"Educating the Maori" and The Maori Record (1904-1907): Indigenous Education and Print Culture in New Zealand

Although the education of Maori students shares more differences than similarities to the education of indigenous students in other settler nations like the US, Canada, and Australia, it nonetheless shares similar militant... [ view full abstract ]

Although the education of Maori students shares more differences than similarities to the education of indigenous students in other settler nations like the US, Canada, and Australia, it nonetheless shares similar militant advocacy for indigenous sovereignty in print culture. This seminar paper will examine a Maori publication from the turn into the 20^th century, The Maori Record: A Journal Devoted the the Advancement of the Maori People (1904-1907), published in New Zealand (Wellington and Normanby). (Not all the issues survived.) I propose to read The Maori Record alongside the paper of the Society of American Indians in the US (titled first The American Indian Magazine and, later, the Quarterly Journal of the American Indians) as English-language publications engaging settler policies (often negatively) and arguing for change and sovereignty. In 1906, for instance, the Maori Record was very critical of the British understanding of Maori culture: “It is the peculiar misfortune of New Zealand natives, that they are alternatively treated as British subjects, or as foreigners, according to the interest or caprice of their British rulers” (Aug. 1906). The paper was founded by Niniwa-i-te-rangi, a female Maori leader at the end of the 19^th century—who also involved in the publication of Maori-language newspapers, Te Puke ki Hikurangi and Te Tiupiri)—and edited by R.S. Thompson. The aim of Maori Record was to present the grievances of the Maori to European settlers, was critical of settler issues, and especially of the government’s Maori land policies and education. My seminar paper will trace the Record’s views on Maori Education (expressed in columns such as “Educating the Maori” or “Equipping the Natives”) alongside New Zealand’s government records of the period, particularly Inspectors’ annual reports (from 1873 onward) and The Native Schools Code (1880), a code of rules and regulations published for the “guidance of Native School Teachers, and of others concerned in the education of the Maori race.” This project is in early stages, and has been inspired by the recent work of New Zealand (Maori and Pakeha) scholars Linda T. Smith and Judith Simon.