Edited by Aroha Harris & Melissa Matutina Williams. Published by Bridget Williams Books, 2024.

During the 2023 Auckland floods, the long-ago culverted Waihorotiu Stream “burst up from below manhole covers on Queen Street”, writes Aroha Harris. Likewise, stories from Māori history may have been controlled and hidden, but in this readable and scholarly book they flow free.

This book tells many stories: the death of te reo in Ōtākau, whānau stories on urban migration; the welcoming of important visitors from Hawaii and India; the beautiful partnership story of Rangiātea; how shame and colonisation create memory loss; the struggle to maintain mana even as the mana whenua is stolen; the difficulties and pleasures of historical research; deeper examinations of “Māori privilege”;  power inequality in Treaty negotiations; and the importance of the new History curriculum.

In collecting these different perspectives, a unifying re-visioning of Māori history is presented — one with powerful stories of wisdom and peace.

Rachel Buchanan recalls that: “From the moment of invasion, Taranaki people had started to tell stories that turned events around … [and sang that] the invading force ‘lost’ because the non-violence of the people at Parihaka prevented the soldiers from firing even a single shot.”  And Danny Keenan affirms iwi stories not in the context of colonisation, but for their own wisdom. These are the stories we need for reshaping our globally troubled present. And these are the stories we need to resource our teaching of the history of Aotearoa. I recommend Maranga! Maranga! Maranga! not only to teachers but to all who want to understand New Zealand and its people better.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 308 October 2025: 31