Nau mai tauti mai!

The New Zealand/Aotearoa Studies Seminar Series 2018

The poetics of Māori presence, 1872-2018: Domett, Best, Hulme and Tibble

Wednesday, September 26, 1—2pm, Aotahi School of Māori and Indigenous Studies Foyer

This seminar will address the presence of poetry about Māori, in English, by two Pākehā writers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Alfred Domett, 1811-1887; Elsdon Best, 1856-1931); and poetry written by two Māori women of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries (Keri Hulme, 1947-; Tayi Tibble, 1995 -).

The writers under discussion make up four distinct groupings: English born settlers, mid-colonial period, male (Domett); New Zealand born Pākehā, late colonial period, male (Best); Māori baby boomer post-WW2, female (Hulme); and  Māori, late Millennial, female (Tibble).

The aim of such a wide span of time is to present a series of historical snapshots over 150 years that might show us how far we have come, how long it has taken, and what the future could promise in the post-Treaty settlement era for our poetry in general, and poetry by Māori, in particular. 

Nā reira, nau mai, haere mai, tēnei te mihi atu nei.