ARTHIST 238

Maori Art History: Mana Taonga


Please note: this is archived course information from 2019 for ARTHIST 238.

Description

Welcome to our Mana Taonga course, which focuses on Māori visual art from our arrival from the Pacific c.800 to the present day. It examines how artists critically negotiated current notions of identity in their work, and respond to new presences and influences in our community, including Christianity, colonisalism, new materials and ideas.

Forms including moko, carving, weaving, architecture, film, contemporary art are explored through key ideas such as gender politics, patronage and repatriation. Artists examined include Raharuhi Rukupo, Te Kooti, Pine Taiapa, Lisa Reihana and Ralph Hotere. We consider the ongoing effects of colonisation and globalisation in relation to the collection and display of our art.

A core part of the course is to escape from the classroom into other environments to experience our taonga: Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland War Memorial Museum and of course the wonderful Tāne Nui a Rangi which is our university's meeting house on Wynyard Street.

The course is not just about the taonga and artists themselves, but also looks into ways in which we can think about them and how they have been written about through time, both orally and in text.

This course will build on skills you have learnt at Stage I and so by the end of the course you will be more culturally aware of the history and significance of Māori art - our NZ rep at the Venice Biennale this year is none other that Lisa Reihana - point made!

Mana Taonga can supplement a suite of Māori- and indigenous-focused papers in the Faculty of Arts, including in History and Māori Studies. 

Availability 2019

Semester 2

Lecturer(s)

Coordinator(s) Associate Professor Ngarino Ellis

Recommended Reading

Borell, Nigel. Te Ātinga: 25 Years of Contemporary Māori Art.

Neich, Roger. Carved Histories.

Mead, Hirini Moko. Te Toi Whakairo.

Pendergrast, Mick. Te Aho Tapu.

Tapsell, Paul. Pukaki.

Te Awekotuku, Ngahuia. Mau Moko.

Assessment

Coursework and exam

Points

ARTHIST 238: 15 points

Prerequisites

15 points at Stage I in Art History and 30 points passed, or 45 points in BGlobalSt courses

Restrictions

ARTHIST 102, 338