Songs of War and Dissent: Maori Anti-War Activism and its cultural legacy

Abstract

This chapter is an analysis of New Zealand female leader, Te Puea Herangi, whose anti-war activism shows how the First World War shaped local tensions and cultural exchanges in regions far removed from the main theatres of war. In the case of New Zealand, it brought Maori into increased contact with Pakeha (non-Maori, white New Zealanders) and with the imperial state. This case study foregrounds communities’ use of music to promote but also to resist the war. In the case of New Zealand Maori, forms and genres of music functioned as a mode of political intervention. And this form was utilised by women as much as – and sometimes more than – men. One of the unanticipated consequences was that during and after the war, Maori cultural forms were circulated much more widely within and beyond Maori communities. The reach of the war brought Maori music to the battlefields of Europe even as music became a battleground for pro- and anti-war advocates in New Zealand. Such cases remind us that music offers a rich terrain for historical analysis and increases our understanding of war as a culturally pervasive phenomenon, a living legacy of the cultural encounters engendered by the war.