Contested Visions of History in Aotearoa New Zealand Literature: Witi Ihimaera's The Matriarch
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2004
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University of Hawai'i Press
Center for Pacific Islands Studies
Center for Pacific Islands Studies
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Abstract
Competing visions of the past constitute contested historical ground in Aotearoa
New Zealand. The novel as a genre constitutes a strategic site in constructing
national identity. This article illustrates how Witi Ihimaera’s historical novel The
Matriarch (1986) presents a new vision that seeks to displace Päkehä discourse
from its privileged position in articulating the country’s history and national identity.
This transformation from outsider to insider perspective is part of a much
wider movement throughout the Pacific and beyond. As a narrative that validates
a Mäori version of nationhood, Ihimaera’s novel can lay a strong claim to be the
novel of modern Aotearoa New Zealand. Nevertheless, the novel has received
mixed reaction among both Mäori and non-Mäori commentators, especially
within influential critical literary circles. These reactions constitute another sort
of contested ground as they raise issues concerning notions of history, literature,
truth, and fiction, and the relationships among them.
Description
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Aotearoa, New Zealand, Witi Ihimaera, Pacific literature, nationhood, identity, narration, Oceania -- Periodicals.
Citation
Romaine, S. 2004. Contested Visions of History in Aotearoa New Zealand Literature: Witi Ihimaera's The Matriarch. The Contemporary Pacific 16 (1): 31-57.
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