a wave of emotion

I like this homecoming, this connecting of the past, present and the future. The emotion, the tears, the joy, the sorrow. Welcome home Hine Muka.

NZH

Tears of joy and jubilation were shed at the welcoming of a historic Maori cloak back home to Wairarapa yesterday afternoon.The 19th century woven cloak, or korowai, originally belonged to Wairarapa iwi and had been stored in the Rochester Historical Society collection in the United States for more than 100 years.

To have waited for the people for so long and now together again!!!

"It's absolutely overwhelming and almost indescribable the value that this has to our people," Wairarapa List MP Ms Fox said."The greatest thing we have is the reconnection with our ancestors who are definitely here in spirit and here today to see her come home."

I can feel the emotion from here - the tears fall, the tears of joy and time and space tear and we are here together again.

Ms Fox said the korowai, which was shaped to the shoulder with darting, was a priceless example of expert weaving which is not seen today.She said korowai made today are usually square and that this korowai was "a bit wider in the hips so it must be made for me"."The effort and the time and the amount of harakeke that is involved in making her will be a beacon and example for the future," she said."It will connect us with our whenua and it will connect us with our ancestors and be an example for our young people to restore and revive these traditions."Wairarapa iwi representatives, who collected the korowai from the Nelson Provincial Museum where it was being cared for before its return, lovingly named the cloak Hine Muka.

The Mana that this brings and the impetus for knowledge and even more connection.

Aratoi Museum of Art and History director Alice Hutchison said when Wairarapa iwi were reunited with the korowai in Nelson earlier this week, the feeling in the room, was "so intense and so strong for everybody"."It was like a wave of incredible love and I've never felt anything like it."

When you feel it, you know. It is the most unbelievable feeling, so intense - a different dimension.

And so I want EVERYTHING returned so that all Māori can experience these feelings, these gifts. And I want other cultures to feel the same - so museums send it all back to where it came from, send it back to the people, their people. Stop this hoarding - stop this paternalistic attitude that people cannot look after their own.

I have been and seen some of the taonga under Te Papa - they cry out for return, their voices deafening. This is a poem I wrote after visiting Te Papa

Longing for a breeze

the floor was polished

and clacked

with footfall and they lay

quietly disemboweled,

and were viewed.

a card explained: revered once, then dis

repair, now look

their mauri is strong. so they

say breezelessly.

A whare tūpuna

will say what to that?

Pita Sharple's taiaha watches

through glass.

They are alone at night.

ever evolving actions

All of the items entrusted to museums are expected to be looked after. As many of you will know, I would return all taonga to Māori, unless they specifically state they are happy for the museum to continue to look after them, but even then I'd look at other alternatives - creating iwi museums and supplying expertise and advice to iwi when they ask so that they can empower themselves in their rohe, on their land. IMO the respecting of taonga we see in museums is more an offshoot of the colonising religion than traditional respect of mana and tapu. Mana to me is like the weight in a non-tippable doll. The weight provides the base but it also provides the impetus for action and movement. Mana is derived from the Gods and whakapapa and it is also derived from action and activities. Mana does not plateau and sit at a level - it is constantly going up or down based upon what is happening - and in tradtional times everything was conducted to enhance and strengthen mana. Taonga were hidden away but they were also used, in ceremony or significant tasks - to inspire the people and enhance mana. Taonga are a living, connected part of a community and are so much more than what they appear.

anyway

Professor Mark Stocker a art historian at University of Otago has uncovered artifacts, including taonga that were entrusted to a british museum, have ended up for sale on the open market. He says, "Our heritage is being trampled on ... I think it is rather extraordinary." He tried, but was unable to stop a sale over here.

NZH

However, it was also discovered that the pare and the pataka were about to be auctioned at Auckland art dealership Dunbar Sloane in September last year. Professor Stocker sought legal advice and told the police. The pataka was withdrawn from sale, but the lintel was auctioned and sold to a private buyer. He said the items reaching the open market raised serious questions about how safe historical treasures entrusted to museum collections could be.

Professor Stocker doesn't hold back in his conclusions

There were three possibilities about how the items came to be for sale, he said. Someone may have stolen them to make money, they may have been sold by accident, or they may have been sold with permission.

The fallout has started

British newspapers have reported Bristol museum director Mr Griffiths has resigned. British police are also investigating.

And some strong, true words by Professon Stocker

There was no way of knowing how many items had been sold or were on the market, Professor Stocker said. He was particularly offended about the intended sale of Maori artefacts, which he said showed disrespect towards the technical and spiritual qualities Maori artists brought to their works.

Thank you Professor Stocker for all your work in this area. Taonga are not to be bought or sold in an auction - they shouldn't even be over there - bring them home to their people - we need them to be home.

we need them home

I have a real problem with this story about the British Museum producing a new book, "Taonga Maori in the British Museum". The book is okay, it catalogues mainly taonga appropriated since cook's first visit. The plight of these taonga is not okay. All of these taonga should come home - it is not right that they are overseas, we need them home. Holding onto these taonga is a form of colonisation, it demeans all parties and mocks any ideas of equality we might have. There is not one good reason why these taonga should not be repatriated.

The taonga collection has more than 2300 items and comes out of a promise the museum made after a major 1998 exhibition that Maori should know what was held in London. Everything from waka, lintels, hei-tiki, treasure boxes, kete and clothes to weapons, tools, burial chests and models of pataka (storehouses) is shown photographically, with research about what is known of the history and provenance of the piece.

Te Papa's director of Matauranga Maori, Arapata Hakiwai, said going through the collection was spine-tingling. "These things are old. They're a real part of our cultural heritage, and yet they have been unknown for so long. "What this does is bring them back into the world of light," he said. "Not only are they exquisite in terms of works of art, but the histories and the encounters that they represent are really significant. I think all Maori are going to really, really love it."

Which is all true but he then says that they provide a virtual repatriation and that some taonga can serve as ambassadors overseas - here we part company - they should all come home. No if's, but's or maybe's - all home with their people, we need them home as much as they need to be home. 

And if you need further confirmation, read this

There is such scant information about some objects, including the mokomokai, that curators and academics have been left with a historical record full of holes. They know it originates from the west coast of the North Island and the authors note it that may have been given to the museum by a John Lubbock. In a letter dated April 6, but with no year, Mr Lubbock wrote to a museum scholar and benefactor: "My dear Franks, I have sent the Museum a New Zealand head which I believe rather a good specimen of tattooing. If however you do not care to keep it, perhaps you will advise me next time I see you where I had better send it."

There is no good reason for these institutions to keep our taonga, to keep our people - it is cruel and totally inappropriate.

our treasures our people

Do you agree with Graham Dingle that, "foreigners should not be appointed in charge of the country's treasures." or the slightly revised, "If they are from outside of the country they need to be open to and willing to understand us as a people."


Maps has full coverage of the Last days of the dictator detailing the disaster of Vanda Vitali's reign as Director of the Auckland War Memorial Museum

Protecting our treasures and taonga is our responsibility for the future generations - do we really want to leave that to someone who just arrived yesterday? What about the day before yesterday?

release them to go home

They come home here, and they want to come home there. From Teaching the Values of Peace blog

"Yasuda, a Buddhist nun from Albany, N.Y., started a four-day hunger strike Tuesday as she prays for the return of some 11,000 human remains from all over the world that are housed at the museum.

Joining her this week are people like Wounded Knee, a Miwok Indian from Vallejo and Mike Raccoon Eyes Kinney, a Cherokee who lives in Richmond.

They all want the museum to give its remains back to the earth.

The museum, according to University spokesman Dan Mogulof, houses some 11,000 remains in storage lockers that were unearthed at one time or another and donated from places around the globe.

There are 8,000 remains from California; 1,200 from Peru; 600 from Egypt; 550 from other parts of the U.S. and 300 other "non U.S." remains, Mogulof said.

I support the call here to give the people back to their people and the land.

Thank you Te Papa

I have commented a few times about this issue and guess what - they are already doing it. Thank you Te Papa you are making us proud. A great story from 3 News

"The second-largest international repatriation of Maori human remains has taken place at Te Papa in Wellington.

They have been returned to New Zealand from five museums throughout the UK and Europe.

Te Papa's Michelle Hippolite says it is a step towards restoring the dignity of the dead.

The remains will never be displayed at Te Papa.

The museum sees its role as a guardian to find homes for the hundreds of homeless. So far around 332 ancestral remains have been repatriated from 12 countries, but there are still about 500 remains waiting to be brought home.

There are not enough clues about where to return a third of the remains, and finding the rightful place can take up to four years, so until then Te Papa is where they'll rest.

It really doesn't get better than that.

A museum muse

Imagine a different way of looking and thinking about the taonga currently residing in our museums. i have been posting about my belief that taonga should be given back to their owners or descendents. The various taonga were created as part of a continuious line of whakapapa that still exists today. But rather than strip the museums why not consider this approach.

The empowerment of maori communities in association with their wider communities and the institutions, could be a win-win-win scenario.

It would be a win for maori communities by strengthening mana. The structural changes that would need to be needed, could be coordinated with the institutions, local communities, even government and used as the catalyst to drive community and local maori development. Training, apprentiships, planning and management could all be built in to that development. For example if a taonga was given back then it would have to be received correctly and given somewhere to live. All of those areas need to cover both maoritanga and good museum proceedure. And that is a point. If the taonga are given back then they are given back. Their kaitiaki will determine what happens. Some may be fearful that taonga will be unavailable for viewing but how many are visited now? It is about respect and trust.

Maori communities may decide to develop other opportunities. There is no doubt that the welcoming home ceremonies could be magnificant. Bringing the wider community together in shared rejoicing. It could be done – we all want to be involved and one of the barriers to engagement is the feeling of them and us. When communities learn about the heritage of their area, the taonga and the tangata whenua, the connections increase and strengthen - distrust, stereotypes and fear break down. Nothing happens overnight and it is already happening out there to some extent.

But what advantages could there be for the institutions themselves?

Nothing stays static and museums and their attitudes to their charges and the public is a typical example. Just think of the difference that Te Papa has made. Love it or hate it – it is different and an example of a different way of looking at the whole area. My idea is just a little further along the line. Devolving the way we think of museums from single buildings in the centre of cities to a more community based approach. Taonga held in the areas they came from, with the people who they came from.

Reasearch could still be carried out where the parties have negotiated and agreed. Some research could be done at the community level thus increasing the experience of the researchers and givng them insights that they would not normally get because they lack the cultural context. Agreements would be good for everyone and create goodwill and more opportunities for learning.

Many current taonga will not be able to be repatriated because it is simply not known where they came from. This could be sorted out at a pan-maori level with the institutions. Good practice would continue to be carried out and the museums and institutions would continue as is, but stronger.

Museums do tread a fine line amongst all of their various tensions. They do research, protect, display, manage, catalogue, interact with the public, interpret and try to remain financially viable. It is a big ask. This initiative would create big publicity which would be good for the museum. Big publicity means more people interested, which means more grants, donations, and visitors. Creating strong mutually beneficial realtionships with iwi would have no downside.

When you think of all of the taonga currently in institutions and how much is on display or being researched compared to how much are just locked away in drawers and boxes – well, who knows? The institutions could probably repatriate 5 taonga to every iwi and not even have to touch their displays. and why not? Imagine the goodwill. It would be a brilliant coup that would mean the world to maori and would be good for this country in so many ways. We could start with one and test it out.

I love big museums, there is so much gravitas, I've always loved them. I don't want them to go, but i do think they can continue to evolve. Connecting with communities strengthens all parties. I've barely touched on the economic benefits but they are there. Even the government and all of us win.

Most importantly of all, the taonga are back home, where they belong.

They begin the journey home

They are coming home.

"Swedish museum officials yesterday handed over the skeletal remains of five Maori to a New Zealand delegation as part of a broader move in Europe to repatriate bodies taken from foreign burial grounds."

The ceremony was held at the Natural History Museum in southwestern Gothenburg, and included songs and prayers."

And these words are very true.

"The human remains in Western museums are mostly the result of colonial relationships and a racist view of the world," museum director Goran Blomberg said."

"We now aim to work actively for the repatriation of human remains younger than around 200 years to their country of origin."

Thank you.

"Te Herekiekie Herewini of Te Papa thanked the Swedes for their action."

"This is significant for Maori as it is believed that through the ancestors' return to their homeland, the dead and their living descendants will retrieve their dignity, and also close the hurt and misdeeds of the past."

Closing the circle.

Returning our people is very important and I congratulate these museums for their efforts.

Let them really come home Te Papa

Good - they are coming home - now Te Papa, give our people back to our people. Don't perpetuate the abuse by keeping them in locked vaults or display cases - give them back and let them really come home to their people i say!

"Te Papa will this month repatriate ancestral Maori remains from five European institutions.

The remains of 33 Maori would return to New Zealand from the National Museum of Wales, Gothenburg Natural History Museum in Sweden, the Museum of World Culture in Sweden, Glasgow University's Hunterian Museum in Scotland, and Trinity College in the Republic of Ireland."

"The majority of the remains were koiwi tangata (skeletal remains) and four toi moko (tattooed preserved heads).

The remains would be welcomed on to Te Papa's marae in a ceremony on November 30.

Te Papa's acting chief executive Michelle Hippolite said the repatriation was "both a time for sad reflection on the turbulent journeys these ancestors experienced and, at the same time, a cause for joy and hope as they are returned".

She thanked the institutions involved for their decisions to repatriate the remains and their support in planning the repatriation."

The real joy and hope will be when they are returned to their descendants, not kept in some institution.

Footnote - Just to clarify - I am not against museums and the great work they do. But imagine if there was an effort to take taonga back to the people. Celebrations, building, training, learning, storytelling, all of those things could be developed to turn the returning into a celebration for everyone. Start small, test it out, see if it works. Talk to iwi. But until move along that path a bit I do appreciate all of the efforts to protect our treasures - thanks and please don't stop doing it - but let's start to create a new paradigm, a new way of honouring our past and our shared future.