“ ... AND DID SHE CRY IN MĀORI?” RECOVERING, REASSEMBLING AND RESTORYING TAINUI ANCESTRESSES IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND Diane Gordon-Burns Tainui Waka—Waikato Iwi A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History The University of Canterbury 2014 Preface Waikato taniwha rau, he piko he taniwha he piko he taniwha Waikato River, the ancestral river of Waikato iwi, imbued with its own mauri and life force through its sheer length and breadth, signifies the strength and power of Tainui people. The above proverb establishes the rights and authority of Tainui iwi to its history and future. Translated as “Waikato of a hundred chiefs, at every bend a chief, at every bend a chief”, it tells of the magnitude of the significant peoples on every bend of its great banks.1 Many of those peoples include Tainui women whose stories of leadership, strength, status and connection with the Waikato River have been diminished or written out of the histories that we currently hold of Tainui. Instead, Tainui men have often been valorised and their roles inflated at the expense of Tainui women, who have been politically, socially, sexually, and economically downplayed. In this study therefore I honour the traditional oral knowledges of a small selection of our tīpuna whaea. I make connections with Tainui born women and those women who married into Tainui. The recognition of traditional oral knowledges is important because without those histories, remembrances and reconnections of our pasts, the strengths and identities which are Tainui women will be lost. Stereotypical male narrative has enforced a female passivity where women’s strengths and importance have become lesser known. Through this thesis I offer a sharp and unsympathetic critique of patriarchal disempowerment of the feminine and I resist their constraints; rather, I strive to empower the feminine. My work advocates female agency. Tainui women’s traditional roles and significance are here rekindled to spark encouragement and celebration of the heritages and influences from which Tainui sisters have descended. Of significance for me during this journey was the question my then three-year-old moko Kaiau asked when he learnt that his mother spoke only reo Māori as a young girl. His thoughtful “... and did she cry in Māori?” proffered an emotional symmetry to my research because when Kaiau asked the question, I was in the process of realising the extent of the silencing of our 1 Tainui kuia and academic Professor Ngapare Hopa (1988) gives a deeper understanding to this proverb: At every bend of the river there is a new centre of mana whose autonomy must be acknowledged (p.36). 2 tīpuna whaea herstories during the transition from reo Māori narrative to English publications. Kaiau’s question illustrated to me an innocent recognition that people differ in how they express language, emotion and spirituality. Yet the social messaging that, over decades, a patriarchal canon has constructed of the Tainui feminine is bereft of any such sensitivities. The adamantine ideological presentations have been problematic as my research into the traditions of Whakaotirangi, Marama, Ruapūtahanga and my kuikui Kenehuru highlight. While these women may surely have cried (in Māori) at the injustice of the progressively minimalized and distorted retellings of their herstories, my participation in the re-evaluation and the restorying has been an opportunity to investigate symbols of female powerfulness and expressiveness throughout women’s historical complexities. And, it has been a priviledge to do so. E kore rawa au e ngaro he kakano i Rangiatea.2 2 I, a seed from Rangiatea, will not be lost. Taken from the song by Henrietta Maxwell and Kuini Moehau Reedy ‘E kore rawa au e ngaro’. 3 Abstract This thesis examines and reveals pre-colonial and colonial organisation of oral traditions, attitudes and positions in relation to significant Tainui ancestresses. Mana wahine, womanist, Kaupapa Māori and Indigenous autoethnography are key theories and methodologies that I have used to reclaim, rediscover and retell their herstories. This approach allows for the contexualisation of Tainui women based on Māori cultural values and practices. The women examined are Whakaotirangi, Marama, Ruapūtahanga and Rehe Hekina Kenehuru. The information that informs this thesis is from textual sources including those from the chiefly narrated accounts, publications, newspapers and manuscripts. This thesis is a challenge to patriarchal understandings and interpretations of female inferiority in ancient practices, including karakia and whakapapa rites. I argue that the study of ancient karakia, whakataukī and tradition reveals that Māori women held a place of the highest regard and at times exerted power of a stronger force than their male counterparts: only the women’s voice could whakatika certain events. Tainui women were crucial representatives between the earthly and the spiritual domains. Significantly, I have ‘restoryed’ the ancestresses, the effect being to reclaim a powerful place for women in Māori societies in contemporary times. 4 Acknowledgements This work would not have been completed without the support of many, and so paying tribute in this section to the learning and sharing I have experienced from and with others is important. Pre- thesis, my confidante, teacher, mentor and supervisor, Dawn Wells (Ngāti Porou) supported my enthusiasm to learn about my Māoriness through our Kōhanga Reo involvement together. Our Kōhanga in the top of the South, was called Te Waikoropupu Te Kōhanga Reo and through that movement in the early 1980’s, wonderfully strong and active women have made lasting impressions on my activist stance. Maria Hambrook, Marama Harrington, Kuini Moehau Reedy, Henrietta Maxwell, Tini Stocker, whaea Te Aroha, Fay and John Cowan, Leeanne Campbell, whaea Peggy Whitten and Mere Pettit are some of these, and I have wonderful memories of deep and reflective conversations and debates over the state of everything! The idea of a thesis about the work of women first came from Rawiri Taonui (I had set out to study ancient iwi childcare practices). His specialty was oral tradition, and so my ideas regarding children morphed instead into those who produce them, their mums. In those early years of study, Rawiri’s guidance on oral tradition was fascinating, which fed my enthusiasm. Averil Herbet and Angus Macfarlane provided guidance, support and encouragement at a tricky time in the research. Their support meant I could proceed with the task in front of me in a timely way. Gina Colvin kept up a vigilant overview of my progress until finally stepping up together with Katie Pickles as co-supervisors to the project, which saw the study accelerate into exciting new territories of sexuality and socio-political renderings that I had not seen before within the women’s herstories. Professor and whaea, Ngapare Hopa, was associate supervisor and confidante throughout the research. She provided important and unique Tainui observations and queries focused on mana wahine perspectives, discussed as they were around the table and in the company of other like minded women. The women who read and provided priceless comment and critical ideas on the many drafts and edits–Margaret Evans, Mere Skerrett, Paula Wagemaker, Frieda Looser, Barb Madden, Tui Summers, Hēni Collins, Ani Mikaere and my mum, Marie—made a significant impact on my theorizing and writing. Margaret’s hospitality and ongoing support in particular during the many trips I made to the Waikato has been absolutely invaluable. I have appreciated too the many cultural events and activities that I have been able to participate in through the friendship that 5 developed during the research. My whanaunga, Tonga Kelly, and June Kelly, welcomed me as a distant cousin into their home in 1999 when I was attending Te Wānanga o Raukawa and was completing family history papers. Tonga’s ongoing support has been very important towards the completion of this work and it includes too the trips through and around the Waikato region to view many of the land marks that I have spoken of within my research. My father, Bruce Gordon, had an early interest in my work and my brother, Bruce, and sister-in-law, Marion, housed and fed me on my many trips to Wellington to gather information.3 My step-mum, Rose Paewai, constantly asked when I thought I might be finished, and my mum-in-law, Edith Gilmour, from a different era and culture, tried to understand what it was all about and its relevance. Sadly, my mum, Marie, my stepmum, Rose, my mum-in-law, Edith and June Kelly, have passed on without seeing the final result of their queries and musings, as has my father-in- law, John. Their absence in my life has been the cause of much retrospective thought and pondering and I miss them all terribly. In the midst of their passing and my research came the Canterbury earthquakes, the consequences of which brought about severe disruption and heartache to our region. This study period, then, has been an unforgettable time and experience for my family. My husband, staunch advocate and mate, John, who unhelpfully almost always agreed with what I wrote and said, provided me with the very occasional male critical thought and emotional, supportive advice at just the right time. My children, Turi, Kahu and Peata, Hēmi, Manaia and Te Hani, who were part of the impetus and passion to both start and complete the PhD journey, have been mostly understanding of my long absences and time away in isolation to write and think and write some more. And there are my moko, Calib, Ihaka, Jordyn, Kaiau, Kruz, Charlee, Leo, Pippa and Kahu who have been wonderful beacons of encouragement in the many agonising rewrites. The University of Canterbury was there at the beginning of my study and remained so until its completion, providing practical support such as a place to study, fees, sabbatical and processes that ensured everything was time bound and would eventually finish.