Māori oral histories and the impact of tsunamis in Aotearoa-New Zealand
Māori oral histories from the northern South Island of Aotearoa-New Zealand provide details of ancestral experience with tsunami(s) on, and surrounding, Rangitoto (D'Urville Island). Applying an inductive-based methodology informed by <q>collaborative storytelling</q>, exchanges...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2018-03-01
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| Series: | Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/18/907/2018/nhess-18-907-2018.pdf |
| Summary: | Māori oral histories from the northern South Island of
Aotearoa-New Zealand provide details of ancestral experience with tsunami(s)
on, and surrounding, Rangitoto (D'Urville Island). Applying an
inductive-based methodology informed by <q>collaborative storytelling</q>,
exchanges with key informants from the Māori kin groups of Ngāti
Koata and Ngāti Kuia reveal that a <q>folk tale</q>, published in 1907,
could be compared to and combined with active oral histories to provide
insights into past catastrophic saltwater inundations. Such histories
reference multiple layers of experience and meaning, from memorials to
ancestral figures and their accomplishments to claims about place, authority
and knowledge. Members of Ngāti Koata and Ngāti Kuia, who permitted
us to record some of their histories, share the view that there are multiple
benefits to be gained by learning from differences in knowledge, practice and
belief. This work adds to scientific as well as Maōri understandings about
tsunami hazards (and histories). It also demonstrates that to engage with
Māori oral histories (and the people who genealogically link to such
stories) requires close attention to a politics of representation, in both
past recordings and current ways of retelling, as well as sensitivities to
the production of <q>new</q> and <q>plural</q> knowledges. This paper makes these
narratives available to a new audience, including those families who no
longer have access to them, and recites these in ways that might encourage
plural knowledge development and co-existence. |
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| ISSN: | 1561-8633 1684-9981 |