Volume 1 - 2020
E kore au e ngaro, he kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea.
Kupu whakataki | Preface
Stories have laid the foundation of all of my learning, and have been the viewfinder through which I have often understood the world. Māori Marsden says words are symbols of thought, and therefore without words we cannot think. Apirana Ngata alludes to the act of creativity - the emergence of a poem, waiata, or mōteatea - as an act of healing of both self and community. It is with these two ideas in mind that this project began.
Te Whē – Te Hau o te Whenua began as part of my doctoral research in creative writing at Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o te Ao/The IIML at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. One of the key issues I was grappling with was that ‘Māori literature’ was still predominantly being taught and analysed at academic institutions through a Eurocentric lens. I wanted to open the critical discourse space and invite a mātauranga Māori lens to both the creation and reading of literature.
The path I set myself on was to employ a kaupapa Māori research methodology that entailed consulting with, and taking direction from, relevant Māori communities in order to both guide and answer my questions surrounding what constitutes Māori literature, what constitutes a mātauranga Māori lens, and how to approach the business of creative writing.
From the outset of the project proper, Nadine Anne Hura and I have worked in concert every step of the way.
Kāore e ārikarika ngā kupu mihi ki a ia. E hoa, kapohia ēnei kupu hei tohu aroha mōu.
I have been incredibly humbled and fortunate to have co-created, and worked as kaihautū on this project with you. Te Whē is the emergence of that work into the world. It is one of the outcomes of a marae-based wānanga that took place at Tukorehe Marae, he uri ahau o reira, at Kuku in Ōhau.
From the inception, we strived to consult widely with our literary communities and received consistent encouragement and support.
E rere ā māua kupu mihi ki a Patricia Grace, Robyn Bargh, Eboni Waitere, Alice Te Punga Somerville, Arini Loader, Tayi Tibble, Emily Perkins, Damien Wilkins, and Mike Ross who sat around a table with us at the earliest stages of a fledgling idea and helped direct our thinking.
Me mihi ka tika ki Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o te Ao/ The International Institute of Modern Letters, who provided development funding to help us get started,and who continue to support and encourage us.
Nei rā te mihi ki a Debbie Broughton and Kim McBreen from Te Wānanga o Raukawa who sat with us to wānanga, refine and further deepen our ideas, i tō koutou manaakitanga mai ki a māua. Kei wareware i ahau, me mihi ki a koutou, te whānau o TOI Māori. Thank you for your continued and unwavering support. Through the crucial funding of TOI we were able to hold the wānanga which was the foundation for the work in this book.
To the writers who gathered at the waharoa, and who entered to participate, collaborate, and bring their deepest questions
To Aunty Moerangi, Uncle Keelan, Parekarewa Ransfield, and Courtney Delamere, who shared kōrero with us and supported us - ki mua, ki muri - pupū ake ai i te whatumanawa ēnei kupu mō koutou ko te iwi o Tukorehe.
To our families and friends, ka titia te ngākau ki ngā whakaaro mō koutou. Kiriana O'Connell, Alex Keeble, Cassandra Barnett, and Anne-Marie Te Whiu, there are simply not enough words to thank you for all your work behind the scenes.
To Chloē Reweti, whose patience is now legendary, and to Sydney Shep and Miriame Barbarich for the generous time, ideas and energy you gifted us.
And to the Kāhui Ruruhau, arā ko Patricia Grace rātou ko Renée, ko Haare Williams, ko Joe Harawira, ko Witi Ihimaera, ko Mike Ross, ko John Huria, me iri ki ngā pātū o te whare kōrero ēnei kupu mihi mō koutou. Thank you for laying down the whakapapa for us to follow, and for sharing so unfailingly your expertise, time, and whakaaro for this project. We cannot express our gratitude enough.
Ko Tainui te waka
Ko Tararua ngā pae maunga
Ko Ōhau te awa
Ko Tukorehe te iwi, te hapū, te marae
Ko Anahera Gildea tōku ingoa
Ko Hineāmaru te tipuna
Ko Tokerau te maunga
Ko Taumarere te awa
Ko Ngati Hine, Ko Ngāpuhi ngā iwi
Ko Nadine Anne Hura ahau