Recommended text SOWK 304 semester 1, 2024
Recommended text SOWK 612 semester 1, 2024
Te Awa Atua is a ground-breaking study of menstruation in pre-colonial Maori society. Many early ethnographic accounts of menstrual rites were distorted beyond recognition by the colonial lens of their authors, yet their misinterpretations continue to be accepted as authoritative. This book is a challenge to that authority. By examining stories about menstruation located in Maori cosmologies, tribal histories, oral literatures, ceremonies and rites, Ngahuia Murphy argues that menstruation was seen as a medium of whakapapa (genealogy) that connected Maori women to their pantheon of atua (deities). Ancient rites, recorded in tribal songs and chants, reveal that menstrual blood was used for psychic and spiritual protection. These examples unveil striking indigenous constructs of womanhood that radically challenge notions of female inferiority and menstrual pollution.
ISBN: 9780473259662
Publication date: 31/12/2013
Price: $31.50
RRP: $35.00
Format: Paperback
Available stock: 4
Publishing status: Active
Author: Murphy, Ngahuia
Imprint: Te Puna Manawa
