Tattooed History

The Story of Mokomokai

Robert Kirkwood Paterson

$75

Paperback

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English

Five Continents
01 October 2021

Art of indigenous peoples; Body art & tattooing; History

Tattooed History: The Story of Mokomokai is the first book to comprehensively explore the history of these remarkable Maori ancestors. The elaborate facial markings (ta moko) of the Maori are well-known, but less so is the unique process of preserving the tattooed heads of both enemies and loved ones. This work presents many sources, documents and illustrations for the first time to explore its subject in a new and original way.

Mokomokai were first encountered by Europeans during the exploration of New Zealand by James Cook. When missionaries, traders and other visitors learnt more about mokomokai they published the first descriptions of how they were preserved and the customs surrounding them. This book examines these early nineteenth century writings and describes how mokomokai were first exhibited to curious foreign onlookers around the same time. The acquisition of mokomokai by outsiders, often in exchange for weapons, is discussed along with how these heads formed part of the earliest collections of museums and other institutions.

Once European settlement expanded, the practice of preserving heads ended and there were very few left in New Zealand. While New Zealand established its own first museums they often had to acquire mokomokai from outside the country. This work describes the auction and sale of mokomokai in Britain for a period of over 150 years. It discusses the collecting of mokomokai by such renowned British collectors as Horatio Gordon Robley and W.O. Oldman, who were sometimes the source of mokomokai for New Zealand institutions.

The public sale of mokomokai at auction in Britain ended when Maori mounted legal challenges to such sales. These legal strategies are discussed along with how they were replaced by comprehensive repatriation strategies that received government support and are ongoing.

Tattooed History presents the 250 year-long story of mokomokai in a new and exciting way, through rich historical and illustrative documentation. This book places these unique remains in the overall context of New Zealand history, the characters who formed part of it, and the emergence of an international market for ethnography after the Second World War.

AUTHOR: Robert K. Paterson is a professor emeritus of law at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada. He obtained his law degree in New Zealand and then completed a JSM at Stanford Law School in California.

SELLING POINTS: .

Tattooed History: The Story of Mokomokai presents in a new way, and in a new light, the ancient art of tattooing among the Maori people

60 colour illustrations

By: Robert Kirkwood Paterson
Imprint: Five Continents
Country of Publication: Italy
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 190mm,
Weight: 682g
ISBN: 9788874399659
ISBN 10: 8874399650
Pages: 164
Publication Date: 01 October 2021
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgements Introduction The First Written Accounts A Question of Language: from Mokomokai and Mokamokai to Toi Moko Colonial Commodities: Trafficking in Mokomokai, from 1770 to 1840 Exhibiting Mokomokai for Profit in Early Nineteenth-Century Britain Mokomokai at British Auctions: 1820 to 1988 Mokomokai in New Zealand from 1840 to 1975 Horatio Gordon Robley: the “Soldier With A Pencil” Mokomokai and the Last Major British Collectors Carved “Memorial” or “Trespass” Heads: Mata Rahui Mokomokai and the Law of Human Remains The Repatriation of Toi Moko to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Documentary Appendices Maori Glossary Selected Bibliography

Robert K. Paterson is a professor emeritus of law at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada. He obtained his law degree in New Zealand and then completed a JSM at Stanford Law School in California.