A Carved Cloak for Tahu

By Mere Whaanga, Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2004, 268 pages, paperback, . Reviewed by John O'Leary in the February 2006 issue.

Help more readers find out about this article
Slashdot   Digg   StumbleUpon   Del.icio.us

Readers of Witi Ihimaera's novel The Whalerider (1987) and those who saw the recent film version of the book will be intrigued by Mere Whaanga's account of Ngai Tahu Matawhaiti, a hapû (subtribe) of Ngati Kuhungunu from the east coast of the north island of New Zealand, who number among their ancestors Paikea, the famous whalerider.

Whaanga explains in her introduction that she wrote her history at the request of local elders, to inform people about the Ngai Tahu Matawhaiti hapü and to help future generations gain a sense of belonging and pride in their place of origin. Her book looks likely to succeed, as it is a fascinating, detailed narrative of hapû origins, history and current issues.

Whaanga divides her history into three sections. 'Mana Whakapapa' (which might be translated as 'genealogical rights') begins by explaining the meaning and importance of the meeting house Te Poho o Tahu (The Breast of Tahu), whose carvings refer to tïpuna (ancestors) and important tribal stories and symbols. Whaanga then narrates a variety of ancestral legends, making extensive use of whakapapa (genealogies) and waiata (songs or chants). We learn about the fratricidal strife that lay behind the Paikea story, the origin and spread of Ngai Tahu (today the main tribe in New Zealand's South Island), and the ancestry of the hapû's eponymous ancestor, Matawhaiti. A long, extremely interesting chapter describes the waka (ocean-going canoe) Takitimu, which bore the ancestors across the ocean from Hawaiki to Aotearoa (I did not know that Takitimu was the ninth and last name for a canoe that was originally built in Samoa). A final chapter details the history of the Ngati Kahungunu iwi (tribe), paying particular attention to the great leader Kahungunu and to his aristocratic wife Rongomaiwahine. Whaanga is especially interesting on the subject of hapû and iwi, pointing out that for pre-colonial Maori the hapû was the basic social unit, with the larger collectivity of the iwi gaining prominence only in European times, partly as a result of pressure from a colonial government that sought to negotiate with large tribal entities rather than with numbers of small hapû.

If the first section of A Carved Cloak for Tahu deals with the hapû's relationship with its ancestors, the second section, 'Mana Whenua' (which might be translated as 'land rights') deals with the hapû's relationship with its land. Maori, as Whaanga points out, conceive of themselves as belonging to the land, not the land to Maori, and this conception underlies a revealing discussion of Maori ideas of land ownership, which centre on notions such as take tupuna (ancestral right) and the highly important ahikäroa (right by virtue of long occupation). The destructive effect of the Native Land Court, which alienated vast tracts of land from Maori in the second half of the nineteenth century, is graphically described. Less interesting for the general reader is a mass of detail about the hapû's current land holdings.

One response to the crisis among Maori produced by white settlement was the rise of poropiti (prophets), charismatic spiritual leaders who interpreted Christianity through Maori eyes. The most famous -- or notorious -- of these was Te Kooti, who came from the same East Coast area as Whaanga's hapû and whose 'diamond' (talismanic stone) is supposed to be hidden in the depths of Lake Mangatahi, which sits on hapû land. Whaanga's discussion of Te Kooti, and his treatment by the settler government and fellow Maori is illuminating, highlighting the tensions within Maoridom that this turbulent character provoked (one of Whaanga's ancestors appears to have fought against the prophet). It provides a local angle on this important chapter in New Zealand history, giving the reader a supplement to the larger, more general consideration carried out by Judith Binney in her landmark study of Te Kooti, Redemption Songs (1995).

The final section of A Carved Cloak for Tahu, 'Mana Tangata' deals with the activities of the people that have made, and make up, the hapû, and with their stories, taonga (treasures), faiths and current issues. We learn about a local Wairoa poropiti, the gentle Te Matenga Tamati, and the twelve sacred tötara logs (imaged on the maihi or carved gables of the meeting house Te Poho o Tahu) that he had hewn to make a tabernacle. We learn, too, about the hapû's seven totemic whales, now transformed into hills in the area, whose images also adorn the maihi. The great taonga Te Toki a Tapiri, a waka taua (war canoe) is described, along with its curious history (a midshipman from the Royal Navy once attempted to blow it up). The former economic base of the hapû is analyzed in a discussion of the flax trade and, more gruesomely, the trade in mokamokai (preserved heads). The book ends with a case study of the hapû's response to proposed drilling for petroleum on hapû land, a response which illustrates the central notion of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) held by Maori in relation to land.

In an age that distrusts master narratives and Euro-centric discourses, a local history from an indigenous point of view is invaluable. A Carved Cloak for Tahu reminds us that Maori, whom European New Zealanders so often conceive of as a single, undifferentiated Other, are in fact made up of numerous smaller groups with identities, and histories, of their own. If I have one or two cavils -- a glossary, for example, would have been useful for readers not familiar with Maori language and culture -- Whaanga's book remains an impressive achievement.

Citation

• John O'Leary. 'Review: A Carved Cloak for Tahu by Mere Whaanga' [online]. Network Review of Books (Perth, Australian Public Intellectual Network), February 2006. Availability: <please cite the web address here> ISSN 1833-0932. [accessed 20 May 2013].

Back Cover Blurb

• A Carved Cloak for Tahu tells the story of the northern Hawke's Bay hapu of Ngai Tahu Matawhaiti. It is a history that blends old and new, land and people, traditional stories and modern issues.
  
  The carvings of the wharenui Te Poho O Tahu at Iwitea, near Wairoa, are the starting point for a tribal history that goes back to Hawaiki. Mere Whaanga draws on the traditional methods and materials of Maori history - whakairo, waiata, tauparapara - to evoke the stories and identity of a people who keep alive the links with their tipuna. She recounts the journeys and exploits of the forebears of Ngai Tahu Matawhaiti - and the ancestors of many other hapu and iwi - Tahu Potiki, Matawhaiti, Paikea, Kahungunu, Rongomaiwahine and Te Huki.
  
  This is also a story of changes in land tenure, obligations and authority, and the way one hapu has responded to them. As these have been among the fundamental concerns of Maori since the mid nineteenth century, the story of Ngai Tahu Matawhaiti has relevance for other hapu and iwi today.

Have You Also Read?

• Chronicle of the Unsung
  
  Martin Edmond, Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2004, 208 Pages, Paperback,
  Reviewed by Sue Bond in the October 2004 issue.
  
  The compulsion to shape a child can warp growth: generating hopeful monsters fated never to prevail, pallid clones, the agonies of the self-destructor. (202) Chronicle of the Unsung is threaded through with sadness and loss, both for the author, Martin Edmond, and others. This quotation from the end of the book aptly states his feelings on the struggle he had with his mother, in particular, a struggle mentioned in places through the stories he tells, but summarised poetically in this one sentence. Edmond writes for the screen as well as books of non-fiction, and has won awards for his work. Originally from New Zealand, he now lives in Sydney. The shape of the book begins with the cover: ... read more.