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies - Volume 3, Issue 2, 2015

Abstract

Abstract

This article examines ways in which the concept of resistance – in a postcolonial sense – has been articulated in Maori theatre, and in particular by Maori playwright, actor and poet Apirana Taylor during a period that might be loosely termed the ‘Maori renaissance’. Specifically, the article focuses upon how resistance plays out theatrically in Kilimogo Productions’ presentation of Taylor’s play Whaea Kairau: Mother Hundred-Eater, performed in Otepoti/Dunedin in 1999. Taylor’s and Kilimogo’s contributions to Maori theatre’s function as a theatre of resistance are duly examined. Alongside a postcolonial critical stance, the article evaluates how the Brechtian elements of Verfremdungseffekt, Gestus and historicization can be applied to Maori theatre in a way that complements rather than colonizes. Theatrical strategies found in Taylor’s play and Kilimogo’s production provide the spectator with the Brechtian experience of Verfremdungseffekt, but simultaneously accommodate the undergirding principles of Kaupapa Maori and Maori tikanga (Maori topics, policies, agendas or initiatives, and customary cultural practices). These theatrical strategies allow for a dialectical engagement between cultural signifiers and texts, and for the possibility of contradiction in the theatrical image. A sense of complex undecidability is consequently evident in Kilimogo’s production of Whaea Kairau. Whilst acknowledging Bertolt Brecht’s legacy and influence, the article also recognizes his complex status as a canonized theatre-maker in this particular postcolonial context, and therefore looks at ways in which Kilimogo’s production both utilizes and interrogates Brecht’s tenets.

Abstract

The post World War II large-scale migration of Pacific peoples to Aotearoa New Zealand represents one of the country’s most significant demographic changes of the late twentieth century. Communities were first established in the main centres before gradually expanding and becoming entrenched across the country. With the passing of new generations, these communities became primarily locally born and/or raised. This article addresses the growth of Pacific festivals over four decades and argues that this development demonstrates cultural and diasporic evolution. It also posits that, by focusing on the changing nature of music within the festival space, these processes are further illuminated. From their beginnings in the 1970s as spaces of purely traditional musics, Pacific festivals experienced significant growth from the 1990s as part of a ‘Pacific renaissance’. This period saw a coming-of-age of the first New Zealand-born generations and fused with a reaction against the preceding marginalization of Pacific communities. As part of this renaissance, popular music increasingly became an important medium through which notions of diasporic identity and culture were negotiated, and the role of popular music within festival spaces likewise evolved. Popular music is now central in a sonic landscape that incorporates both traditional and popular musics as representative of the Pacific diaspora and its cultural evolution and continued negotiation in twenty-first century New Zealand.

Abstract

Niue, an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, is commonly referred to as the ‘rock of Polynesia’. The oval-shaped island is one of the world’s largest coral islands and supports a population of 1,460 residents. During focus group discussions with community members from three coastal villages in October 2012, it was evident that the country faces significant contemporary sociocultural changes that present numerous challenges for Niue’s long-term future. The core challenges and concerns expressed by participants revolved around outmigration trends, a shift away from traditional subsistence living and increasing dependency on imported food, a decline in traditional practices, and the potential negative effects of a growing tourism industry. While these trends are largely well-known and well-documented for Niue, less attention has been given to how best to reconcile these concerns and the subsequent disjuncture between the ‘problem’ and ‘solution’. This article therefore seeks to document these concerns, and importantly present a way forward for managing them in a way that will see a reversal or slowing of these currently perceived negative trends to ensure the long-term sustainability of Niue and its people.

Abstract

The Cook Islands is an archipelago of fifteen tiny islands scattered across an area of the Pacific that is equivalent in size to Western Europe but with only 13,500 inhabitants. This article describes and discusses the first research on domestic violence to have been conducted throughout the whole of the Cook Islands. Qualitative interviews were conducted on every inhabited island in the country. The participants were Cook Islands women who had been, or who still were, victims of domestic violence. The research aimed to discover whether there was domestic violence throughout the Cook Islands and to hear from the victims about their experiences. The research also had an overarching goal of ensuring that the victims’ voices were paramount, in order that they could be heard. In this article, the women tell their compelling stories and, despite the fact that the women come from several different generations and are on isolated islands, the results show that there are remarkable similarities in their stories. These similarities include the methods and types of abuse they experienced and their resultant psychosocial problems. Lastly, the results show that when the similarities in the women’s stories are synthesized and compared to existing, worldwide research, this leads to the theory of the Timeline of Abuse, which is published here for the first time.

Abstract

The Voyagers: Remarkable European Explorations of New Zealand, Paul Moon (2014) Auckland: Penguin Books, 256 pp., ISBN 978 0 1435 7055 4 (pbk), NZ$40

Intimate St rangers: Friendship, Exchange and Pacific Encounters, Vanessa Smith (2010) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 336pp., ISBN 978 0 5217 2878 2 (pbk), £24.99

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An Awfully Big Adventure: New Zealand World War One Veterans Tell Their St ories, Jane Tolerton (2013) Auckland: Penguin Books, 304pp., ISBN 978 0 1435 6849 0 (pbk), NZ$45

New Zealand and the First World War 1914–1919, Damien Fenton with Caroline Lord, Gavin McLean and Tim Shoebridge (2013) Auckland: Penguin Books, 112pp., ISBN 978 0 1435 6975 6 (hbk), NZ$75

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Nga Morehu: The Survivors, Judith Binney, Gillian Chaplin (2011) Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 256pp., ISBN 978 1 9271 3131 2 (pbk), NZ$49.99

Diminishing Conflicts in Asia and The Pacific: Why Some Subside and Others Don’t, Edward Aspinall, Robin Jeffrey and Anthony J. Regan (eds) (2013) London and New York: Routledge, 298 pp., ISBN 978 1 1388 4467 4 (pbk), £29.99

New Zealand’s China Experience: Its Genesis, Triumphs and Occasional Moments of Less than Complete Success, Chris Elder (ED.) (2012) Wellington: Victoria University Press, 256 pp., ISBN 978 0 8647 3837 0 (hbk), NZ$50

Mad on Radium: New Zealand in the Atomic Age, Rebecca Priestley (2012) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 296pp., ISBN 978 1 8694 0727 8 (pbk), NZ$44.99

Peace, Power and Politics: How New Zealand Became Nuclear Free, Maire Leadbeater (2013) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 344pp., ISBN 978 1 877578 58 8 (pbk), NZ$55

Friendly Fire: Nuclear Politics and the collapse of Anzus , 1984–1987, Gerald Hensley (2013) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 336pp., ISBN 978 1 86940 741 4 (pbk), NZ$45

Sorrows of a Century: Interpreting Suicide in New Zealand, 1900–2000, John C. Weaver (2014) Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 449pp., ISBN 978 1 9272 7723 2 (pbk), NZ$59.99

Childhoods: Growing Up in Aotearoa New Zealand, Nancy Higgins and Claire Freeman (eds) (2013) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 344 pp., ISBN 978 1 8775 7849 6 (pbk), NZ$50

A New Zealand Book of Beasts: Animals in our Culture, History and Everyday Life, Annie Potts, Philip Armstrong and Deidre Brown (2013) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 336pp., ISBN 978 1 8694 0772 8 (pbk), NZ$49.99

New Zealand Fashion Design, Angela Lassig with Peter Shand (2010) Wellington: Te Papa Press, 532 pp., ISBN 978 1 8773 8537 7 (hbk), NZ$120

New Zealand Film and Television: Institution, Industry and Cultural Change, Trisha Dunleavy and Hester Joyce (2011) Bristol: Intellect, 297 pp., ISBN 978 1 8415 0457 5 (pbk), £30

Touring the Screen: Tourism and New Zealand Film Geographies, Alfio Leotta (2011) Bristol: Intellect, 208 pp., ISBN 978 1 8415 0475 9 (pbk), £25

A Made-Up Place: New Zealand in Young Adult Fiction, Anna Jackson, Geoffrey Miles, Harry Ricketts, Tatjana Schaefer and Kathryn Walls (2011) Wellington: Victoria University Press, 224 pp., ISBN 978 0 864736 97 0 (pbk), NZ$40

From Manoa to a Ponsonby Garden, Albert Wendt (2012) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 80 pp., ISBN 978 1 8694 0734 6 (pbk), NZ$24.99

Ancestry, Albert Wendt (2012) Wellington: Huia, 314 pp., ISBN 978 1 7755 0037 7 (pbk), NZ$35