He Reo Wahine: Maori Women's Voices from the Nineteenth Century

by Lachy Paterson, Angela Wanhalla

During the nineteenth century, Maori women produced letters and memoirs, wrote off to newspapers and commissioners, appeared before commissions of enquiry, gave evidence in court cases, and went to the Native Land Court to assert their rights. He Reo Wahine is a bold new introduction to the experience of Maori women in colonial New Zealand through Maori women's own words – the speeches and evidence, letters and testimonies that they left in the archive. Drawing from over 500 texts in both English and te reo Maori written by Maori women themselves, or expressing their words in the first person, He Reo Wahine explores the range and diversity of Maori women's concerns and interests, the many ways in which they engaged with colonial institutions, as well as their understanding and use of the law, legal documents, and the court system. The book both collects those sources – providing readers with substantial excerpts from letters, petitions, submissions and other documents – and interprets them. Eight chapters group texts across key land sales, war, land confiscation and compensation, politics, petitions, legal encounters, religion and other private matters. Beside a large scholarship on New Zealand women's history, the historical literature on Maori women is remarkably thin. This book changes that by utilising the colonial archives to explore the feelings, thoughts and experiences of Maori women – and their relationships to the wider world.

384 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 21, 2017

Reviews

[Wai · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I would love this book. However I found it very hard to read because it was so repetitive and frankly, most of the writing quoted was uninteresting. For example, an exhausting amount of writing quoted was about land disputes and transactions. I ended up skipping all of the pages relating to land and I'm sure that was about 75% of the the text.

As another reviewer pointed out, this content was dry, I found it boring and uninteresting; particularly after reading multiple accounts of women saying "[insert land name here] belongs to me and I want it to be given back". There could have been a couple of examples of this kind of writing, before moving on to other topics. However that would have made for a substantially smaller book.

Unfortunately, I couldn't finish this book. I made it to the end only by skipping most of the chapters and much of the content of chapters that I did read. This book has 3 stars because I did learn some very interesting things about Maori history. However this interesting info was minimal.

[Soph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a unique book which focuses on linguistic history and Māori women’s history specifically. It’s not only interested in the content of the writing but the writing itself - sometimes this meant I was wishing for broader context so I could flesh out the stories in my head, but I appreciate that the focus is on the small flashes of Māori women’s writing that are still available, even when it leaves frustrating gaps in the history.

[Toni Duder · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book could be at times quite dry to read, it ended up shedding light on some incredible women in our history. I felt myself in awe of the perseverance of Māori women battling the western legal and political systems. Colonisation was fought every step of the way, and this book sheds light on some of the mana wāhine behind this fight.

[Bronwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

See my review at --
http://www.flaxroots.com/flaxflower/w...