Māori
Oral Tradition: He Kōrero Nō Te Ao
Tawhito
by Jane McRaePaperback, 228 x 152mm
978 1 86940 861 9
20 March 2017, $45.00 - AUP
Māori oral
tradition is the rich, poetic record of the past handed down by voice over
generations through whakapapa, proverbs and song. In genealogies and sayings,
histories, stories and songs, Māori tell of ‘te ao tawhito’ or the old world:
the gods, the migration of the Polynesian ancestors from Hawaiki and life here
in Aotearoa.
A voice from the
past, today Māori Oral Tradition: He Kōrero nō Te Ao Tawhito
underpins the speeches, songs and prayers performed on marae and the teaching
of tribal genealogies and histories. Indeed, the oral tradition underpins Māori
culture itself.
Māori Oral
Tradition introduces readers to the distinctive oral style and language of the
traditional compositions, acknowledges the skills of the composers of old and
explores the meaning of their striking imagery and figurative language. And it
shows how ngā kōrero tuku iho – the inherited words – can be a deep well of
knowledge about the way of life, wisdom and thinking of the Māori ancestors.
About the author:
Jane McRae was a lecturer in Māori language and literature at the Māori Studies Department of the University of Auckland from 1993 to 2003; since then she has been a freelance translator and researcher of nineteenth-century Māori literature. Among her publications are, as author, Maori Literature: A Survey, in Terry Sturm (ed.), The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature (1998) and Ngā Mōteatea: An Introduction / He Kupu Arataki, translated by Hēni Jacob (Auckland University Press, 2011), and, as editor with Jenifer Curnow and Ngapare Hopa, Rere atu, taku manu! Discovering History, Language and Politics in the Maori-language Newspapers and He Pitopito Kōrero nō te Perehi Māori: Readings from the Maori-language Press (Auckland University Press, 2002, 2006).
Jane McRae was a lecturer in Māori language and literature at the Māori Studies Department of the University of Auckland from 1993 to 2003; since then she has been a freelance translator and researcher of nineteenth-century Māori literature. Among her publications are, as author, Maori Literature: A Survey, in Terry Sturm (ed.), The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature (1998) and Ngā Mōteatea: An Introduction / He Kupu Arataki, translated by Hēni Jacob (Auckland University Press, 2011), and, as editor with Jenifer Curnow and Ngapare Hopa, Rere atu, taku manu! Discovering History, Language and Politics in the Maori-language Newspapers and He Pitopito Kōrero nō te Perehi Māori: Readings from the Maori-language Press (Auckland University Press, 2002, 2006).
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