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Written Component Final

Whenua 

Whenua means land, and it can also be used in a plural sense. Like most Māori words translated to English, it is not always as direct as it seems and the concept of Whenua goes much deeper within Māori philosophy. Māori also associates the concept of whenua with birth and rebirth; whenua also means placenta, the womb and the umbilical cord. These concepts form Māori understanding that Papatūānuku the earth mother is the birthplace of all life, and after death, a person is to be returned and buried from the land they came. The site Te Ara elaborates on the connection between these concepts 

“All life is seen as being born from the womb of Papatūānuku, under the sea. The lands that appear above water are placentas from her womb. They float, forming islands. “In that womb, preparations are being made for a new world. We are children within the womb of the world, soon to be born into another reality” (Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal 2007). 

Through Huhana Smith’s (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga) video about the harakeke project within the Horowhenua district, we can learn how whenua of that land can be rehabilitated back to its original whakapapa through the mātauranga Māori framework. She discussed the importance of reconnecting the whenua back to its hapu and iwi, where previously owned Māori mana whenua has been tarnished through colonisation. (Gilbert 2018) Susan Margaret Smith explains in more depth the importance of re-establishing and sustaining mana within the environment through her thesis ‘Hei Whenua Ora’. ‘It is important to understand the importance of wairua and mana within everything and to acknowledge the relationships that exist between humanity and the environment for health and wellbeing. (S.Smith pg 19). Active kaitiakitanga of whenua sustains and improves ecological development, protecting its connections of whakapapa and tradition. Horowhenua district’s plan to rehabilitate its streams by planting harakeke around the surroundings not only re-establishes its connections and traditions back to its iwi and hapu; but provides a potential economic growth of Māori through harakeke’s sustainable nature.

‘local kaitiaki or ecological guardians in tribal regions to know their locale, their place, their place within it and the unique environmental and spiritual values that support it for the future generations' physical, economic and cultural welfare’ (Smith pg 19). 

Aroha Gossage (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Ati Awa) is a Māori artist with a Masters of Art & Design (Honours). Aroha Gossage has had an ongoing relationship with ARTIS Gallery, Auckland, since 2016, with three of her solo projects being exhibited in that space. Gossage’s second solo exhibition titled ‘Wairua’ (Aroha Gossage)  is a series of paintings from Pakiri, Hauturu and Little Barrier Island regions. ‘Gossage, of Ngāti Wai and Ngāti Ruanui, attributes her new work to her mother and a childhood spent learning how to live with and from the land– collecting native seeds, diving for kina and pāua, and fishing in the river’ (Tyson). Gossage illustrates those areas that have established kaitiakitanga by the mana whenua, showcasing the natural beauty that has been preserved. Gossage is initiating inspiration into protecting the whenua of Pakiri, Hauturu and Little Barrier Island and throughout Aotearoa. She explains

'The land I'm painting is untouched and it remains that way, because of the protection of our tūpuna who have handed it down to us and I'd like for people to see the sacred nature of it and have an awareness of the environment’ (Tyson). 

All paintings were painted with materials from the whenua with the addition of clay, oil and charcoal. This gave her paintings a hazy but clear look into the spirituality of the land, articulating the sacred nature of the whenua.

Both Hunana Smith and Aroha Gossage are painters. However, Smith is more pragmatic in her approach to solving issues of Māori gaining back their whenua and reconnecting with their whakapapa, a constant theme within her paintings. After this initial research analysis, a response to whenua follows, just as Hunana Smith and Aroha Gossage have but playing on my artistic strengths. This is by creating a practical component responding to the history of mana whenua of Porirua, whose iwi resides with Ngāti Toa Rangatira. The component will showcase photography depicting Ngāti Toa whenua with information explaining their role as kaitiaki.

Works Cited:

Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tamaterā and Ngā Puhi), 'Papatūānuku – the land - Whenua – the placenta', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 24 Sep 2007 https://teara.govt.nz/en/papatuanuku-the-land/page-4. Accessed 9th August 2021.

Gilbert, Greg (Canada). "Huhana Smith interview". Youtube. Interview with Huhana Smith, 16 July 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw_oi8WARww&feature=emb_title. 

Smith, Susan Margaret. Hei Whenua Ora: Hapii and iwi approaches for reinstating valued ecosystems within cultural landscape. 2007, https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/2133. Accessed 10th August 2021.

Aroha Gossage. Artis Gallery, Parnell, Auckland. https://artisgallery.co.nz/artists/gossage/. Accessed 10th August 2021.

Tyson, Jessica. “Māori Artist's Exhibition BRINGS Whenua to Canvas.” Māori Television, 15 Aug. 2018, https://www.teaomaori.news/maori-artists-exhibition-brings-whenua-canvas. Accessed 10th August 2021.

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Practical Component: FINAL VERSION

Unfortunately, I couldn’t print out the booklet for my final version due to New Zealand going into level 4 lockdown on 17th August at 11:59pm. I only have pdf versions of my component available

Practical Component Final PDF link (compatible with Adobe acrobat reader):

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:cacc13cc-12b5-46a0-9a5e-6736761df8d3

If you don’t have Adobe acrobat reader then here is the link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13ATK6oWvObWp-AwAX9DoEsksjIjXhuJO?usp=sharing

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Practical component: Final tweaks

The improvements I have made to my practical component are increasing the margins for the big images through pages 2-4. In addition, the information on those pages now have hyphenation removed, and pages 2 and 3 have in-text citations. Works cited appear on page 4.

I only choose to remove one image from my documentation that looks similar. The photos presented right now is a good amount of photos needed to showcase the whenua.

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Presentation Feedback

Response to feedback

Feedback one: The observations paragraph was lovely! It’s nice to read about current matter + the immediate space. Why is the iwi called ‘Ngāti To Rarangatira’ instead of Ngāti Torangatira like the other paragraphs? Typo or something unexplained? Also, I think you should adjust the margins

Feedback two: The observations with the photographs were really interesting (great idea!) but the book is quite long and also images are really similar (same or similar things) maybe edit out the same stuff? I don’t know it looks good in general.

My thoughts: I understand the opinion of the booklet being too long (text wise), but I believe the information I have presented is crucial to understanding the purpose of the booklet/report. When I was placing the photos, I realised that some looked repetitive, and after having someone point that out, I will look to reduce images and choose more engaging photos. I knew I had some typos and miss spellings in the back of my mind, but considering this wasn’t the finished product, I didn’t focus on it too much. Now that I am finalising my creative piece, I will heavily focus on the written part. 

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PRACTICAL COMPONENT: The Making #5

Practical component draft for presentation pdf:

ps you will need adobe reader to acess pdf link

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:b4cdf055-9e52-4ab5-bb8e-e44fbe13b15d

Practical component draft for presentation photos:

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PRACTICAL COMPONENT: The Making #4

On pages two and three, I had problems where I had to adjust the size of the text, making it smaller. This just causes a slight pain in the way I cite my information. I didn't want to add works cited on the same page as the information because it didn't look clean, and putting the works cited on its separate page would be a waste of space because there are only two works cited. Another issue is that I have to make sure the number of pages I have is an even number,  like 8, to create a booklet. At this moment, I am choosing to remove the works cited and look to resolve the issue after the presentation in week 6 and get feedback as I don't have the time to fix it at this stage.

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PRACTICAL COMPONENT: The Making #3

Page 3 information:

Ngāti Toa Rangatira sustains a strong connection and relationship with its marine environment throughout the tribe’s long history. It is in Ngāti Toa right as kaitiaki to help protect and preserve the sustainability of its environments (moana, awa, maunga and whenua). Ngāti Toa Rangatira created a report “Marine Cultural Health Indicators” in affiliation with the Department of Conservation and the Greater Wellington Regional Council. The report looks at developing cultural health indicators framework and sustainability of their marine environment for cultural and commercial purposes. The outlined cultural indicators concerning marine health are the following;

Kaitiakitanga: passing of intergenerational transmission of marine management and practice.

Mauri: The social connectivity to the moana

Rāhui: Utilizing traditional methods of restricting the harvest of marine life

Waahi Tapu: Marine management of sites of significance that have been overfished to allow regeneration and restoration of ecosystem

Tohu: Importance of the natural signs or signals within the marine environment to know when to harvest or when marine species before predators arrive.

Mahinga kai: Water quality drastically affects marine life health and a person’s health when harvesting and digesting kai.

Observational field trips were made to Ngāti Toa moana; these areas included Porirua harbour, Takapūwāhia and Onehunga Bay, as it has become a highly polluted place within the whole region. They took notes of marine species being found in the environment not traditional to past harvest sites, low health of marine life barely managing to survive and many other observations that provided a disheartening shock to Ngāti Toa Rangatira. However, through what the tribe has outlined in sustaining marine health life, they will persevere in fulfilling their duty. (Faulkner, Rawiri, and Linda Faulkner).

Works cited:

“Faulkner, Rawiri, and Linda Faulkner.” Tu Taiao Ltd , n.d., pp. 1–17, Marine Cultural Health Indicators Report, https://www.ngatitoa.iwi.nz/sitecontent/images/Folders/Blog/Ngati-Toa-MCHI-report-final-2017.pdf.

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PRACTICAL COMPONENT: The Making #2

Page 2 information:

Ngati Toarangatira or Ngati Toa as you might hear about them whose lands are found throughout the south-western North Island, predominantly located around Porirua and up the Kapiti Coast.

‘Ngāti Toarangatira trace their origins to the Tainui canoe, captained by Hoturoa. One of Hoturoa’s descendants was the chief Tūpāhau. On a famous occasion, Tūpāhau spared the life of an enemy he had defeated. After that, his people were named Toarangatira – the tribe of chivalrous and chiefly warriors. Tūpāhau’s grandson, a great warrior, was also named Toarangatira. Ngāti Toa originally lived in the Kāwhia area on the North Island’s west coast. Because of conflicts with Waikato tribes, they decided to move south to the Kāpiti Coast in the early 1820s.

Between 1820 and the 1840s, with Te Rauparaha as their chief, Ngāti Toa became the dominant tribe on the Kāpiti Coast. They also conquered territory in the South Island, and controlled large areas on both sides of Cook Strait from their island fortress of Kāpiti. European settlers saw them as a threat. The government kidnapped Te Rauparaha and held him prisoner. Ngāti Toa were forced to sell most of their land.

The representative body of Ngāti Toa, Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira, looks after the land, resources and mana of the tribe. Redress for the unjust actions of the government in the past was agreed to in 2012. In 2013, almost 4,500 people claimed descent from Ngāti Toa.’ (New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga).

Works cited:

New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. “Ngāti Toarangatira.” Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga, 9 Jan. 2020, https://teara.govt.nz/en/ngati-toarangatira

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PRACTICAL COMPONENT: The Making #1

After my research and observation, I am ready to create my practical component. I look to make a booklet/report that informs and showcases Ngāti Toa Rangatira whenua and their role as kaitiaki whenua. The running title of the booklet will be Ngāti Toa me to rātou kaitiaki whenua (Ngāti Toa and their guardianship of land). 

The structure of the booklet/report

Page 1: Cover page

Page 2: Ngāti Toa Rangatira History

Page 3: Whenua And Marine Health Sustainability

Page 4: Observations And Documentation

Page 5: My photograph Documentation 

Page 6: My photograph Documentation 

Page 7: My photograph Documentation 

Page 8: Back cover

Page 2: Ngāti Toa Rangatira History, The summarised history information will be provided from teara.govt.nz.  I found it difficult to summarise Ngāti Toa Rangatira History within one page; I will look to cite teara.govt.nz within my booklet/report either on that page or a separate page of my works cited. 

Page 3: Whenua And Marine Health Sustainability, The information will be my summarised account of Ngāti Toa's Marine Cultural Health Indicators Report. It is within my own words, but one section is taken from the report and modified, so I will look to cite the report. 

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PRACTICAL COMPONENT: Observation and Photography

I sought to do the observation, choosing one area of importance of Ngāti Toa whenua, Onehunga Bay. The goal was to document the whenua and moana to showcase it in its rawest form through photography. Arriving at Onehunga bay through Whitireia park, stunned by its beauty at how well preserved the natural environment was. Being a park on Ngāti Toa whenua, I was not shocked about its restriction on what a person cannot perform on the land; it was a no-camping zone, no-fire zone, and zero rubbish bins all in place to preserve the land. Observing and walking around the land and beach there was hardly any form of plastic pollution. Halfway through observation, there was a loss for the words at how breathtaking the view was from this area. Ngāti Toa being great kaitiaki, preserving the land and its moana should strike inspiration and motivation to keep land such as this pristine and beautiful. With the goal being to showcase the rawness of the whenua, there was an addition of a secondary goal to use photography as an outlet to convince people to take a look into Māori philosophy and cultural system to sustain and preserve whenua and moana through mātauranga Māori.

Onehunga Bay Photographs by Vishek Kumar:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1X3qrGbvVkfN7rCiXRlpPpnKAFH3sIYn9?usp=sharing

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PRACTICAL COMPONENT: Brief and research

Another addition to my written component:

Both Hunana Smith and Aroha Gossage are painters. However, Smith is more pragmatic in her approach to solving issues of Māori gaining back their whenua and reconnecting with their whakapapa, a constant theme within her paintings. After this initial research analysis, a response to whenua follows, just as Hunana Smith and Aroha Gossage have but playing on my artistic strengths. This is by creating a practical component responding to the history of mana whenua of Porirua, whose iwi resides with Ngāti Toa Rangatira. The component will showcase photography depicting Ngāti Toa whenua with information explaining their role as kaitiaki.

I chose Porirua as the area of choice because I reside there within the Rānui suburb, which gives me the incentive to learn more about the mana whenua of Porirua, whose iwi is the Ngāti Toa Rangatira.

The majority of the history I learned about Ngāti Toa Rangatira came from teara.govt.nz. The website had a vast history of the tribe's origin, whakapapa, migration from the north to south, and where the tribe resides today. Ngāti Toa had controlled many parts of the south island and along the Cook Strait, with the majority settling within the Kāipti coast and Porirua district. After the 1840s, the government mainly had taken control over land ownership, which forced the iwi to sell a majority of their land. They were left with just small sections of land along the Kāipti coast, Porirua district and Northland.

Fig. 1. (New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga).

I needed more information about Ngāti Toa Rangatira and their mana whenua and role as kaitika, and I was blessed with finding the iwi's own website. After going through all their pages on the website, I came across their 'Treaty and Strategic Relationships.' page, which was just what I was looking for. The page had descriptions of their objectives as Kaitika to maintain health and rehabilitation of their natural environments, outlining their strategic tactics. 

 Fig. 2. (Treaty and Strategic Relationships).

Within that same page, there was a link to their current/ongoing projects in helping maintain the health and prosperity of their whenua and whakapapa. The project that intrigued me the most and that lined up well with the concept of whenua as their 'Marine Cultural Health Indicators Report'

Fig. 3. (Projects).

Fig. 4.  (Faulkner, Rawiri, and Linda Faulkner).

Summary of the 'Marine Cultural Health Indicators Report' which I will potentially use within my practical component:

Ngāti Toa Rangatira sustains a strong connection and relationship with its marine environment throughout the tribe’s long history. It is in Ngāti Toa right as kaitiaki to help protect and preserve the sustainability of its environments (moana, awa, maunga and whenua). Ngāti Toa Rangatira created a report “Marine Cultural Health Indicators” in affiliation with the Department of Conservation and the Greater Wellington Regional Council. The report looks at developing cultural health indicators framework and sustainability of their marine environment for cultural and commercial purposes. The outlined cultural indicators concerning marine health are the following;

Kaitiakitanga: passing of intergenerational transmission of marine management and practice.

Mauri: The social connectivity to the moana

Rāhui: Utilizing traditional methods of restricting the harvest of marine life

Waahi Tapu: Marine management of sites of significance that have been overfished to allow regeneration and restoration of ecosystem

Tohu: Importance of the natural signs or signals within the marine environment to know when to harvest or when marine species before predators arrive.

Mahinga kai: Water quality drastically affects marine life health and a person’s health when harvesting and digesting kai.

Observational field trips were made to Ngāti Toa moana; these areas included Porirua harbour, Takapūwāhia and Onehunga Bay, as it has become a highly polluted place within the whole region. They took notes of marine species being found in the environment not traditional to past harvest sites, low health of marine life barely managing to survive and many other observations that provided a disheartening shock to Ngāti Toa Rangatira. However, through what the tribe has outlined in sustaining marine health life, they will persevere in fulfilling their duty. (Faulkner, Rawiri, and Linda Faulkner).

Works cited:

New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. “Ngāti Toarangatira.” Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga, 9 Jan. 2020, https://teara.govt.nz/en/ngati-toarangatira

“Treaty and Strategic Relationships.” Ngati Toa, https://www.ngatitoa.iwi.nz/our-services/environment

“Projects.” Ngati Toa, https://www.ngatitoa.iwi.nz/our-services/environment/projects.

“Faulkner, Rawiri, and Linda Faulkner.” Tu Taiao Ltd , n.d., pp. 1–17, Marine Cultural Health Indicators Report, https://www.ngatitoa.iwi.nz/sitecontent/images/Folders/Blog/Ngati-Toa-MCHI-report-final-2017.pdf.

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Written Component: CONTEXTUAL UNDERSTANDING

I thought this part of my written component would be pretty challenging finding an example of art/design related to whenua. But through my research, I had a plethora of artists responding to the concept of whenua through art/design. One artist that grabbed my attention was Aroha Gossage (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Ati Awa), an Auckland-based artist associating with Artis gallery to promote her exhibition, mostly paintings expressing Maori themes.

I came across Aroha Gossage through www.teaomaori.news which had an article written about Gossage showcasing her then-latest work, 'Wairua', which had connections concept whenua.

Fig. 1 (Tyson).

I also went to Artis gallery's website to check out more of Aroha Gossage's exhibitions and paintings. Not all related to her 'Wairua' exhibition but do express the concept of whenua.

Fig. 2. (Aroha Gossage).

Written component art and design example addition:

Aroha Gossage (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Ati Awa) is a Māori artist with a Masters of Art & Design (Honours). Aroha Gossage has had an ongoing relationship with ARTIS Gallery, Auckland, since 2016, with three of her solo projects being exhibited in that space. Gossage’s second solo exhibition titled ‘Wairua’ (Aroha Gossage)  is a series of paintings from Pakiri, Hauturu and Little Barrier Island regions. ‘Gossage, of Ngāti Wai and Ngāti Ruanui, attributes her new work to her mother and a childhood spent learning how to live with and from the land– collecting native seeds, diving for kina and pāua, and fishing in the river’ (Tyson). Gossage illustrates those areas that have established kaitiakitanga by the mana whenua, showcasing the natural beauty that has been preserved. Gossage is initiating inspiration into protecting the whenua of Pakiri, Hauturu and Little Barrier Island and throughout Aotearoa. She explains

'The land I'm painting is untouched and it remains that way, because of the protection of our tūpuna who have handed it down to us and I'd like for people to see the sacred nature of it and have an awareness of the environment’ (Tyson). 

All paintings were painted with materials from the whenua with the addition of clay, oil and charcoal. This gave her paintings a hazy but clear look into the spirituality of the land, articulating the sacred nature of the whenua.

Works Cited:

Tyson, Jessica. “Māori Artist's Exhibition BRINGS Whenua to Canvas.” Māori Television, 15 Aug. 2018, https://www.teaomaori.news/maori-artists-exhibition-brings-whenua-canvas. Accessed 10th August 2021.

Aroha Gossage. Artis Gallery, Parnell, Auckland. https://artisgallery.co.nz/artists/gossage/. Accessed 10th August 2021.

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Written Component:  DEFINITION progress #2

ONE resource have sourced from class :

Huhana Smith (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga) on the harakeke project in the Horowhenua

ONE resource have sourced from the Massey Library main collection :

Hei Whenua Ora: Hapii and iwi approaches for reinstating valued ecosystems within cultural landscape by Susan Margaret Smith

Addition to my written component’s definition of whenua:

Through Huhana Smith’s (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga) video about the harakeke project within the Horowhenua district, we can learn how whenua of that land can be rehabilitated back to its original whakapapa through the mātauranga Māori framework. She discussed the importance of reconnecting the whenua back to its hapu and iwi, where previously owned Māori mana whenua has been tarnished through colonisation. (Gilbert 2018) Susan Margaret Smith explains in more depth the importance of re-establishing and sustaining mana within the environment through her thesis ‘Hei Whenua Ora’. ‘It is important to understand the importance of wairua and mana within everything and to acknowledge the relationships that exist between humanity and the environment for health and wellbeing. (S.Smith pg 19). Active kaitiakitanga of whenua sustains and improves ecological development, protecting its connections of whakapapa and tradition. Horowhenua district’s plan to rehabilitate its streams by planting harakeke around the surroundings not only re-establishes its connections and traditions back to its iwi and hapu; but provides a potential economic growth of Māori through harakeke’s sustainable nature.

‘local kaitiaki or ecological guardians in tribal regions to know their locale, their place, their place within it and the unique environmental and spiritual values that support it for the future generations' physical, economic and cultural welfare’ (Smith pg 19).

Works Cited:

Gilbert, Greg (Canada). "Huhana Smith interview". Youtube. Interview with Huhana Smith, 16 July 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw_oi8WARww&feature=emb_title. 

Smith, Susan Margaret. Hei Whenua Ora: Hapii and iwi approaches for reinstating valued ecosystems within cultural landscape. 2007, https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/2133.Accessed 10th August 2021

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Written Component: DEFINITION progress #1

The concept I chose to build my written component and creative piece around was 'whenua'. To start things off, I went to two sites to understand the definition of whenua. The first site was maoridictionary.co.nz, where whenua is stated as a noun and means land and can often be plural.

I delved deeper into the concept of whenua as I believed that there would be more to it than just land. This is where I came across teara.govt.nz, and its history of the concept and definitions. This is what the site had to offer.

After understanding the definition of whenua, I decided to write up the first piece of my written statement.

Whenua means land, and it can also be used in a plural sense. Like most Māori words translated to English, it is not always as direct as it seems and the concept of Whenua goes much deeper within Māori philosophy. Māori also associates the concept of whenua with birth and rebirth; whenua also means placenta, the womb and the umbilical cord. These concepts form Māori understanding that Papatūānuku the earth mother is the birthplace of all life, and after death, a person is to be returned and buried from the land they came. The site Te Ara elaborates on the connection between these concepts 

‘All life is seen as being born from the womb of Papatūānuku, under the sea. The lands that appear above water are placentas from her womb. They float, forming islands. “In that womb, preparations are being made for a new world. We are children within the womb of the world, soon to be born into another reality’ (Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal).

Works Cited:

Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, 'Papatūānuku – the land - Whenua – the placenta', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 24 Sep 2007 https://teara.govt.nz/en/papatuanuku-the-land/page-4. Accessed 9th August 2021

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Week 5: Task 2

READ: "A "Kiwi" At My Table" by Robyn Kenealy. This is an essay by a former 2nd year student on nationalism and food advertising in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and is an excellent example of how to apply international theoretical texts and concepts to local examples. The concept of 'banal nationalism', for instance, was developed by Michael Billig in response to the American political situation, but here has been applied to food advertising in Aotearoa. Similarly, Benedict Anderson developed the idea of 'imagined communities' in an international context, but is being used here to analyse a local context.

REFLECT: Summarise the key points of Kenealy's essay.

Within Robyn Kenealy’s thesis ‘A Kiwi At My Table Banal Nationalism and Food Advertising in Aotearoa/New Zealand’ with the help of Michael Billig, work talks about banal nationalism being the imagination of a country and its people. An example of this is a person who has his construct on what a New Zealander is, but it is different from any other person in the country. However, they choose to push their ideas of a New Zealander into society, mainstream media because they believe it is the correct ideation. Banal nationalism blends itself within its environment and media through words, materials, objects, which has a physiological effect that makes a person agree with the facade of a nation’s concept of itself and its people. Kenealy’s main talking points come through breaking down two food advertisements in Aotearoa/New Zealand and how banal nationalism constructs itself.

One advertisement looks at Watties tomato sauce, where the viewer is questioned whether or not you really ‘kiwi’ if you do not put Watties tomato sauce on every food. Even if the food is not intended to have sauce, it was a sushi roll within the specific advertisement. This advertisement has created the image of a person that must put Wattie’s tomato sauce on everything in order to be ‘kiwi’, for the expense of disrespecting a culture’s food that was not intended to be eaten that way. The second advertisement is from the tip top brand on their new ‘supersoft’ bread. A white woman is going around to at children’s birthday party asking parents and a children questions and being appalled by striking ‘softness’ and one point ‘she turns to the camera, looks at the viewer, and announces “this country’s going soft”’ (Kenealy pg 4). The advertisement aimed to address that the only thing soft can be their ‘supersoft’ bread, not a ‘kiwi’ person. This creates an epithet of the word ‘soft’ where a ‘kiwi person’ does not want to be associated with it as it deconstructs their idealism of being a ‘kiwi’.

REFLECT: Can you think of other advertisements in Aotearoa which uses similar Nationalist rhetoric to sell its products? Have a look at Ngā Taonga's exhibition of advertisements. Choose an example and mind-map the various ways in which you can see it reiterating the overall thesis around nationalism and advertising.

New World 2007

FURTHER REFLECTION: Break Kenealy's essay down - how is it structured? What elements are introduced in the first section, and how are these used in the second section, when analysing their examples? How are Anderson and Billig used as the framework for the analysis?

Structural breakdown of Robyn Kenealy’s thesis ‘A Kiwi At My Table Banal Nationalism and Food Advertising in Aotearoa/New Zealand’

Provides a statement of intent, outlining a brief abstract of the content of the thesis and specific language features that the author intends to use to get their point across.

Introduction: The author introduces banal nationalism, taking quotations from Michael Billig’s book ‘banal nationalism’ to support his definitions and examples of how it is executed In America and compared to New Zealand. Kenealy introduces the concept in order to analyse two New Zealand advertisements that showcase banal nationalism.

Analysing sections: The two advertisements are in detail talked about separately but are linked together through the concept of banal nationalism. A great deal of the Kenealy analytical perspective about how kiwi nationalism is showcased is also supported with quotations from books to form a convincing argument.

Works Cited:

Kenealy, Robyn (Pākehā). “A “kiwi” at my table”. Unpublished (student essay), n.d, https://stream.massey.ac.nz/pluginfile.php/4026772/mod_label/intro/Robyn%20Kenealy%20-%20A%20Kiwi%20At%20My%20Table.pdf.

New World. “ngataonga.org.nz”. 2007, https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/set/item/230. Accessed 10 August 2021. 

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Week 5: Colonisation and Nationalism

WATCH: Watch this short documentary on advertising in New Zealand. Take notes on the ways in which New Zealand is discussed, and defined.

DISCUSS: Have discussions in small groups unpacking the video, particularly around the ways in which the advertisers discuss and define New Zealand. How is New Zealand being defined, throughout the advertisements and the ways in which they are being presented? What is included within these definitions, and what is excluded? Who benefits from these particular constructions of New Zealand? Link this to your independent study around language: how might you consider this in light of your reading around mana and language?

In 1960 New Zealand advertisements started as mimics of the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) as New Zealand was under the crown rule; it made sense to gain heavy influence from Britain. In these early days of advertisement, they downplayed the 'kiwi' accent for the British accent; they did not want to reflect the 'kiwi life' or culture, promote consumerism. In 1973 our British influences came to a halt when Britain joined the European Economic Community. New Zealand quickly adapted to American influences, in particular, money. However, New Zealand slowly pushed their advertisements to embrace what the 'kiwi life' is and who we are and what we offer as a country. The view changed to what people thought mattered being a New Zealander, such things as; mountains and beaches, rivers, beaches, rugby fields, the landscape of the country had become a prominent component for advertisements in the 70s. They made sure they were in the advertisements that played on the stereotypes or a white man's view of New Zealand lifestyle and people, practically saying if you are a New Zealander, you will buy the product, promoting childhood nostalgia living in New Zealand. The 'kiwi' accent was a primary challenge for the advertisement because no one knew too well what the sound of a New Zealander was. Many voice tapes of people born in New Zealand were not used because it was not 'kiwi enough'. So they constructed their voice of what 'kiwi/new Zealander' sounded.

It is pretty interesting to learn about what type of focus groups they were interviewing in New Zealand is quite questionable. They were said to have interviewed about a thousand plus people. They all supposedly said that they resonant with the landscape rather than the culture. The question arises where there Māori and Pasifika involved, in public interviews and voice tapes, if so how many? I believe that Māori and Pasifika communities would have talked about how the culture and heritage and values held about mana, mana whenua, languages that have allowed New Zealand to look as beautiful as it is. Maybe Māori and Pasifika were interviewed, but their values did not line up with the nationalism that Pākehā has created within their minds, and I would not be surprised if this covert racism took place. Another factor in the New Zealand advertisement's misunderstanding of the 'kiwi lifestyle' was shifting from British to American influences. At that time, America had more power in communicating its consumerism, but New Zealand still kept promoting British patriarchy. That conflict impacts the period of advertisement where a loss of identity became strong.

Works Cited:

Alpers, Philip (Pākehā). “You’re Soaking in it”. 1994. Brian Bruce Productions.

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Week 4: Task 4

WATCH: Jamila Lyiscott's discussion about language and the use of language in relation to identity and community.

READ: Tatauing the Postcolonial Body by Albert Wendt.  Wendt peels back the language of tatau in Samoa to show the deep connection between the words and cultural practices and beliefs.

CREATE/REFLECT: While these three resources are from different cultural paradigms, each addresses situations akin to 'upholding the mana of language'. All of these resources are also written in a more poetic register, than what is usually considered the 'norm' in academic writing. Write a poem, or some poetic prose drawing on what you've learned from the various resources about language this week.

Jamila Lyiscott 

Throughout the TED talk, Jamila Lyiscott gives the cultivated poem about being language and being ‘Articulate’. She cleverly code-switches not between different languages but in the way she speaks, the choice of words, her accents within the English language. She demonstrates that you must not only speak King’s English to be articulate. You can be articulate speaking colloquial English and have a different accent because being articulate varies between towns, cities, countries, and continents. Some might consider one to be more or less articulate than the other. The matter of fact is that it is just western society trying to ethnically/culturally cleanse a person through language. They are manipulating BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of colour) to drop colloquialism, your accent and learn king’s English to be articulate enough to fit into their mould of society. Lyiscott teaches us we can be ‘Trilingual’ in King’s English, Colloquial English and have different dialects to be still considered articulate within various communities, countries and work.

Albert Wendt, Tatauing the Postcolonial Body

Albert Wendt, within his thesis, talks about post-colonialism within Samoa and its impacts on tatau (traditional Samoan tattoos). Wendt describes the deep connections between the word tatau to the person that is receiving it. Tatau is given to males, and malu is given to women. These are full-body tattoos that become a significant turning point in one’s life as they become considered ready to serve their people, community and tackle life’s challenges. Wendt breaks down the cultural, spiritual meanings of both words of tatau and malu; he states that ‘you have to be bi-lingual (Samoan and English) to better understand post-colonial literature. You have to know the indigenous language and culture of the writer producing that literature in English’ (Wendt 1996). When missionaries came to Samoa, they forced Christianity on the people over generations to remove the art of tatau as they considered it to be a work of savages. Generations past but tatau still stuck around from the past culture of Samoans, with the current culture heavily being changed forever by the missionaries. This resulted in many Samoans losing their identity, culture, heritage, language or not fully understanding it, travelling far from their homeland facing the impacts of post-colonialism. This is why Albert Wendt suggests that being bilingual in English and the indigenous language of the writer will allow you to understand two vastly different perceptions of words in a much deeper connection.

Creative Reflection

Poem:

Consider me a fool to your ruse

corrupting my land from your dirty rules.

Pushing my people into a hole without a role,

as you control every bit of our soul.

Identity and authority stolen

for the sake of a white man's goal.

Who considers my mother tongue

not articulate enough from 

which they strip it from us

forced to swallow their tongue, 

so we become tuff. Still not enough 

to be articulate in their bluff.

So strike me down with your wretched ways

I will come out potent from your games.

As my people create a haze 

entrapping you with our chains of tongue

taken away from young, you are hung.

Works Cited:

Lyiscott, Jamila (African American - Haiti). “3 Ways to speak English”. TEX Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9fmJ5xQ_mc. 

Wendt, Albert (Samoa). “Tatauing the post colonial body” Originally published in Span, Vol. 42, No. 43, April-October 1996, 15-29, http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/authors/wendt/tatauing.asp.