Worlds Apart: Indigenous Re-engagement with Museum-held Heritage: A New Zealand - United Kingdom Case Study by Michelle Horwood A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Museum and Heritage Studies Victoria University of Wellington 2015 To my family Margaret MacKenzie, Basil Horwood, Nicola Horwood, John Verstappen, Henry Horwood Verstappen, Mackenzie Horwood Verstappen Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... v Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... ix Introduction: Worlds Apart ........................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1: Methods for Reconnecting Indigenous Communities and Museums .................... 31 Chapter 2: An Assemblage—Charles Smith, His Collection, Ngā Paerangi and Pitt Rivers Museum.................................................................................................................................... 57 Chapter 3: Disassembling a Heritage Network—People and Things, Events and Effects .... 107 Chapter 4: From Theory to Practice—Fieldwork New Zealand and England....................... 145 Chapter 5: Discussion—Emergent Themes from the Disassembly of a Heritage Network .. 201 Chapter 6: A Further Emergent Theme—Value Systems...................................................... 255 Conclusion: Praxis for Indigenous Engagement with Remotely Located Ethnographic Collections ............................................................................................................................. 271 Glossary ................................................................................................................................. 285 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 289 Appendix I ............................................................................................................................. 319 Appendix II ............................................................................................................................ 321 Appendix III ........................................................................................................................... 323 Appendix IV........................................................................................................................... 325 Appendix V ............................................................................................................................ 329 i ii Abstract For several decades a decolonised museology has been manifest within Western museum practice through, among other things, enhanced indigenous engagement with museums. Even so, indigenous communities still fail to access their cultural heritage housed in museums at distance, when they have no institutional affiliation which can facilitate contact and communication, and because they are often disadvantaged in terms of resources. Furthermore, the museums’ lack of online collection databases, coupled with other practical constraints centred on resources and priorities, inhibits their ability to work with indigenous communities. In post-colonial settler nations the democratisation of museum practice for indigenous collections has been one outcome of the political presence of indigenous peoples and the assertion of indigenous autonomy, as well as the proximity of indigenous communities and museums. Innovative practice has therefore differed from elsewhere as a result of the need for negotiated relationships with indigenous communities and recognition of indigenous authority. This has been the case in New Zealand where Māori epistemological frameworks are acknowledged and there is effective Māori participation within museums. This research addresses this issue of access to indigenous collections when they are held in other countries, and a corresponding gap in the literature, by exploring ways in which Māori communities can negotiate ongoing relationships with museums that hold collections of their ancestral heritage, when they are geographically remote from these collections. Using an analytical framework drawn from assemblage theory, the research has focussed on a detailed, situated New Zealand-United Kingdom case study, and is the first contextualised study over time of a heritage assemblage, comprising a collector and his collection, an indigenous community and a museum. A kaupapa Māori research methodology has enabled the acknowledgement and incorporation of Māori values into the research strategy which is an interdisciplinary approach centred on museum studies, but drawing also on related fields, indigenous knowledge systems and my own professional experience as a curator in a regional museum. The research has also employed methods such as archival research, interviews and hui/focus groups. iii Through the disassembly of this research assemblage I was able to document the impact of different value systems and epistemologies on access to heritage objects and clarify their meanings for specific communities. A number of entities emerged from this disassembly which were temporally and spatially contingent, and manifest as power, agency and values. Analysis of these entities has revealed their potential for beginning the task of decolonising the museum when power and authority are negotiated within this network and our difficult histories are acknowledged and communicated. Analysis of the data gathered has also reinforced the idea that taonga objectify social relationships in which they are transformed from passive ‘things’ to active actor-entities and as such are capable of enacting relationships prompting contemporary responses from human actors. The research findings show the emergence of an indigenous engagement praxis in which actor-networks are ongoing and reassembling, a process which is visible in contemporary indigenous people’s re-engagement with their museum-held heritage at distance. This praxis combines a range of developments in contemporary museum practice for community engagement which have proved effective in New Zealand and other settler- colonies and has potential application elsewhere for community members, academics and museological practitioners when forging relationships based around indigenous cultural heritage collections when distance is a factor. iv Acknowledgements Many people helped and supported me during my doctoral research. First and foremost this thesis would not have been possible without the unconditional love and encouragement of my family— my husband John Verstappen, sons Henry and Mackenzie, mother Margaret Mackenzie, and sister Nicola Horwood. I dedicate this work to them. For all those who participated in my research, thank you for providing me with access to your communities and collections, for your openness, generosity, hospitality and kindness. In particular I acknowledge Ngā Paerangi people past and present. I would especially like to thank Ken Clarke, Hera Pēina, Haimona Rzoska, Morvin Simon and Katrina Hāwira who I am indebted to for welcoming me so warmly into their world and giving of their time and knowledge so generously. I am also immensely grateful to the Ngā Paerangi team who travelled to Oxford with me—Hera, Haimona, Katrina, Wīpaki Peeti, Luana Tawaroa, Takahia Tawaroa, Teresa Peeti, Ereti Wisneski and Tuata Angus—and to the wider community for making their travel possible. I would like to extend a huge thank you to my primary supervisor Dr Conal McCarthy for his sustained intellectual engagement in and enthusiasm for my work, for challenging my thinking, and for providing many opportunities for personal growth. My secondary supervisor Dr Laura Peers I also thank for her comments on drafts and her support, and that of her colleagues at Pitt Rivers Museum, during fieldwork. I am grateful to my academic and specialist advisors, Dr Janet Davidson and Che Wilson, who each brought to my project their special expertise and experience. I wish to extend heartfelt thanks to departmental staff and fellow students for their insightful discussions and friendship over the past three years and Annie Mercer for her sage advice and administrative expertise as well. Thanks also to my past colleagues at Whanganui Regional Museum, and present friends, Sharon Dell, for starting this ball rolling, and Libby Sharpe, for encouragement and access to collections and records. Funding from Victoria University through a Doctoral Scholarship and a Doctoral Submission Award made it possible for me to study full-time. Research grants from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Pro Vice Chancellor Māori Prof. Piri Sciascia supported fieldwork. National Services Te Paerangi assisted with data collection and dissemination costs. The NZ Federation of Graduate Women supported a short detour to Sweden to participate in a critical curatorship workshop for PhD students at the World Cultures Museum, Gothenburg. Thank you. v vi