A Comparative Analysis of Content in Maori
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MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CONTENT IN MAORI TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY ART AND DANCE AS A REFLECTION OF FUNDAMENTAL MAORI CULTURAL ISSUES AND THE FORMATION AND PERPETUATION OF MAORI AND NON-MAORI CULTURAL IDENTITY IN NEW ZEALAND by Cynthia Louise Zaitz A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida August 2009 Copyright by Cynthia Louise Zaitz 2009 ii CURRICULUM VITA In 1992 Cynthia Louise Zaitz graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama from the University of California, where she wrote and directed one original play and two musicals. In 1999 she graduated with a Masters in Consciousness Studies from John F. Kennedy University. Since 2003 she has been teaching Music, Theatre and Dance in both elementary schools and, for the last two years, at Florida Atlantic University. She continues to work as a composer, poet and writer, painter, and professional musician. Her original painting, Alcheme 1 was chosen for the cover of Volume 10 of the Florida Atlantic Comparative Studies Journal listed as FACS in Amazon.com. Last year she composed the original music and created the choreography for Of Moon and Madness, a spoken word canon for nine dancers, three drummers, an upright bass and a Native American flute. Of Moon and Madness was performed in December of 2008 at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and was selected to represent FAU on iTunesU. In April 2009 she presented her original music composition and choreography at FAU in a piece entitled, Six Butts on a Two-Butt Bench, a tongue-in- cheek look at overpopulation for ten actors and seventy dancers. Additionally she directed Steve Buscemi and the Hot Guys who Smoke in the Downtown DMV During the Wedding to the Unwanted Lamp: an evening of one-act plays presented at FAU in April 2009. She has a Florida Professional Educator’s Certificate valid through 2011 and is certified Orff-Schulwerk Level III. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study could not have succeeded without the tremendous support I received here in the US, and in Aotearoa/New Zealand. I would like to thank the following for their generosity and for their contribution to this project: Rose Bennett, Dante Bonica, Deborah Brown, Susan Love Brown, Ralph Buck, Susan and Kenny Chandler, Lisa Chant, Andrew Clifford, Heather Coltman, Elizabeth Cook, Daniel Copher, Gabrielle Denier, Claire & Allen Desmond, Lula Dovi, Dick Frizzell, Richard Gamble, Stefanie Gapinski, Wira Gardiner, Mere Gillman, Stuart Glazer, Jack Gray, Mark Harvey, Susan Healy, Te Ripowai Higgins, Neil Ieremia, Anna Jackson, Hinerangi Kara, Kenneth Keaton, Danny Keenan, Thomas John Kereama, Rebecca Ann Kerr, Harry Kersey, Gvozden Kopani, Charles Koroneho, Maureen Lander, Marian Landers, John Marsden, Ngahiraka Mason, Brian McConnell, Paul Meredith, Zaine Mitchell, Anahera Morehu, Tipene O’Regan, Michael Parekowhai, Helen and Roger Parsons, Manjunath Pendakur, Esta Proctor, Rangimarie Rawiri, Lisa Reihana, Theresa Reihana, Te Aroha Rountree, Hone Sadler, Anne Salmond, Piri Sciascia, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Connie Sokolowski, George Sparks, Emily Stockard, Ann Sullivan, Kim Summersby, Matiu Tahi, Joe TeRito, Linda Thompson, Linda Tyler, Huirangi Waikerepuru, Ngapo Wehi, Winsome Wild, Whatarangi Winiata, and Lawrence Zaitz v PREFACE: How I Discovered Aotearoa/New Zealand In 1998 I discovered Aotearoa/New Zealand. Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand and means “land of the long white cloud.” I realize the continent had gotten along just fine without my awareness of it for centuries, as it had before Abel Tasman’s disastrous attempt to re-supply there in the 1600s and before Captain Cook made Europe aware of it in the 1700s, which started the colonization that eventually followed. However, in 1998 Aotearoa/New Zealand suddenly loomed in my consciousness because of a series of events and synchronicities that led to my unsuccessful attempt to move there in 2001 and culminates, for now, in this research. I was working on my MA in Consciousness Studies at John F. Kennedy University just outside of San Francisco in the East Bay, when I was invited to a gathering of women. It was a lovely gathering full of interesting women and I found myself deep in conversation with a woman a few years older than I who seemed wise and grounded, and the fourteen-year-old daughter, half Jewish-American, half Chinese, of the brilliant leader of the gathering. They were both big fans of the TV show Xena: Warrior Princess, and were discussing the steps they had taken to ensure that the episode they were missing, to attend the gathering, would be saved for their viewing when they returned home later that evening. I had seen little clips of the show and had not given it much thought because on initial viewing it seemed to be primarily eye candy. Because both of these people were interesting and complex, I resolved to give the show a closer vi inspection at the next opportunity. I had been studying shamanism for several years and had read numerous books on the subject and attended multiple workshops to learn various shamanic techniques. Since then my fascination has grown and I have continued to study with shamans from various parts of the world, including the Amazon, Hawaii, Tibet, and Ireland. I did not have long to wait for my opportunity to give Xena: Warrior Princess another viewing and when the show came on I was surprised to find that I had stumbled into an episode where Xena goes on a shamanic journey into the borders of the land of the dead. I started to shake uncontrollably and I realized that I had witnessed proof of the shifting of the collective unconscious just enough for a female hero to finally become fully realized in film. It was a huge revelation for me and, having grown up with the ever- diminished Jeanie, as in I Dream of Jeanie, and Samantha from Bewitched, I was accustomed to seeing fictional women with extraordinary powers being partnered with men incapable of managing their affairs who possessed none of their partners’ supernatural abilities. Xena: Warrior Princess represented a brand new feminine heroic archetype and I wanted to know what country was fertile enough for such an extraordinary shift to occur within its borders: Aotearoa/New Zealand, where the last Prime Minister was a woman, Helen Clark, who, as Aotearoa/New Zealand’s second female Prime Minister, served three consecutive terms from 1999 until 2008, and where women won the right to vote, twenty-seven years before American women, in 1893. Although the creators of Xena: Warrior Princess were not from Aotearoa/New Zealand, they chose to film there because of the low cost, great locations and freedom from incessant interference from Hollywood studio executives. The star of Xena: Warrior vii Princess, Lucy Lawless, was born and raised in Aotearoa/New Zealand and, as a courageous actor who performed most of her own stunts, she exemplifies many of the best characteristics found in the Aotearoa/New Zealand cultural blend. The Aotearoa/New Zealand landscape is as much a star in the Xena: Warrior Princess series as the actors and I was also drawn to the land itself, as though an older part of me were familiar with the Aotearoa/New Zealand earth and sea, and I felt compelled to go there to attempt to understand this sudden fascination and mysterious connection. I attempted, unsuccessfully, to move to Aotearoa/New Zealand in 2001 but my attempt was thwarted by the lack of the proper visa and credentials. I returned to the US where I turned to education as a means to establish the necessary credentials to explore this phenomenon more fully. I was convinced that Xena: Warrior Princess could only have developed in Aotearoa/New Zealand, not in England, Europe, or America, and I initially went to research the culture she sprang out of to understand why. However, during my first month-long trip to Aotearoa/New Zealand in 2001, I discovered that, in reality, Maori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand, have the warrior spirit I was seeking in the fictional Xena, and that warrior spirit is very much alive and well today. Maori language convention requires that the word “Maori” not use the article “the,” and this convention has been respected throughout this dissertation. As I became more aware of Maori beliefs and accomplishments, I began to admire and respect their culture, so much so, that when I returned to the US I continued to study the language and culture on my own. When it came time to decide on a research topic, I knew I had to go back to Aotearoa/New Zealand and find out more about Maori culture. viii Aotearoa/New Zealand is a blend of very distinctive peoples: a warrior people who could not be defeated by the colonists, and the colonists who, after a short-lived victory, have been forced to continuously redefine themselves in relation with Maori, some of whom were fierce. Aotearoa/New Zealand has become a place unlike any other. Maori have a tremendous effect on the Aotearoa/New Zealand culture as a whole and their artworks, myths, customs, and language have permeated those of the Pakeha, or non-Maori, resulting in a synergistic society in which the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Even though she was not a Maori, Xena: Warrior Princess embodies the best of the blend of Maori and Pakeha New Zealanders: the warrior spirit that Maori have continued to exhibit in spite of continued attempts to dominate them over the years, and the Pakeha culture that has continued to evolve creatively in film and to stand at the forefront of technological innovation.