The Meeting Place: Maori and Pakeha Encounters, 1642-1840, by Vincent O’Malley

Abstract

The Meeting Place: Maori and Pakeha Encounters, 1642-1840, by Vincent O'Malley. Auckland, New Zealand, Auckland University Press, 2012. viii, 284pp. $45.00 US (paper). This is an engaging, clearly written monograph that contributes to histories of colonial encounter. New Zealand is focus; however, themes and interpretations will be familiar and useful to all historians interested in what happens when very different groups of people suddenly come into contact. For his theoretical framework, O'Malley draws upon international scholarship on colonial encounters, in particular ideas of Greg Dening, Nicholas Thomas, and Richard White. Moving beyond theories of fatal impact, focus is on interaction between Maori and Pakeha (white people). O'Malley traces and interprets complex and ever-shifting power relations between his two groups. Central to his approach are concepts of power/knowledge and orientalism. For example, he argues that Maori and Pakeha were always defined in relation to other. O'Malley has benefit of strong body of work by New Zealand historians to draw from, and book stands upon work of large number of scholars. Ann Parsonson, Judith Binney, Anne Salmond, Angela Ballara and James Belich are singled out as those who have previously demonstrated interactive complexities of colonial encounter. Canadian scholarship does not feature in book, but there are clearly many parallels, as well as differences--his approach has much in common with recent Canadian work on Aboriginal and settler interaction in Canadian contact zone. Traditional historical markers are used to define time period under examination. The book starts with Dutch Abel Tasman's 1642 discovery of New Zealand and ends with 6 February 1840 signing of Treaty of Waitangi between Maori and British Crown. The central thesis is that in-between these significant dates, the meeting place was a liminal and hybrid world (p. 226). O'Malley demonstrates and argues that came into existence, and then ended when Pakeha became powerful enough to dictate terms and cultural hegemony ensued. While far North of New Zealand necessarily provides backdrop for most of book's content, there is excellent attention to regional differences in middle section of book. The book charts period of interaction and exchange where neither party was able to dictate rules of engagement. Instead, Maori and Pakeha developed new customs and practices to manage their political, religious, economic, and sexual relationships. It was not case of simple acculturation or assimilation of Maori by Pakeha at that time. The thesis is that the meeting of Maori and Pakeha was dynamic, fluid and evolving process of mutual discovery, reaction, adjustment and reflection (p. 10). O'Malley begins by documenting mutual ignorance in 1642 when Tasman did not even reach shore due to cultural breakdown and resulting bloody violence. What follows is middle ground that became clearer after arrival of missionaries in 1814, resulting in Pakeha hegemony and mono-culturalism, which was enabled by Treaty of Waitangi (1840), and gained strength from 1860s. The sources are traditional European written accounts. …