Identity and Discourse: Te Pipiwharauroa and the South African War, 1899–1902

Abstract

The Māori-language newspaper, Te Pipiwharauroa, vigorously supported the British side during the South African War (1899–1902). With a British policy that the conflict was to be a ‘white man's war’, Māori were officially omitted from serving as soldiers in the New Zealand contingents to South Africa. For Māori who sought to engage with the mainstream Pākehā (European) society in a meaningful way, the exclusion demonstrated that full citizenship had not yet been attained, but supporting the war allowed some degree of participation and acknowledgement. However, a number of other elements also contributed to the paper's pro-war stance. Two of the leading commentators were Rēweti Kōhere, who edited the paper on behalf of the Anglican Church, and Āpirana Ngata, the leader of an activist group that sought to reform and advance Māori society. This essay examines Te Pipiwharauroa's reporting of the war, and explores how their schooling, tribal loyalties to church and state, notions of race, and their reformist agenda all influenced their interpretation of the war, an imperial event of international interest, to a local Māori audience.