NOTE: This online version of the thesis uses different fonts from the printed version held in Griffith University Library, and the pagination is slightly different. The content is otherwise exactly the same. Journeys into a Third Space A study of how theatre enables us to interpret the emergent space between cultures Janinka Greenwood M.A., Dip Ed, Dip Tchg, Dip TESL This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 1999 Statement This work has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university, To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. Janinka Greenwood 17 December 1999 Acknowledgments Thanks are due to a number of people who have given me support and encouragement in completing this thesis. Firstly I am very grateful for the sustained encouragement and scholarly challenges given by my principal supervisor Associate Professor John O’Toole and also by my co-supervisor Dr Philip Taylor. I appreciate not only their breadth of knowledge in the field of drama, but also their courageous entry into a territory of cultural differences and their insistence that I make explicit cultural concepts that I had previously taken for granted. I am grateful also to Professor Ranginui Walker who, at a stage of the research when I felt the distance between Australia and New Zealand, consented to “look over my shoulder”. Secondly, my sincere thanks go to all those who shared information, ideas and enthusiasms with me during the interviews that are reported in this thesis and to the student teachers who explored with me the drama project that forms the final stage of the study. To Stuart Devenie, Stephen Bradshaw, Don Selwyn, Arnold Wilson and Chris Graham, thanks for their generous discussions about theatre and art and for the feedback they gave me at successive stages of my writing about these discussions. To Chrissy, Glenda, Gloria, Jean, Lorna, Maraea, Maria, MaryAnne, Richalene, Ronald, Rosina, Sheryll, Shirley, Tania, Viv, thanks for the journey we took together. To Christchurch College of Education, and to Derek Wenmouth, John McKenzie and Jill Paaka thanks for making possible the teaching project. To Arnold, very particular thanks for allowing me to research Pakeaka and continuously supporting me through that research: nga mihi aroha ki a koe. To Pani Hauraki, Jocelyn Tarrant and Rehi Rihari, thanks for sharing their experience of Pakeaka with me, and to Wiremu McMath, thanks for participation in and support of the Panguru project. Very special thanks go to Garfield Johnson, who died earlier this year, not only for the generous assistance he gave me with this research, but also for the lifetime example he offered Pakeha New Zealanders in how to be bicultural. Finally, thanks go to those colleagues and friends at Griffith who sustained me with shared coffees and conversations and who made me feel at home in Australia, particularly to Ortrun, Penny, Julie, Maia and Lucy. Thanks to Helen who read successive chapters at a distance. And thanks to Gerry who talked with me endlessly about very aspect of this study, who overcame his distrust of the computer to type transcripts, and who left his boat on the lawn at home to come on this Australian adventure with me. Abstract When two cultures meet within one national identity, their interaction invites accommodations, contestations and transformations of consciousness. Bhabha (1990) calls this dynamic and evolving interaction “the third space”. This thesis explores the role of theatre as an agent of understanding that emergent space. I argue that theatre, in a range of forms, not only offers a distinctive tool for analysis but also is a means of strategically changing the society we live in. The study is based on New Zealand experience and focuses on interaction between Maori and Pakeha cultures, that is on the interaction between the indigenous culture and that of the colonial and immigrant settlers. As such it differs from discourses that stress multiculturalism or universal humanism. Three distinct sightings are taken on the role of theatre in this process. The first is an examination of a significant educational arts project, Te Mauri Pakeaka, that took place in the 70s and 80s. The second is a mapping of the history of such theatre as addresses Maori and Pakeha relations. The third is a report of a workshop I conducted with teacher trainees in Panguru, a remote Maori community. Te Mauri Pakeaka involved schools, educational administrators, community, artists and elders in an exploration of Maori culture and of bicultural possibilities, using art making as a catalyst. The history of New Zealand bicultural theatre begins with the epic extravaganzas of the late nineteenth century and explores successive changes in perspective and in participation through the twentieth century. Current issues are examined through interviews with a group of significant contemporary artists. The workshop in Panguru was designed to introduce teachers in training to drama. A significant proportion of its context involved study of the Treaty of Waitangi through drama. Considerations of ritual, social drama and of performative enactment in the public arena emerged as important to all three investigations. The conceptual framework that underpins this study is drawn from scholarship in two discrete fields that I seek to bring together. The first deals with biculturalism in New Zealand, particularly with the Treaty of Waitangi, Maori sovereignty and questions of Maori and Pakeha identity. The second deals with theatre and drama, particularly with performance theory, drama in education, intercultural theatre and postcolonial theory. The study draws on oral and written sources of scholarship and is informed by both Maori and Western approaches to knowledge. It utilises a range of qualitative research methods, including historical reconstruction, unstructured interviews, interpretation of documents, and documentation of reflective practice. The findings that emerge in the study fall into two broad categories: those that relate to an understanding of the emergent space, and those that relate to reconceptualisations of theatre as a result of dual cultural perspectives. These findings have a number of implications. Firstly, they inform our understandings of ownership, appropriation and borrowing, of social and intercultural role, and of value systems, spirituality and pragmatic expediency. Secondly, they point towards new developments in educational policy and practice. Thirdly, they suggest new formulations of aesthetic and semiotic frameworks. Academic research in these fields is limited. What writing there is in New Zealand comes predominantly from Maori, whose challenge to colonialism and to assimilationism has initiated a cross-cultural dialogue. This study is premised on the importance of Pakeha actively entering into that dialogue and offers one such Pakeha voice. Although the study is by design specific to the New Zealand location and does not claim a general applicability to other national contexts, many of the insights that emerge are transferable. Other countries also struggle with issues of cultural identity and with the recognition of indigenous peoples. Australia, for instance, is currently exploring the implications of Aboriginal Reconciliation. Analysis of how one country deals with such issues allows more informed choices for others. vi Table of Contents Introduction- Journeys 1 Ch 1. Maps and compasses I – Methodology 19 Ch 2 The First Research Journey - Te Mauri Pakeaka 45 2.1 Invitation to Enter 46 2.2 Capturing the Sun 56 2.3 Clashing Discourses 69 2.4 Uncle Joe Dancing 82 2.5 Power of the Taniwha 91 2.6 Sacred Space and Social Coinage 106 Ch 3. Maps and Compasses II - Survey of the conceptual field 119 3.1 Biculturalism in New Zealand 120 3.2 Theatre and Drama 134 Ch 4. The Second Research Journey - History of a Bicultural Theatre 153 4.1 Theatre in the space between cultures 154 4.2 Mapping the river of time... 164 4.3 ... and the estuaries of the present 188 Ch 5. The Third Research Journey- Panguru 219 5.1 The Class of 1997XRH/ 220 5.2 The group, the body, and the real 234 5.3 Tohe and an evolving bicultural semiotic framework 247 5.4 Retrieving the Treaty 256 5.5 Narrating Taitokerau 276 Ch 6. Reflection on discoveries 287 Glossary 301 Map 306 Bibliography 307 Appendices 326 Appendix A 327 Appendix B 333 Appendix C 335 Appendix D 337 Appendix E 341 1 Introduction - Journeys from my field journal, February 1998 I get there late! The Monday morning traffic in Whangarei is heavy and hoping to cut time I decide to go via Rawene and the ferry. Bad idea; not only am I stuck behind a slow truck on the winding road, but the ferry leaves just as I approach the wharf. I ring Panguru School and hope a message will reach the marae. Panic mounts an hour later as they load a triple-tank petrol tanker on the ferry before me and for a terrible moment it looks as though I won’t get on. Finally they just squeeze me in, no room to walk around my car in any direction. I am vividly reminded of the remoteness of Panguru and of the daily difficulties of the students at the Outpost who come from the south side of the Hokianga. I pull up outside Te Puna Wai, the marae at 11 a.m. - an hour late, and alone. Wiremu McMath, the kaumatua who had offered to lead me in, has not been able to make it. Maria meets me at the gate. She replies to the karanga and leads me in. At the far wall, the spiritual wall, along with a mural showing the arrival of Kupe, is a crucifix: Panguru is a strongly Catholic district.