Tarara : Croats and Maori in New Zealand : memory, belonging, identity /
Senka Božić-Vrbanč̌̌ić.
- 268 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits, facsimiles ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-257) and index.
Beginnings -- The Identity Politics of Colonial New Zealand -- 'Teach the body' - Māori in Colonial New Zealand -- 'Teach the body' - Croats in Colonial New Zealand -- Spaces, Memories, Identities -- Narratives of the gumfields as a home -- Māori and Tarara on the gumfields -- 'After all, I am partly Māori, partly Dalmatian, but first of all I am a New Zealander' -- Visiting the past: Kauri gum stories -- Celebrating forgetting: Biculturalism in New Zealand. Pt. 1. Ch. 1. Ch. 2. Pt. 2. Ch. 3. Ch. 4. Ch. 5. Ch. 6. Ch. 7.
At the turn of the twentieth century, Croatians were migrating from Dalmatia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Māori, having become part of the British Empire, were losing much of their land. All were looking for work. They came together on the gumfields of the farnorth, digging up kauri gum resin for export." "Many of the Croatians settled and married - some to mail-order brides from home, others to local Māori women - and a unique community was born. Drawing on a range of sources, from official historical narratives on the kauri gum industry, to oral histories, novels, letters, newspaper articles, marriage certificates, and much more, Senka Boz̆ić-Vrbanc̆ić examines Māori-Croatian relationships on the gumfields and beyond. This is a significant contribution to ideas about migration and displacement and an important discussion of the impact of different social models - colonialism, assimilation, biculturalism, and multiculturalism - on Māori and Croatian identity and memory. The book is illustrated with historical photographs.