"Te Tahi o Pipiri" : Literacy and missionary pedagogy as mechanisms in change. The reactions of three rangatira from the Bay of Islands: 1814-1834
Abstract
This thesis is concerned with the ways Imperialism (and consequently colonialism) has pervaded the indigenous 'primitive' world. Protectorates and 'the colonies' reflected imperialist ideals, expansion, territory, external revenue and power. Missionaries were the footmen of colonial policy. The relations forged between these evangelists and the indigene have been thoroughly studied and scrutinised. However, reported interaction has been about missionaries and the 'native', with less about that between the indigenes, individual and tribe, elder and young. The thesis intends to redress this imbalance in the Bay of Islands from 1814 to 1834. The following work is an examination of a process of social change in Aotearoa. In the early 19th century the physical, spiritual and intellectual contact made between Māori peoples and the European explorers, scientists, and missionaries involved a deliberate cultural entanglement. It is the processes of acculturation, assimilation, or simply misunderstanding that are of interest. The study will have several foci involving the reaction of peoples of the Bay of Islands to the missionary institution of religious education. Chapter One addresses the theoretical location of the peoples that interacted in the Bay, while the second chapter is a brief description of a Māori coastal society prior to the arrival of literate missionaries. Chapter Three is about the cultural and social engagements of Ruatara, Marsden, Kendall and Hongi. The final chapter is a biographical exploration in the life of Rawiri Tawhanga and his interactions with missionaries and Māori of the Bay. Fundamentally it is the indigenous interaction during the initial periods of external European contact and, therefore, the effects of internal societal change that the author wishes to examine.Date
2011-01-25Type
ThesisIdentifier
oai:ourarchive.otago.ac.nz:10523/519http://hdl.handle.net/10523/519
http://adt.otago.ac.nz/public/adt-NZDU20070523.144700