Exhibiting Maori

Conal McCarthy is Director of the Museum & Heritage Studies programme at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

• Introduction: The cultures of display1. 'Colonialism's culture,' 1865-19132. 'Our nation's story,' 1914-423. 'Art apart,' 1949-794. 'Emblems of identity,' 1980-19905. 'Mana taonga', 1991-2001Conclusion: The subaltern speaksGlossary

'A landmark history of how indigenous art and culture was exhibited at world's fairs and in museums. McCarthy is in an ideal position to trace the ways in which Maori objects have figured in New Zealand's self-fashioning from 1865 to the present. What sets this work apart is the unique perspective that emerges from historical sources in the Maori language.'Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, author of Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage'...[Exhibiting Maori] is written in a direct and engaging style...[W]hat it will do, or should do, is encourage a reassessment of colonial relations in New Zealand--a mere modest, but non-the-less very considerable achievement.' Jeffery Sissons'Exhibiting Maori takes us on a thoughtful and meticulously documented journey that charts the changing role of Maori in the exhibition of their culture from one of dispossession and resistance, through active participation to eventual possession.' Tristram Besterman