Part II, Chapter III: Rebuilding the Ancestor: Constructing Self and Community in the Maori Renaissance

In chapter III, “Rebuilding the Ancestor,” Allen uses the blood/land/memory complex as a tripartite structure to help recreate contemporary Maori identity.  The blood aspect of the complex symbolizes the affectionate bond between grandparent and grandchild in Maori culture.  This bond is where the oral transmission of cultural/genealogical tradition takes places from one generation to the next.  The story of Whina Cooper, on page 132, describes how this process works as, “an elder walks her land with her grandchild, pointing out its features, speaking its names, reciting its history, and thereby placing the newest generation within the local community’s significant landscape and within the larger Maori universe.”  Here’s my issue with this argument: it assumes that the grandparent is (1) fairly knowledgeable in the culture; and (2) that the grandparent’s knowledge of the culture is greater than the grandchild’s.  From my experience, I know that my full-blooded grandmother knew nothing of the Hawaiian culture.  Not only that, but the (full-blooded) elders who are still alive in the family look to me for cultural and historical clarification.  Thus I’m confused if the Grandparent-grandchild bond should be (in my case) the Grandchild-grandparent bond, and if so, does that change anything?

                  

 The ‘double rebuilding’ concept of ancestor and personal identity was thought-provoking (on page 154).  However, I’m confused about the notion of rebuilding the whare tipuna on one’s home marae in order to reclaim personal Maoritanga.  I understand the metaphoric need of being physically near or on ancestral lands for the sake of forging indigenous identity.  But what does that say about the indigenous Maori people who are not living in Aotearoa?  Does that mean that they simply cannot participate in rebuilding their Maori identity? Or, if they can, does it mean they must rebuild differently? This got me thinking about the ‘mainland Hawaiian’ and whether it makes sense that their (different) physical location in space would (or should) restrict them from the same rebuilding process of a subjective Hawaiian identity.  Any comments?