The Emancipation: Taonga Māori Returned To Iwi Post-Settlement

Abstract

This thesis aims to argue for the repatriation of taonga Māori (ancestral treasures) as a form of emancipation from Museums and, by extension, colonial ownership. It draws on the writings of Paul Tapsell, Amber Aranui, and Arapata Hakiwai, on the one hand, and interviews with iwi (tribal) experts, tribal negotiators, and GLAM (galleries, libraries, art galleries and museums) sector workers to demonstrate how museums have actively privileged the Crown’s narrative through the collection of taonga Māori. A survey undertaken as part of the study highlights poor engagement with rangatahi Māori (youth) who do not see themselves reflected in museums and a discernible disconnection between Māori and museums about actual Museology practice. These issues are explored by examining the return of taonga returned to Iwi as part of Waitangi Tribunal settlements. The first case study examines the history of the Ngati Awa whare whakairo (meeting house) Mātaatua in 1878 when the Crown asserted ownership over the house resulting in Mātaatua’s movement across several countries until repatriation occurred as a core component of the Ngāti Awa Raupatu Report WAI 46. The second case study moves inland to Ngāi Tūhoe and the repatriation of the Maungapōhatu Flag, which was seized during a police raid against Rua Kenana’s community at Maungapōhatu in 1916. For both Iwi, removing taonga tuku iho (ancestral treasures) was part of the Crown’s programme to destabilise the Iwi through land confiscation. Both case studies reveal new understandings of the Crown’s agency in removing fundamental tenets of tribal identity and authority - the whare and the flag stood for sovereignty and Iwi tenacity in seeking the return of their land and their taonga. This thesis identifies tensions between ownership and rights versus guardianship and protection and the ongoing difficulties faced by Māori in museums in this regard. Ultimately this thesis will show a positive change in museological practice that now privileges Indigenous peoples and their ways of knowing.