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Documentary series. James Fox explores how New Zealand's indigenous Maori people resisted colonisation and marginalisation and maintained their distinctive culture.

Concluding the series on the clash between the West and Pacific peoples and cultures, James Fox explores how New Zealand's indigenous Maori people resisted colonisation and marginalisation and maintained their distinctive culture, so much so that it is now an integral part of modern New Zealand.

He encounters some of the greatest works of Maori carving, from the exquisitely painted paddles given to Captain Cook, to works by one of the great masters of Maori art, Tene Waitere, and shows how, from the beginning of their encounters with Europeans, the Maori adapted outside influences, whether it was modern firearms or the new religion of Christianity and produced fascinating hybrid work that ranges from elaborately carved rifle butts to a Madonna and child statue adorned with the Ta Moko, the sacred Maori facial tattoo.

Today, James Fox finds Maori culture in the midst of a full-scale Renaissance, embraced not only by the Maori themselves but all New Zealanders.

59 minutes

Last on

Wed 6 Sep 2023 02:30

Music Played

  • Gemini

    Freedom

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter James Fox
Executive Producer Russell Barnes
Assistant Producer Alex Brisland
Editor Tom Thistlethwaite
Production Manager Clare Burns
Composer Jack C Arnold
Production Company ClearStory Ltd
Director of photography Samuel Jackson
Director Ben Harding

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