Te Kauae Maro o Muri-ranga-whenua (The Jawbone of Muri-ranga-whenua)

Abstract

This article will illustrate how various tribal traditions are represented, and more importantly misrepresented, in the film. Furthermore, this article concentrates on the education and social status of young M?ori women, demonstrating how the patriarchy/feminism division operates very differently in the Ng?ti Porou tribe than it does either in the movie or in Eurocentric feminisms. A description of why a M?ori/P?keh? (a non-M?ori person of European ancestry) film production aiming at a global market intervenes on tribal cultural reproductions so as to transfigure the role of elders and girls, provides an account of various sites for tribal reproduction (from the local meting place to the globally popular movie) and their relative power.