The whale road: Transitioning from spiritual links, to whaling, to whale watching in Aotearoa New Zealand

Authors

Keywords:

Whales, Whaling, New Zealand, Otago, Southland, Kaikoura,

Abstract

The paper treats of the central place of the whale in New Zealand culture and history, from the lore which the Maori brought to New Zealand from Hawaiki. Further, whaling was an early bond between the South Island of New Zealand, and Sydney. History, Art, and deep-seated belief are all key components of the 'Whale Road'.

Author Biography

A. Asbjørn Jøn, University of Canterbury

A. Asbjørn Jøn is currently researching tensions between public memory and the authorized heritage discourse. He is conducting that research through the Department of Anthropology, University of Canterbury [New Zealand].

References

Barnett, John, in Notes About the Location, press release (South Pacific Pictures). http://www.whaleriderthemovie.co.nz/html/location_notes.html [accessed 5 September 2014].

Campbell, Joseph, Occidental Mythology (Arkana, 1991).

Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality, trans. by Willard R. Trask (Harper and Row, 1963).

David K. Caldwell, Melba C. Caldwell and Dale W. Rice, ‘Behaviour of the Sperm Whale, Physeter catodon L.’, Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, ed. by Kenneth Stafford Norris (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1977), 677-718

Elsdon Best, ‘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’, Journal of the Polynesian Society, 11.3 (1902), 127-162.

Grim, John, ‘Knowing and Being Known by Animals: Indigenous Perspectives on Personhood’, in A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics, ed. by Paul Waldau and Kimberley Patton (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2006),

Gudgeon, W.E., ‘The Maori Tribes of the East Coast of New Zealand’, Journal of the Polynesian Society, 4.1 (1895), 17-32.

Rawinia R. Higgins, ‘He Tänga Ngutu, He Tühoetanga, Te Mana Motuhake o te Tä Moko Wähine: The Identity Politics of Moko Kauae’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, The University of Otago, 2004),

Roi Toia, Todd Couper, and Carolyn Lagahetau, KÄhui whetÅ« - Contemporary MÄori Art: A Carver's Perspective (Reed Books, 2006).

Smith, Ian W.G., ‘Sea Mammal Hunting and Prehistoric Subsistence in New Zealand’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, The University of Otago, 1985).

Downloads

Published

2014-11-05

Issue

Section

International and Comparative Studies