Maori women in traditional family and tribal life

Abstract

This thesis endeavors to reconstruct the role of women in traditional family and tribal life by collating and analyzing the many references scattered throughout the ethnographic literature. As it follows the aims of recent monographs, one by Biggs focusing upon marriage, and a second by Vayda, upon warfare, in traditional culture, it will incorporate relevant data from these, particularly in regard to marriage. The period to which this thesis refers extends from 1769, when Captain James Cook rediscovered the islands, to approximately 1840, when New Zealand formally became a British colony.