Menu

Wananga landing Wananga landing
Alumni book

State Authority, Indigenous Autonomy

24 November 2023

Richard Hill

HOW TO APPLY

2004 
ISBN: 0864734778

This book provides an urgently needed overview of Māori quests for rangatiratanga/autonomy in the first half of the 20th century, and the Crown's responses to them.

Historians of the relationship between the New Zealand state and the indigenous Māori have focused on the nineteenth century, the period of colonisation, displacement and war. Little work has been done systematically or analytically on the twentieth century. State Authority, Indigenous Autonomy provides an interpretation of Crown–Māori relations in the first half of last century (and will be followed by a volume covering the period since 1950). It depicts a complex series of interactions, engagements and manoeuvrings between Māori institutions and the Crown. The book sees the primary political aspiration of Māori people, grouped in a variety of collectivities (tribal, sub-tribal, pan-tribal and non-tribal), as being the quest for Crown recognition of the rangatiratanga/autonomy promised them in Article Two of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840. It interprets the primary policy aim of the Crown as being that of the assimilation of Maori to western ways of behaving, organising and thinking. By examining the state’s various responses to Māori collective aspirations and exercise of agency, it explores many Crown measures of containment, including attempts to make use of (as well as defuse or deflect) Māori organisational and cultural energies.

State Authority Indigenous Autonomy
Privacy Preferences

By clicking "Accept All Cookies", you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyse site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.