The Weekly Muse: Te reo Māori Language Week 🇳🇿
Kia ora, Hello Musers
As you may know, Narrative Muse is proudly founded and based in Aotearoa 🇳🇿 New Zealand. This week, we celebrate Māori Language Week, a time to honour the indigenous people of this land and their language.
It is important to remember that the Māori language was once banned by British colonisers. This was a deliberate attempt to suppress Māori culture and identity. 🗣️ However, Māori people have fought tirelessly to reclaim their language, and Māori Language Week is a powerful reminder of their resilience and success. 🌻
Māori Language Week began in 1972 as a part of the commemoration of a petition to Parliament calling for the protection of the Māori language. ✍️ It is an annual event that celebrates the culture and language of Māori people.
Ngā mihi nui, thank you
It is said that if you want to know a culture, know their proverbs.
This bilingual book, Mauri Ora: Wisdom from the Māori World — Peter Alsop and Te Rau Kupenga, is a beautiful collection of whakataukī, Māori proverbs, which are a way to orally share knowledge across generations. The whakataukī are captured with photographs, English translations, and meanings.
The most striking thing for us was the sense of ancestral gravity in its pages, with exquisite photography of Māori ancestors in Aotearoa New Zealand.
No Māori Allowed is a gripping documentary that follows experiences of how Māori were treated in the small town of Pukekohe, New Zealand.
The characters range from local kaumātua (elders) telling their stories for the first time, an overseas researcher, a pākehā (New Zealand-European) local historian with generations of family history in the area, a Māori researcher who is deeply connected to the whenua (land), and a rangatahi (youth) who is not from the whenua but seeks to support reparations.
This web of characters tells the story of Pukekohe as their families’ experienced it — in the past and present. We found every perspective nuanced and captivating. CW: Stillbirth, physical violence, racism.
Waru is one narrative told by eight incredibly powerful stories, 10 minutes each, directed by eight Māori wāhine (women).
It’s an absolutely gutting and breathtaking look into the impact of a boy’s death in a Māori community still drowning in the aftermath of the loss of this tama (son), and the influences of colonization on Aotearoa New Zealand.
This is a perspective that is rarely seen or openly discussed on an Aotearoa national platform. It’s a beautifully honest and moving collaboration.
Want more recommendations like these? Explore Narrative Muse and discover new stories by (and about) intersectional underrepresented folks.
P.S. Have a story you think more people should know about and want to share with your fellow Musers? Sign up to be a curator!
P.P.S. Share this article with someone you think might enjoy these recommendations and let’s explore the vast universe of genres together.
