Telling Stories

Indigenous histories not only challenge the content of conventional national and colonial histories inasmuch as they tell a different story, but they also challenge the nature of history itself.

Recent decades have seen a tremendous upsurge of interest among the indigenous peoples of Australia and New Zealand in their history. Life stories, land claims, genealogy, song, dance and painting have all made new contributions to the recovery and representation of the past.

Telling Stories looks at the place of life stories and of memory in history: who tells life stories, the purpose for which they are told; the role of story and history in the politics of land claims; and the way language impacts on research and writing.

Ann Parsonson writes about 'stories for land' in the oral narratives of the Maori Land Court; Deborah Rose Bird retells the 'saga of Captain Cook'; Andrew Erueti and Alan Ward examine Maori land law in the context of the Treaty claims process; Jeremy Beckett looks at the autobiographical oral history of Myles Lalor; and Bain Attwood discusses the stolen generations narrative.

With Judith Binney, Fiona Magowan, W.H. Oliver, Basil Sansom and Penny van Toorn, these contributors explore the questions arising when different kinds of history meet: different kinds of evidence, from different cultures, sometimes telling the same story from conflicting perspectives. Telling Stories is a timely book that freely explores the multiple forms of indigenous history in New Zealand and Australia.