Digital Theses

Kaitiakitanga: Māori values, uses and management of the coast
A Master's thesis from my old department at Canterbury that presents three case studies: the Kaikoura coastal environment, Akaroa taiapure and the foreshore / seabed debate to illuminate experiences of Maori relationships with the coastal environment. Insights from theories of place identity and environmental management, especially those with a postcolonial focus are used to map out the cultural politics in which indigenous resource management practices and experiences are related.

Marae: A Whakapapa of the Maori marae
A quite stunning collection of photographs make this thesis a worthy contribution. I met Adrian several times at UC and he says he has a large collection of pictures taken during the course of his fieldwork that he wishes to make available online.

Land, authority and the forgetting of being in early colonial Maori history
The thesis underscores the magnitude of change when tapu disappeared as the support of chiefs' civil governance, which was played out in the migration of mana (personal power) from chiefs to, modern, land. The disappearance of tapu also, however, aided the rise of Maori civil society within the colony on the basis of the desire for modernity which kept Maori engaged with the government - and therefore still governed. This is studied through letters that detail the operation of civil life in Taranaki and among Ngati Kahungunu, with special reference to the experience of Wiermu Kingi and Renata Kawepo.