Pedagogical events: re‐reading shared moments in educational history

Abstract

The notion of ‘multiple readings of texts’ has been discussed as a methodological tool in the analysis of qualitative data. The pedagogical potential of multiple readings has received less attention. This paper, a collaboration between an indigenous educationist and her ‘coloniser’ colleague, discusses cross‐cultural pedagogy as encounters with re‐readings, in this case of shared moments in the history of the establishment of the first school in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Notes

Kuni Jenkins also consulted Professor Patu Hohepa (Ngati Hine) in the process of interpreting these events. Hohepa, a retired Professor from the University of Auckland, is a prominent Nga Puhi scholar, whose ancestry is widespread within the Bay of Islands and Northland regions.

Ruatara was a chief of the Ngati Rehia people, neighbours of Nga Puhi.

One notable later exception to this was Rev. Thornton who offered academic education to Maori at Te Aute—an Anglican school which produced nationally influential Maori leaders in the late 1800s (Simon, 1998).

‘Schooling’ here refers to Western forms of schooling, and excludes existing or prior indigenous educational structures.

The concept of ruruhau is drawn from the imagery of the sheltering outreach of a huge tree like the totara, which protects people from the weather. The ruruhau of the rangatira is the political influence that he/she can use to facilitate the way a person might be fostered and cared for.

Judith Binney's account of the motivation of the chiefs' travel to Australia is in contrast to ours. She says: ‘Of the senior chiefs invited, Korokoro, Hongi and Ruatara were prepared to go’ (1968, p. 23). This implied a passivity on the part of the chiefs, which is unlikely.

See n. 1.

This was a triumph for Ruatara, too, because other chiefs also wanted Marsden to set up his mission in their districts. Indeed, the inter‐hapuu jealousies created by Marsden's ‘favouring’ of Ruatara caused some problems within kin groups.

Drawing on Nicholas's account, Pakeha saw Maori as having confidence in them, rather than in their leader. J.B. Marsden, in telling the story of the sermon, asserted that ‘the confidence of the natives in Mr Marsden was now unbounded’ (1913, p. 83).

Binney (1968, pp. 27–34) discusses this lack of self‐sufficiency as a combination of the poor geographical location of the settlement and the internal divisions between the settlers; she also suggests that it was in the interests of Hongi and the other local chiefs to keep the settlement dependent so that they had bargaining leverage.