A history of New Zealand anthropology during the nineteenth century

Abstract

Summary: "The ignorance which, generally speaking, prevails regarding the true character of the aboriginal population is not wonderful, simply because we know that there is no other branch of knowledge of which men are so thoroughly ignorant as the study of man himself. the constitution of man, mental as well as bodily, forms as yet no part of the ordinary course of education; and men are sent forth into the world to meet, deal, and to treat with one another, in total ignorance of each other's character. it is not, under such circumstances, to be wonderer at, that, even in civilized life, disputes, quarrels, and troubles should exist; how much less so when the two extremes, the savage and the civilized, are brought into contact with one another."(1)

With these words Dr. Martin, in 1845, outlined the need for special training for those who had to deal with native races, whether as missionaries, administrators, or merely as settlers amongst them. All those who came into contact with the Māoris had, of necessity, to study their ways to a certain extent, and some naturally, were more proficient in this than were their fellows. Wherever there was one who, through his understanding of the native character and the strength of his influence, was able to guide both Māori and Pakeha in their relations with one another, there the two peoples lived in peace. Dissension arose through the ignorance of either party of laws of the other, or because those laws were deliberately flouted. Training in the study of man, as suggested by Martin, would have dispelled this ignorance and inculcated a spirit of tolerance which could have eased much of the friction that ensued. Where it was essential to compromise on conflicting points, or where the weaker of the two parties was forced to conform to the ways of the other, then again this training would have indicated the best procedure to be adopted. But no system of schooling at that time included a study of anything like anthropology, which was then an unthought-of science, and the only hope of harmonious race relations lay in the possibility that certain of those in responsible positions amongst both Europeans and Māoris would have enough wit to discern the right course--Introduction.