What is 'the trick of standing upright here' in Aotearoa New Zealand? What sort of rope can modern New Zealanders weave to haul themselves to their feet? In this book renowned anthropologist Dame Joan Metge identifies the Treaty, the words and the stories upon which New Zealanders - both Maori and non-Maori - can stand and flourish. The Treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand's founding narrative, Dame Joan suggests - and she tells a story of cultures meeting, arguing and then dealing with diversity. Maori and English, increasingly used in the same sentence, are the languages of New Zealanders and she shows how we can use and abuse words from utu (revenge) to koha (donation). Finally, the art of storytelling - from myths of discoverers Maui and Captain James Cook to New Zealand's own whakapapa (genealogy) - is how the land and the people are understood. Dame Joan ends the book with a personal reflection on her life as a New Zealander and as an anthropologist living deeply within two very different cultures over six decades of field work. In this book, New Zealand's leading anthropologist provides an engaging and moving manifesto for living for modern times.
- ISBN10 1775582280
- ISBN13 9781775582281
- Publish Date 1 September 2010 (first published 1 January 2010)
- Publish Status Active
- Imprint Auckland University Press
- Format eBook
- Pages 136
- Language English