The Stories of Children Who Navigated the Politics of the New Zealand Māori School System

• In Event: 21.043 - Pushing Back Against the Post-Truth Paradigm: Indigenous Languages, Literacies, and Politics

Abstract

This paper will present excerpts from short stories we have written that tell of our experiences as students at Te Hāroto Māori School. Our goal is to illustrate how, through these stories, we connect ourselves to the past, the present, and the future; and in doing so, become the conduits for the transfer of knowledge from one generation to another. We believe our stories cry out to all indigenous peoples, not so much in that they detail the sufferings of peoples dispossessed, but because they talk of hope for the future and the journeys that this will involve.

Authors

• Margaret J. Maaka, University of Hawaii - Manoa

• Teracia Smith, Te Kōpere o te Iwi o Hineuru

• Ivy Kahukiwa Smith, Te Kōpere o te Iwi o Hineuru