The Female Maori Body - Is it losing Mana? (August 2004)
Group or Institution
University of Waikato
Author(s)
Wikitoria August
Abstract
This thesis is an exploration of bodily rituals, practices and cultural spaces of the female Maori body. Using a combination of post-structural, post-colonial and Kaupapa Maori theoretical perspectives I question the ways in which the Maori female body has been inscribed with colonialism. Qualitative methods are used to understand participants’ thoughts and bodily practices that pertain to being Maori and female. Throughout this research I attempt to disrupt and challenge common western binaries surrounding the body and I offer a cultural perspective in order to prompt new ways of thinking about the Maori female body. One preliminary finding highlights the embodied relationship between Maori women and urupa/cemetery spaces. When menstruating, women are restricted from urupa and this may be understood as an expression of women’s subordination. Participants, however, also viewed this tikanga positively and described it as making them feel special.
The views expressed in this thesis are not the views of all Maori. Practices, tikanga and knowledges vary between different iwi, hapu and rohe.