RENEWING MAORITANGA : ECOLOGICAL HEALING FOR A POSTCOLONIAL WORLD IN KERI HULME'S THE BONE PEOPLE, WITI IHIMAERA'S THE WHALE RIDER, AND PATRICIA GRACE'S POTIKI

Abstract

This project concerns three novels written during the Maori Renaissance--a time of renewal and resurgence for the indigenous people of New Zealand. Keri Hulme's The Bone People (1983), Witi Ihimaera's The Whale Rider (1987) and Patricia Grace's Potiki (1986) involve a Maori community fighting to ascertain or maintain its identity and autonomy in the face of post-colonialism. Each also illustrates a resurfacing of ancient, traditional customs and beliefs that the communities must merge with the contemporary Pakeha (European-descended New Zealand) worldview. In a very significant way, these ancient worldviews remind the three fictional Maori communities of the necessity to recreate and maintain a reciprocal relationship with the Earth and all of its non-human inhabitants in order to ensure their own cultural survival. The study brings together postcolonial, ecocritical, and indigenous theoretical perspectives through these texts in order to demonstrate how the novels illustrate the possibilities of healing the chasm between Maori and Western cultures, while also providing an example through their illustration of a reciprocal relationship between humans and the Earth of how fragmented Western identities can be healed. The Introduction outlines the constructs of ecocriticism and indigenous postcolonial criticism and situates the novels within these frameworks, while also providing more detailed background for understanding the novels' contexts. Hulme's, Ihimaera's, and Grace's novels map a possible future of wholeness and connectivity for not only the indigenous communities of their books but also for those Western individuals who are floating without roots to ground them. Throughout The Bone People, The Whale Rider, and Potiki, each author illuminates the fact that in order for any individual and community to have a solid identity and sense of belonging, a connection to the Earth is essential. Without this connection, a desire for immediate gratification and material possessions rules the heart and soul.