Southern Shark Lore Forty Years after Jaws: The Positioning of Sharks Within Murihiku, New Zealand

A. Asbjørn Jøn, Raj S. Aich

Abstract


Forty years after the release of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws the image of the shark in popular culture and public memory still bears the influence of that film. This article explores: recent high-profile human/ shark interactions, the impact of the Stewart Island shark cage diving industry, the body of traditional beliefs and lore about sharks exists along the southern coast of New Zealand, and the way that Jaws has influenced modern perceptions of sharks. The theoretical perspective of multispecies ethnography is suggested as a possible vehicle for further unpacking our understanding of human/ shark interactions.


Keywords


Sharks; Great White Sharks; Cage Diving; Jaws; Shamanism; Maori; Mythology; Multispecies Ethnography; New Zealand;

Full Text:

PDF

References


Beattie, James Herries. 1918. 'Traditions and Legends. Collected from the Natives of Murihiku. (Southland, New Zealand.) PART VIII. (Continued)', The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 27: 137-61.

Beattie, James Herries. 1994. Traditional Lifeways of the Southern Maori (Otago University Press in association with Otago Museum).

Beattie, James Herries. 2004. Traditions and legends of the South Island Maori : collected from natives of Murihiku (Southland, New Zealand) (Cadsonbury Publications: Christchurch, N.Z.).

Beauchamp, Zack. 2015. 'That viral shark attack video is everything we get wrong about sharks', MSN News, 23 July.

Best, Elsdon. 1902. 'Notes on the art of war as conducted by the Maori of New Zealand, with accounts of various customs, rites superstitions, & pertaining to war, as practiced and believed in by the ancient Maori', The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 11.

Best, Elsdon. 1934. The Maori As He Was: A Brief Account of Life as it Was in Pre-European Days (Dominion Museum: Wellington).

Broughton, John, and Matapura Ellison. 2006. KÄi Tahu taoka: Treassures from the Otago Museum (Reed Publishing in association with the Otago Museum: Auckland).

Catlin, James, Michael Hughes, Tod Jones, and Roy Jones. 2014. 'White sharks in Western Australia: threat or opportunity?', Journal of Ecotourism, 13: 159-69.

Cochran, U. A., K. J. Clark, and D. T. Strong. 2014. Paleotsunami investigations in the Southern Region: GNS Science Consultancy Report 2014/144 (GNS Science - Te Pu Ao: Lower Hutt).

De Maddalena, A. 2012. Sharks: Dangerous or Endangered? (The World & I Online: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.).

Department of Conservation. "Great White Shark leaflet." In, edited by Department of Conservation - Te Papa Atawhai. Wellington: New Zealand Government.

Dye, Josh. 2015. 'Shark attacks Australian surfer Mick Fanning during live competition', Stuff.co.nz, 20 July, section Sport.

Eliade, M. 1988. "Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy." In. London: Penguin Arkana.

Elliott, R. 2014. Shark Man (Random House Books: Auckland).

Ferreira, C. 2011. Great white sharks on their best behaviour (Middleton & Strauss: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.).

Florida Museum of Natural History. 2015. '1580-2014 Map of World's Confirmed Unprovoked Shark Attacks ', International Shark Attack File, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Accessed 8 September. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics/gattack/world.htm.

Francis, Beryl. 2012. 'Before and after Jaws: changing representations of shark attacks', The Great Circle, 34: 44-64.

Francis, Malcolm, and Clinton Duffy. 2014. 'NIWA / Taihoro Nukurangi: Decade of great white shark research nears end', Accessed 30 August. http://www.niwa.co.nz/news/decade-of-great-white-shark-research-nears-end.

Fuentes, Agustín. 2010. 'Naturalcultural encounters in Bali: Monkeys, temples, tourists, and ethnoprimatology', Cultural Anthropology, 25: 600-24.

Gill, W.W., and F.M. Müller. 1876. Myths and Songs from the South Pacific (H. S. King & Company).

Gruber, S. 1988. 'Why do sharks attack people?', Naval Research Review, 40: 2-19.

Habib, G. 1989. "NgÄi Tahu Claim to Mahinga Kai - Part One Report On Ngaitahu Fisheries Evidence." In. Auckland: Southpac Fisheries.

Haraway, D. 2008. When species meet (University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, USA).

Hutching, Gerard. 2012. "Sharks and rays - MÄori and sharks." In Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. New Zealand: ManatÅ« Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

Jung, C. G. 1962. The Archtypes and the Collective Unconscious (Pantheon Books: New York).

King, Darren N. T., and James Goff. 2006. "MÄori environmental knowledge in natural hazards management and mitigation: NIWA Client Report AKL2006-055." In, edited by GNS Science. Auckland: National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

King, Darren N. T., James Goff, and Apanui Skipper. 2007. 'MÄori environmental knowledge and natural hazards in Aotearoaâ€New Zealand', Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 37: 59-73.

King, Darren Ngaru, and J. R. Goff. 2010. 'Benefitting from differences in knowledge, practice and belief: MÄori oral traditions and natural hazards science', Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 10: 1927-40.

Kirksey, S. Eban, and Stefan Helmreich. 2010. 'The emergence of multispecies ethnography', Cultural Anthropology, 25: 545–76.

Lerner, Danny. 2005. "Raging Sharks." In, 1h 32m. Nu Image.

Lerner, Danny. 2008. "Shark in Venice." In, 1h 28m. Carlos Silva Da Silva.

Locke, Piers. 2013. 'Explorations in ethnoelephantology: social, historical, and ecological intersections between Asian elephants and humans', Environment and society: advances in research, 4: 79-97.

Malone, Nicholas, Alison H. Wade, Agustín Fuentes, Erin P. Riley, Melissa Remis, and Carolyn Jost Robinson. 2014. 'Ethnoprimatology: Critical interdisciplinarity and multispecies approaches in anthropology', Critique of Anthropology, 34: 8–29.

Maurer, Adah. 1965. 'What children fear', The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 106: 265-77.

Maxwell, C. B. 1949. Surf: Australian Against the sea (Angus and Robertson: Sydney).

McCracken, Heather. 2014. "Fears cage diving is increasing shark risk." In New Zealand Herald.

Nason, Patrick. 2012. 'Jaws of Significance: The conservationist's perception of the shark in South Florida', Master of Arts, Florida Atlantic University.

Neff, Christopher. 2014. 'Human perceptions and attitudes towards sharks: Examining the predator policy paradox.' in Erika J. Techera and Natalie Klein (eds.), Sharks: Conservation, governance and management (Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon).

Neff, Christopher. 2015. 'The Jaws Effect: How movie narratives are used to influence policy responses to shark bites in Western Australia', Australian Journal of Political Science, 50: 114–27.

New Zealand Media and Entertainment. 2015a. "Attack hasn't put surfer off." In Otago Daily Times. Dunedin: Allied Press Limited.

New Zealand Media and Entertainment. 2015b. 'Calls for Stewart Island shark diving ban', New Zealand Herald, April 21.

New Zealand Media and Entertainment. 2015c. "Surfing: Fanning saw fin on return to water." In Otago Daily Times. Dunedin.

Paxton, John. 1996. 'Warriors of the Deep In Fight For Their Lives', The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 March, pp. 13.

Pratt, Christina. 2007. "Animal Spirits." In An Encyclopedia of Shamanism. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.

Radio New Zealand. 2014. "WWF uses 'shark gods' to raise awarenesss." In Radio New Zealand International.

Radio New Zealand. 2015. "Government signs migratory shark agreement." In Radio New Zealand News. New Zealand.

Rasmussen, Knud. 1930. Intellectual Cultre of the Iglulik Eskimos (Copenhagen).

Royal Society of New Zealand. 1879. "Maori Proverbs, etc." In Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 115-46.

Spielberg, Steven. 1975. "Jaws." In, 124 minutes. Universal Pictures.

Stuff. 2013. 'Tragic shark attack death couldn't be prevented', Stuff.co.nz, 24 July, section National.

The Huffington Post. 2012. "The Best Shark Attacks In Movies | HuffPost Mashup." In.: YouTube.com.

Tipa, Rob. 2004. 'Common shrub with a thousand uses', Te Karaka, 24: 24-25.

Trotter, Michael, and Beverly McCulloch. 1989. Unearthing New Zealand (Government Print: Wellington).

Waddell, Raylene. 2015. "What is DOC doing for shark cage diver safety?" In The Southland Times. Invercargill: Fairfax Media.

Warne, Kennedy. 2015. 'Speed Demon', New Zealand Geographic: 34-51.

Weyer, Edward Moffat. 1932. The Eskimos: Their Environment and Folkways (New Haven and London).

White, R. 2015. 'Pearly whites', New Zealand Geographic: 24.

Williams, Jim. 2012. 'NgÄi Tahu kaitiakitanga', Mai, 1: 89-102.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Copyright (c) 2016