This course highlights the intersections, relationships and connections between a wide and diverse range of Māori and Pacific art forms, including performance, tapa cloth, body adornment and contemporary gallery based art practices, and cultural concepts like Mana Wahine, Talanoa, Ta, Va, and Whakapapa. It firmly positions Māori and Pacific artists, key exhibitions and writers within an intersectional art historical framework, indigenous knowledge systems and the contemporary, global world.
Classes revolve around readings which are discussed and related to a range of art forms and practices. You are expected to have read and engaged with the relevant resources in preparation for class discussion each week.
Themes explored include indigenous and decolonial practices, Mana Wāhine and Pacific feminism, migration and diaspora, and stereotypes and representation. Themes and issues are discussed alongside relevant Māori and Pacific writers and theorists, including Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, Haunani Kay Trask, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Albert Wendt and Epeli Hau’ofa.