Abstract
This paper examines the previous theoretical interfaces of Indigenous oral tradition and archaeology in Oceania, specifically in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Historical processes of writing down kōrero, or oral histories, by amateur historians and ethnologists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, culminated in the romanticised traditions of the early Polynesian society and influenced contemporary archaeological scholarship. In response to criticisms, archaeologists attempted to validate kōrero using Western research methodologies. However, attempts often fell short and processual archaeologists of the mid‐late‐20th century considered oral tradition and archaeology as incapable of cross‐validation. Parallel ethnological scholarship focused on the symbolism in oral histories as indicators of their function in contemporary society or as legitimate forms of recounting actual historical events after critical evaluation. More recent archaeologists use kōrero about the last few centuries like any other historical source. Māori scholars have taken inspiration from previous theoretical arcs to position kōrero in a postmodern space of relative truths or to critically analyse its historical and functional values. The review concludes with how the interface of oral history and archaeology might follow Kaupapa Māori research methodologies and current materialist critiques of dominant settlement pattern theory.
Ko tā tēnei tuhinga he tirotiro i ngā whakaaro o mua ki nga hononga o waenganui o ngā kōrero taketake tuku iho me te mātai whaipara i te Moananui a Kiwa, inarā i Aotearoa nei nā anō hoki. Mai i te mutunga o te rautau tekau mā iwa ki te rautau rua tekau, i te tuhia noa ihongia ngā kōrero tuku iho e ngā kaimātai ringarapa. Nā te Polynesian Society o taua wā i whaimana ai tā ngā kaimātai whaipara mahi tae noa ki tēnei wā. Hei whakautu i ngā whakapae ko tā ngā kaimātai whaipara he whai i ngā tikanga ā‐rangahau o te Ao Pākehā. Kāore kau i āta tau mai i te putanga o ngā mātauranga huratanga; heoti noa te pōhēhē a ētahi kairangahau ka kōre e taea te hono o te kōrero tuku iho ki te mātai whaipara. Ko taua haere ngātahi he hāngai ki ngā tohu o roto mai o ngā kōrero i tuku iho hei tūtohi o ngā pānga ki tēnei wā, hei takahanga tūturu ki ngā rā o mua nō muri noa mai o te āta arotake. Ko tā ngā mātai whaipara o nāianei he whakamahi i aua kōrero mō ngā rautau kua pahure tata nei hei mātāpuna rite tonu ki ētahi atu puna hitoria tūturu. Ko tā ngā kairangahau Māori he whai ihiihi mai i te whaimana o te kōrero ki roto o ngā ariā ā moroki nei mō te pono, mai i te āta wetewete rānei i ngā ūara ā‐hitoria, ā‐whakamahinga hoki. Ko te whakakapinga o te tirohanga nei he tohe mō te ahu whakamua o te hononga o te kōrero i tuku iho me te mātai whaipara mā raro o te rangahau Kaupapa Māori me ngā pānga ki ngā ariā o ngā ranga nōhanga o nāianei.