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Narrating Indigenous Modernities
Transcultural Dimensions in Contemporary MÄori Literature
Series: - Cross/Cultures, Volume: 141
Author:
The MÄori of New Zealand, a nation that quietly prides itself on its pioneering egalitarianism, have had to assert their indigenous rights against the demographic, institutional, and cultural dominance of PÄkehÄ and other immigrant minorities â European, Asian, and Polynesian â in a postcolonial society characterized by neocolonial structures of barely acknowledged inequality. While MÄori writing reverberates with this struggle, literary identity discourse goes beyond any fallacious dualism of white/brown, colonizer/colonized, or modern/traditional. In a rapidly altering context of globality, such essentialism fails to account for the diverse expressions of MÄori identities negotiated across multiple categories of culture, ethnicity, class, and gender.
Narrating Indigenous Modernities recognizes the need to place MÄori literature within a broader framework that explores the complex relationship between indigenous culture, globalization, and modernity. This study introduces a transcultural methodology for the analysis of contemporary MÄori fiction, where articulations of indigeneity acknowledge cross-cultural blending and the transgression of cultural boundaries.
Thus, Narrating Indigenous Modernities charts the proposition that MÄori writing has acquired a fresh, transcultural quality, giving voice to both new and recuperated forms of indigeneity, tribal community, and MÄoritanga (Maoridom) that generate modern indigeneities which defy any essentialist homogenization of cultural difference. MÄori literature becomes, at the same time, both witness to globalized processes of radical modernity and medium for the negotiation and articulation of such structural transformations in MÄoritanga.
Narrating Indigenous Modernities recognizes the need to place MÄori literature within a broader framework that explores the complex relationship between indigenous culture, globalization, and modernity. This study introduces a transcultural methodology for the analysis of contemporary MÄori fiction, where articulations of indigeneity acknowledge cross-cultural blending and the transgression of cultural boundaries.
Thus, Narrating Indigenous Modernities charts the proposition that MÄori writing has acquired a fresh, transcultural quality, giving voice to both new and recuperated forms of indigeneity, tribal community, and MÄoritanga (Maoridom) that generate modern indigeneities which defy any essentialist homogenization of cultural difference. MÄori literature becomes, at the same time, both witness to globalized processes of radical modernity and medium for the negotiation and articulation of such structural transformations in MÄoritanga.
Michaela MouraâKoçoÄlu teaches womenâs studies and English literatures at Florida International University in Miami. She gained her PhD degree in New English Literatures and Cultures at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Among her primary research interests are Indigenous literatures, Indigenous womenâs studies, literature from Oceania, postcolonial studies, and transculturality as a critical methodology.
âThis study offers a valuable different perspective for analyzing Maori fiction, which challenges the conventional postcolonial approach and suggests instead a transcultural reading â an interpretative strategy that uncovers previously ignored aspects of Maori fiction and does justice to its complexity.â â Valentina Napoli, University of Auckland
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Reframing MÄori Storytelling
âThings are not exactly black or white in Aotearoaâ: The Many Facets of Kiwi Identity
Fragmentation Reconsidered: Transcultural Identities in the Making
Narratives of (Be)Longing: MÄori Literary Voices Advancing
Narratives of (Un)Belonging: Unmasking Cleavage, Cleaving to Identities
Transcultural Readings: Recombining Repertoires
Navigating Transcultural Currents: Stories of Indigenous Modernities
Works Cited
Index
Introduction: Reframing MÄori Storytelling
âThings are not exactly black or white in Aotearoaâ: The Many Facets of Kiwi Identity
Fragmentation Reconsidered: Transcultural Identities in the Making
Narratives of (Be)Longing: MÄori Literary Voices Advancing
Narratives of (Un)Belonging: Unmasking Cleavage, Cleaving to Identities
Transcultural Readings: Recombining Repertoires
Navigating Transcultural Currents: Stories of Indigenous Modernities
Works Cited
Index