Maori ways of knowing
This research considers material culture, the politics of identity, and the role knowledge plays in a Maori community in relation to a nineteenth century historic collection held abroad. The Charles Smith collection came from the Nga Paerangi community in Whanganui, New Zealand. The importance of hi...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2012
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| _version_ | 1797076555859492864 |
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| author | Kefalas, C |
| author2 | Peers, L |
| author_facet | Peers, L Kefalas, C |
| author_sort | Kefalas, C |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This research considers material culture, the politics of identity, and the role knowledge plays in a Maori community in relation to a nineteenth century historic collection held abroad. The Charles Smith collection came from the Nga Paerangi community in Whanganui, New Zealand. The importance of historic collections to Maori are described through the concept <em>taonga</em>, or treasured objects, which have been theorized in terms of kinship relationships to a certain class of social valuable. This research acknowledges that <em>taonga</em> uphold the continuity of historic relationships, but departs from other analyses in its focus on a previously unknown collection, introduced to the source community through photographs in an exploration of ways <em>taonga</em> interactions are historically and circumstantially informed. Visually focused research endeavors often present diverse responses in a meeting of the social life of objects and the politics of knowledge. Similarly, divergent responses to <em>taonga</em> arose that referenced the colonial contexts in which such <em>taonga</em> left Maori control, as well as losses to knowledge bases in the community. Endeavors to reclaim lands and cultural heritage through language and education initiatives operate at a local level of regeneration, but these goals become pertinent to larger issues of placing knowledge within a rights-based framework grounded in personal socializations of knowledge. The recognition that knowledge is <em>taonga</em> emerged as the framework for understanding ways Maori assert their authority over land, their language, and museum collections based in particular dispositions to knowledge. The control enacted over cultural representations in museums, land courts, and other political forums, asserts self-determinative positions, and also claims Maori knowledge as a scarce resource. Community speakers who have access to this powerful knowledge must therefore act on behalf of their communities as guardians of knowledge and <em>taonga</em> treasures, to redress historic losses, outsider appropriations of culture, and prevent further social disadvantages. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:05:24Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:775ee755-5e2e-409b-98a2-b3e113b42172 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:05:24Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:775ee755-5e2e-409b-98a2-b3e113b421722022-03-26T20:23:36ZMaori ways of knowingThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:775ee755-5e2e-409b-98a2-b3e113b42172Material anthropologyEnglishOxford University Research Archive - Valet2012Kefalas, CPeers, LThis research considers material culture, the politics of identity, and the role knowledge plays in a Maori community in relation to a nineteenth century historic collection held abroad. The Charles Smith collection came from the Nga Paerangi community in Whanganui, New Zealand. The importance of historic collections to Maori are described through the concept <em>taonga</em>, or treasured objects, which have been theorized in terms of kinship relationships to a certain class of social valuable. This research acknowledges that <em>taonga</em> uphold the continuity of historic relationships, but departs from other analyses in its focus on a previously unknown collection, introduced to the source community through photographs in an exploration of ways <em>taonga</em> interactions are historically and circumstantially informed. Visually focused research endeavors often present diverse responses in a meeting of the social life of objects and the politics of knowledge. Similarly, divergent responses to <em>taonga</em> arose that referenced the colonial contexts in which such <em>taonga</em> left Maori control, as well as losses to knowledge bases in the community. Endeavors to reclaim lands and cultural heritage through language and education initiatives operate at a local level of regeneration, but these goals become pertinent to larger issues of placing knowledge within a rights-based framework grounded in personal socializations of knowledge. The recognition that knowledge is <em>taonga</em> emerged as the framework for understanding ways Maori assert their authority over land, their language, and museum collections based in particular dispositions to knowledge. The control enacted over cultural representations in museums, land courts, and other political forums, asserts self-determinative positions, and also claims Maori knowledge as a scarce resource. Community speakers who have access to this powerful knowledge must therefore act on behalf of their communities as guardians of knowledge and <em>taonga</em> treasures, to redress historic losses, outsider appropriations of culture, and prevent further social disadvantages. |
| spellingShingle | Material anthropology Kefalas, C Maori ways of knowing |
| title | Maori ways of knowing |
| title_full | Maori ways of knowing |
| title_fullStr | Maori ways of knowing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Maori ways of knowing |
| title_short | Maori ways of knowing |
| title_sort | maori ways of knowing |
| topic | Material anthropology |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kefalasc maoriwaysofknowing |