Some approaches to traditional Māori knowledge

ABSTRACT

In this essay I review two books of rather different focus, but with a common thread that is oral tradition: age-old tales passed orally down the generations to maintain the histories and used to educate the young. The focus of the Metge book is traditional methods of education, while McRae’s focus is on the stories themselves.

KEYWORDS:

• Kōrero (stories)
• Māori oral tradition
• Matauranga (knowledge)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jim Williams

DR. JIM WILLIAMS, of Kai Tahu descent, is a Senior Lecturer in Te Tumu, School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies, at the University of Otago, Dunedin New Zealand, where he teaches a stream of Kai Tahu and Environmental management papers. His area of research includes traditional Māori ways and Māori environmental management, with particular emphasis on his own iwi, Kai Tahu. He has published on various aspects of Māori precontact history and traditional ways.