Books

The way that Antipodean countries tackle issues of sovereignty, governance and democracy are challenged in a series of thought-provoking essays by lawyers, Māori leaders, sociologists and political commentators. Questioning traditional notions of justice, the authors debate the role of the Treaty of Waitangi, discuss Tainui’s attempt to reclaim confiscated land, and consider the implications of Australia’s Mabo indigenous rights debate. The essays offer a challenging and incisive perspective on post-colonial issues where justice and identity intersect.

The Waitangi Tribunal sits at the heart of the Treaty settlement process, with a unique remit to investigate claims and recommend settlements. But although the claims process has been hugely controversial, little has been written about the Tribunal itself. These essays, by leading academics, lawyers and researchers, successfully fill that gap, examining the Tribunal’s role in reshaping Māori identity and society, the Tribunal’s future mission, and its contribution to ideas of justice and reparation. This perceptive analysis of a key institution is vital reading for anyone seeking to understand Treaty settlements.

Since its publication in 1987, Claudia Orange’s book has become the standard guide to one of the key documents in New Zealand history, selling over 40,000 copies. The complexities of the Treaty, which have done so much to shape New Zealand history for nearly 200 years, are thoughtfully explored as Orange examines the meanings the document has held for Māori and Pākehā. A new introduction brings it up to date with all that has happened since, complementing the book’s lucid and well-researched exploration of how and why the Treaty was signed.

The settlement of iwi claims under the Treaty of Waitangi has drawn international attention, as other nations seek ways to build new relationships between indigenous peoples and the state. Here leading scholars consider the impact of Treaty settlements on the management and ownership of key resources (lands, forests and fisheries); they look at the economic and social consequences for Māori, and the impact of the settlement process on Crown–Māori relationships. And they ask ‘how successful has the settlement process been?'

An Interview with Moana Jackson

Te Ao Hou: The New World takes up the increasingly complex history of Māori entwined with Pākehā newcomers from about 1830. As the new world unfolded, Māori independence was hotly contested; Māori held as tightly as they could to their authority over the land, while the Crown sought to loosen it. War broke out just as the numbers of Pākehā resident in the country began to equal those of tangata whenua. For Māori, the consequences were devastating, and the recovery was long, framed by rural poverty, population decline and the economic depression of the late nineteenth century. Drawn from the landmark publication, Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History (2014), Te Ao Hou covers the Māori history of the nineteenth century.

An understanding of the ways of our tūpuna, coupled with the best of new thinking from New Zealand and abroad, has significant potential for sustainable housing models. Colonial settlement and the discriminatory policies of successive governments have challenged Māori connections to whenua and kāinga. Today, home ownership rates for Māori are well below the national average and Māori are over-represented in the statistics of substandard housing.

Alice Te Punga Somerville employs her deep research and dark humour to skilfully channel her response to Cook’s global colonial legacy in this revealing and defiant BWB Text.

In 1840, over 500 Māori leaders put their names to a significant new document: Te Tiriti o Waitangi or the Treaty of Waitangi. Through their signatures, moko or marks, they were making an agreement with the British Crown, represented by Consul and Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson. At stake was the sovereignty of the country, the governance of the land.

In a country where land disputes were the chief cause of conflict between the coloniser and the colonised, surveying could never be a neutral, depoliticised pastime. In a groundbreaking piece of scholarship, Giselle Byrnes examines the way surveyors became figuratively and literally ‘the cutting edge of colonisation’. Clearing New Zealand’s vast forests, laying out town plans and deciding on place names, they were at every moment asserting British power. Boundary Markers also shows how the surveyors’ ‘commercial gaze’, a view of the countryside coloured by the desire for profit, put them at odds with the Māori view of land.

In 1840, over 500 Māori leaders put their names to a significant new document: Te Tiriti o Waitangi or the Treaty of Waitangi. Through their signatures, moko or marks they were making an agreement with the British Crown. At stake was the sovereignty of the country, the governance of the land. The history of this agreement is a remarkable one, told here in rich and compelling detail.

He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni/The Declaration of Independence of New Zealand was signed by fifty-two rangatira from 1835 to 1839. It was a powerful assertion of mana and rangatiratanga, made after decades of Māori and European encounters that had been steadily expanding – both within Aotearoa New Zealand and elsewhere on the globe as Māori travelled abroad. As rangatira reached out, they also forged new alliances. He Whakaputanga was part of that process, reinforcing ties between northern rangatira and the British Crown that dated back nearly half a century.

The State of Māori Rights brings together a set of articles written between 1994 and 2009. It places on record the Māori view of events and issues that took place over these years – issues that have been more typically reported to the general public from a mainstream media perspective.

This collection of essays looks at understandings of home and the impact of dominant societies on indigenous cultures and their homes. The book covers home and language preservation, homelessness, retention of land, tobacco use in the home, loss of home through trauma and natural disaster, ageing and health, and the meaning of home. This is the third book in the Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Edited Collections series. Previous titles are Māori and Social Issues and The Value of the Māori Language.

This collection of essays by Māori experts examines issues involving the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori culture, Māori health and the environment. It analyses particular disciplines through the Māori concept of mana tangata – empowering people, and offers insights and solutions for issues that have long confronted Māori.

Agents of Autonomy examines the way that Māori reorganised and responded to the Crown's determined drive to secure Māori lands. Vincent O'Malley's history discusses in detail the succession of Māori organisations, or 'Native Committees', that formed throughout the nineteenth century and came very close to regaining control of their affairs and their resources.

'Māori aspirations will not find expression by rhetoric alone. If they are to be converted to practice, sound conceptual foundations, clarity of purpose, and a capacity for measuring both progress and impact must underpin them.' In this authoritative collection of his keynote addresses, Professor Mason Durie discusses Maori initiatives in health, education and Treaty settlements; he considers the shape of a fair national constitution; and he builds on Māori potential and aspirations to develop a vision for Māori futures. The sequel to this book is also available Ngā Tini Whetū: Navigating Māori Futures.

What have Māori been protesting about? What has been achieved? This book provides an overview of the contemporary Māori protest movement, a summary of the rationale behind the actions, and a wonderful collection of photographs of the action – the protests, the marches and the work behind the scenes. And it provides a glimpse of the fruits of that protest – the Waitangi Tribunal and the opportunity to prepare, present and negotiate Treaty settlements; Māori language made an official language; Māori-medium education; Māori health providers; iwi radio and, in 2004, Māori television.

'If you were to ask me about the nature of leadership in terms of what I've learnt, you've got to have a fire in your belly for an outcome' - Sir Tipene O'Regan.

Ngā Tini Whetū brings together twenty-five papers Professor Mason Durie presented at national and international conferences between 2004 and 2010. It discusses Māori in a future involving new technologies, alliances, economies and levels of achievement and considers how Māori could respond to the changes, prosper and live in a changing world as Māori.

This collection of articles discusses the impact of changes in Aotearoa New Zealand's natural environment due to factors such as climate change, pollution and degradation of waterways and land, pest control and environmental management policy. It highlights Māori perspectives on these issues and actions that Māori have taken to maintain and restore the environment. The relationship that Māori have with the environment through kaitiakitanga has sound environmental principles and provides a reminder of obligations for future generations.With local, regional and central government decisions about the environment continuing to be based on a least-expensive option rather than on the most sustainable, the book suggests that Māori should take a lead role as active kaitiaki to promote sound principles in the wider community for the benefit of all.

The Spirit of Māori Leadership explores what leadership is, discusses different models and styles of Māori leadership, describes the qualities and approaches of Māori leaders and, using this knowledge, looks at the attributes and styles needed in future leaders.

This collection of twenty-five papers by Professor Whatarangi Winiata and co-authors given over the last forty years, comment on Māori spirituality, social development, education and political affairs. They cover Professor Winiata's experiences of and thinking about reengineering the working of the Hahi Mihinare; driving the iwi development programme Whakatupuranga Rua Mano, which led to the foundation of the first contemporary whare wānanga; galvanising the New Zealand Māori Council to hold the Crown accountable over fisheries, forestry, language and broadcasting; and co-founding the Māori Party with Dame Tariana Turia and Sir Pita Sharples.

Kaupapa Māori theory and methodology developed over twenty years ago and have since become influential in social research, practice and policy areas. This collection furthers knowledge about kaupapa Māori by examining its effects over the decades, identifying and discussing its conventions and boundaries and reflecting on kaupapa Māori in social and educational research and practice.

Tikanga Māori is the authoritative and accessible introduction to understanding the correct Māori ways of doing things as they were done in the past, as they are done in the present and as they may yet be done. In this revised edition, Hirini Mead has added an extensive new chapter on mana whenua, mana moana, Māori authority over land and ocean, and the different interpretations and applications of mana whenua and mana moana historically and today.

This book discusses the roadside checkpoints that were set up by Māori to protect communities during the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Case studies of four different checkpoints are examined, each of which looked slightly different, but all of which were underpinned by tikanga Māori. The checkpoints are discussed as practical expressions of whanau, hapū, iwi and Māori rangatiratanga and indicate the ongoing existence and flourishing of rangatiratanga.

While Indigenous peoples face the challenges of self-determination in a postcolonial world, New Treaty, New Tradition provides a timely look at how the resolution of historical Treaty of Waitangi claims continues to shape the culture of all who are involved – Māori and government alike.

Weeping Waters features essays from eighteen well-known and respected Māori figures including Professor Margaret Mutu, Bishop Muru Walters, Judge Caren Fox and lawyer Moana Jackson. This is the first book in recent years to offer a Māori opinion on the subject of constitutional change. It shows how Māori views have been ignored by successive governments and the courts and how Māori have attempted to address constitutional issues in the past.

This book is a counter-story to Western ideas about the benefits of the pursuit of knowledge. Looking through the eyes of the colonized, cautionary tales are told from an indigenous perspective, tales designed not just to voice the voiceless but to prevent the dying -of people, of culture, of ecosystems.

This collection of papers examines the current place of the Treaty of Waitangi in core public policy areas. The authors analyse the tensions and dynamics in the relationship between Māori and the Crown in their areas of expertise, detail the key challenges being faced, and provide insights into how these can be overcome.

This book brings together a series of papers by Ani Mikaere that reflect on the effect of Pākehā law, legal processes and teaching on Māori legal thought and practice. She discusses issues such as the ability of Māori to achieve justice when Māori law is marginalised; the need to confront racism in thinking, processes and structures; the impact of interpretations of the Treaty of Waitangi; the difficulty of redressing harm to Māori within the Pākehā legal system; and the importance of reinstating tikanga at the heart of Māori legal thinking and practice.

This is a revised edition of Dr Ranginui Walker's best-selling history of Aotearoa, New Zealand, from a Maori perspective. Since the mid-nineteenth century, Maori have been involved in an endless struggle for justice, equality and self-determination. In this book Dr Walker provides a uniquely Maori view, not only of the events of the past two centuries but beyond to the very origins of Maori people. In this updated edition Dr Walker has added new chapters covering the years from 1990, the flowering of the Maori culture and the growth of Maori political and economic power. Recent issues such as the foreshore and seabed legislation, the hikoi and Don Brash's Orewa speech are discussed.

Decolonisation is a term that alarms some, and gives hope to others. It is an uncomfortable and often bewildering concept for many New Zealanders. This book seeks to demystify decolonisation using illuminating, real-life examples. By exploring the impact of colonisation on Māori and non-Māori alike, Imagining Decolonisation presents a transformative vision of a country that is fairer for all.

The Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a foundational document for New Zealand. Signed in 1840 by more than 540 rangatira and representatives of the British Crown, the Treaty set out an agreement between Māori and the European newcomers that remains central to this country’s cultural and political life.