A Survey of Certain Aspects of Maori Relationships with the Wesleyan
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A PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF CULTURE CONTACTa A SURVEY OF CERTAIN ASPECTS OF NIAO RI RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE WESLEYAN :METHODIST MISSIONARIES, 1822-3 4. A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Arts, The University of New Zealand In Partial Fulfilment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in :Philoso:Phye~ by Wesley Albert Chambers October 195 3 TABLE OF CONT~~TS ..CHAPTER PAGE PART I I. THE OBJECT, SCOPE AND· VALUE OF THE STUDY .. The object ••••• e ., ......... The sco~e • • • o • .. • .. • • .. .. • • • 2 The. -value .. • •. .. • .. • • • • .. , • • • 2 IItl REVIEW OF THE LITEEATURE e . o o o o o ~ • • 4 Mi ssiona:cy literature .. • .. • • • • • • 4 Scientific literature • a e o • o o o • 4 III., THE MATERIALS USED AND METHOD OF PROCEDURE 6 PARr II IV". A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ,., WESLEYAN METHODIST MISSION IN NEW ZEALAND 9 1820 - 1836. V11 THE lvLAORI SITUATION IN NORTHLAND AT THE TIME OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE WESLEYAN METHODIST MISSIONARIES o e o e e o • • • 19 PART III VI"· THE IN'.rER-CULTURA.L PATTERN' OF RELATIONSHIPS CALLED nJ?ROTECTIONn 2.4 . VII., MAORI ... MISSIONARY RELATIONSHIPS IN THE TRADING SITUATION • o o • • o ·. 34 VIII I) MAO RI-MISSION.ARY RELATIONSHLPS IN THE SCHOOLS • • • 9 • • • 9 .. Q 0 0 0 .. .. Q 47 IX. MAORI-MISSIONARY RELATIONSIUPS IN THE MEDICAL SITUAr,J:ION ~> • • o .. · • ., o " .. o 62 43 4 21 , I: iii CHAJ?TER J?AGE X. MAORI-MISSIONARY RELATIONSHIJ?S IN THE :PEACEMAKING SITUATION • • o o 74 XI. THE MAORI REACTION TO THE WESLEYAN MISSIONARY AS A EUROJ?EA.N 84 J?ART IV .XII. THE RF..JtCTIONS OF INDIVIDUALS TO STRESS • • o II 98 A classification of the ty~es of stress • • Maori • • • . • • ••.•• & • • • • • • 98 Missionary • " •• • • • 0 • • 101 Reactions to stress 0 0 • • • • 0 • • • • • 103 Maori • .. .. • • • e " 103 :Missionary ..... 0 • 0 Q c • 0 • • Factors tending to sustain the imbalance and to make f0r a new balance ..... .. 108 Mao ri .. " " • • ., • , .. • " • • .. .. .. .. 108 :Mi ssione,ry • • • .. • • • .. • • • 109 XIII. THE EFFECT OF STRESS UPON BELIEFS e • • o • • 1 1 1 The nature of beliefs o e • e • o • o e • • 1 1 1 The effect of stress upon missionary beliefs 113 The effect. of stress upon Maori beliefs • .. 11 4 Factors causing changes in beliefs • • • • • 115 The characteri sties of the new beliefs • .. • 117 B IBLIOGBAJ?HY • • • .. • ·.. • ., .. • " .. • • ., .. .. .. • • 120 THl; 1.13RAR Y CI:\NTERBUf\Y UHIVERSITY COLLE CHRISTCHUi\CH, N.Z, CRAFTER I THE OBJECT, SCOl'E AND VALUE. OF THE STUDY. Much has been written about the effects of Missionary contacts in many parts of the worldo Li~ewise, the present stage of development of inter-cultural oontaeter in particular communities has been examined by interested social psycholo- gists and cultural anthropologists. But seldom has it been possible for social psychologists or cultural anthropologists to watch a Christian Missionary commence his work among a primitive people and thereby observe the initial stages of such an inter-cultural relationship. Of his opportunities in this respect the. Christi~ Missionary has not been fully aware .. He was not a scientist, nor was he devoted to science per se .. His calling was to preach the Gospel and the "grand o.bjeotn of his vocation was to "convert the heathen". Such an object necessarily involved changing a people's beliefs and customs. Of that he was aware.. But to him the process of change was unimportant so long as the What then social ~syohologists and cultural anthropologists could not do, and what the l MissionariYes' themselves oared not to waste time in doing, this study attempts to do in a limited way. The object of this study is to make a survey of certain aspects of MaOri relationships with the Wesleyan Methodist Missionaries between the years 1822-1834, and 2 therefrom to attempt an analysis of some of the psychological factors operating in this inte~oultural situationQ The scope of this thesis has been limited in various ways.o GeC!I'gra.phically, the scene of the incidents surveyed is in the Northland of New Zealand, principally about the Whangaroa and Hokia.nga harbours .. The y_ear 1822 marks the arrival of the first body of Wesleyan Methodist Missionarie~ in New Zealand : the year 1834 practically closes the first phase of that Mission When the initial clash of cultures was over and increasing numbers of converts were offering them~ se:;tves as candidates for Chris·tian baptism" Of this initial period of culture contacts only certain aspects have been Those selected e;re what the Missionaries would 'n call their "secular" activities, viz .. trading, teaching, healing the sick at).d making peace. And, because the Missionary was a European trading, teaching, healing and making peace, a survey of the Maori reaction to the Wesleyan Missionary as a European has also been attempted. The standpoint adopted is that of the Missionary in his secular activities, The reactions traced out ·are mainly those of the Maori people .. The value of the study has already been hinted at 1 Today the opportunities for studying the initial vontacts between two cultures are rare; Missionaries have seldom seen themselves as those among whom they worked saw them; the lack of training in anthropology ertill exists in many Colleges preparing Missionaries for the. field; a knowledge of how men 3 and their belief may be expeeted to react to new ideas is not without value. It is therefore hoped that the reconstructed Maori reactions to the variou·s secular roles played by the Wesleyan Missionaries will not be without novelty and useful ness, and that the classification of psychological factors operating in what must have been a period of intense stress 11 while not new, will at least confirm what has been observed in other stress situations.; OHAl'TER II REVIEW OF THE LITERA.TUREo .Almost the whole of the existing litemture concerning the wor~ of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionaries is in the form of historical narratives designed to com~emorate the labours of devoted servants af the Wesleyan Missionary Society and to stimulate a more active and intelligent interest in Missionary The writer knows of no systematic reconstruction of the way in which the Maori :people reacted to the impact of the secular.activities of the Wesleyan Missionaries in New Zealandq From the :pens of a number 6f scientific writers have come papers, monographs and books dealing with current inter- cultural relationships. Few have been devoted wholly to the impact of- and reaction to Missionary activity, and fewer still are devoted to the Maori. SU.ch as do attempt a summary of the influence of Christian Missions usually do so in a special chapter of a larger work. Among these are "The Maori People Today", edited by I.G.LoSutherland (32) ant\· "Some :Modem 11 Maori s by Em est Beaglehole it 1 ) q The general impression gained from reading in this field, is that many seientific writers are suffering from a reaction against the claims put forward by Missiona:ey writers to show the worth of Missions. Now· while.it is true that there has been a tendency to put a halo above the head of the :Missionary and to draw in dark 5 relief the -background from which converts have been won. it ·is also true that the work of some men of science so idyllises the former primitive culture as to make it a veritable. Garden of Eden and to curse the Missiona:ry as though he were the serpent that ended that primitive bliss, What has not always been clearly recognised is tnat to many social changes th·ere attaches a high "I!!O.cial price" best illustrated perhaps, in those causes of stress listed as nstress engendered from the conflict of Ideals, and other such Dilemma Sit·a.ations•" This study attempts to reconstruct clearly some of the situations which arose in the initial period of Maori-Missionary oontaote. in New·. Zealand without idyllizing the Missionary or declaiming against him, but sim~ly to follow thro~gh certain aspects. of ..,., Maori-Missionary reia:tionshlps in an obj eoti ve and unpre~udiced manner. Those investigators to whom the present writer is particularly indebted in the analysis of the psychological :factors air the close of the work are Dollard 11 Doob and their associates in their experimental work upon the Frustration Agression Hypothesis ( 11) and Alexander H. Leighton in "The Governing ·of Hen .. " (21) CHAJ?TER III THE MATERIALS USED AND THE METHOD OF PROCEDURE. The sou1•ce materials used in thi.s study fall into three (b) secondary, r Primary sources are the copies of correspondence passing from th~ Wesleyan Metho~:lst Missionaries in New·. Zealand to the Mission Office in Hatton Gfl.rden, London. This correspondence includes letters, reports on the :progr.ess of the work; and extracts from the Missionarfes' private Journals. At :present theee doou.m.ents are unpublished·,. and are classified only according to the year of their c.om:position. · The Methodist Magazines, a monthly publication·dating from 1777, printed excerpts· from Missions.~ letters and Journals for the benefit of. the Missionary-minded public in Great Britain" This also is a primary source but of less importance. · s·econilary sources are documents, the authors of which have had access to such materials as are classified as ·nprima.ry sourees", but which give only occasional extracts from theQl in the course of a much longer narrative. Such incl.ude the few biographies of the· early Wesl.eya.n Missionaries that have appeared in print, v:iz .. those o:f the Revs. Samuel ·Leigh (32) a.nd Nathaniel Turner, ( 3.5} and later histories, vizo ~'The History o.f .Methodism in New Zealand" by Dr.