Te Karanga newsletter launched

Tu Tangata, Issue 25, 1 August 1985, Page 17

Te Karanga newsletter launched

Maori Studies in the South Island have for too long been the poor cousin of the North Island. Understandably so perhaps, for the North Island has always had the greater share of the Maori population, and therefore a greater amount of material for scholars to study. It is not that the South Island has lacked material; rather has there been a lack of people to study it. With a few exceptions, Herries Beattie for example, most of the people respected in the study of Maori material have resided in the North Island. Consequently, their views predominated, and South Island material was sometimes dismissed or ignored. In the foreword to his book, ‘TIKAO TALKS’ (Reed, 1939), Beattie wrote: ‘Some time in or about the year 1920 Mr W.H. Skinner and I tried to induce Mr Elsdon Best to interview Mr Tikao, but unfortunately Mr Best was such a poor sailor that he would not undertake the ferry passage from Wellington to Lyttleton.’

The fact was that Best could not be bothered or was not interested in this opportunity to collect South Island history his excuse of poor seamanship was a convenient way of saying that Tikao’s South Island material was not worth the trouble. Fortunately, Herries Beattie thought otherwise.

Today there is an increasing awareness that South Island Maori studies have much to offer the scholar and the student. The Maori Department of Canterbury University leads the way in this respect, offering this year a paper at Stage 111 level which examines South Island material, specifically material from Ruapuke Island and the Fouveaux Strait area.

The Canterbury Maori Studies Association has been formed to capitalise on this new-found awareness, and to encourage research in the field of South Island Maori Studies, with particular emphasis on the Canterbury region. This is not to say that we are not interested in research from other areas, including the North Island.

Through our newsletter, ‘TE KARANGA’, and the proposed

Resource Centre, the Canterbury Maori Studies Association offers people the opportunity to contribute and further their knowledge.

The field of South Island Maori Studies has yet to be fully explored; its future holds the promise of excitement and discovery. The Canterbury Maori Studies Association can be no more than its members. We therefore ask you for the support which is vital to our existence. Your support may come in several ways, firstly, by joining. Secondly, you can contribute news, information and articles. Thirdly you can help build up the Resource Centre by donating books, maps, tapes, any material in fact that has a bearing on Maori Studies. Fourthly, you can support your Association by attending our occasional evenings, and hearing what our speakers have to say.

To conclude, I must make mention of the staff of the Maori Department at Canterbury University for their very generous koha, which has enabled the first issue of ‘TE KARANGA’ to be published.