Home : Book details : Book description

Description of  Outcasts of the Gods?: The Struggle Over Slavery in Maori New Zealand

Us Maoris used to practice slavery just like them poor Negroes had to endure in America . . . says Beth Heke in Once Were Warriors. Oh those evil colonials who destroyed Maori culture by ending slavery and cannibalism while increasing the life expectancy, wrote one sarcastic blogger. So was Maori slavery just like the experience of Africans in the Americas and were British missionaries or colonial administrators responsible for ending the practice? What was the nature of freedom and unfreedom in Maori society and how did that intersect with the perceptions of British colonists and the anti-slavery movement? A meticulously researched book, Read more