Outcasts of the Gods?

The Struggle Over Slavery in Maori New Zealand

Hazel Petrie

• Publisher: Auckland University Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781775587866
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Australian & Oceanian History
• Index: History

‘Us Maoris used to practice slavery just like them poor Negroes had to endure in America...' says Beth Heke in Once Were Warriors. ‘Oh those evil colonials who destroyed Maori culture by ending slavery and cannibalism while increasing the life expectancy, ' wrote one sarcastic blogger. So was Maori slavery ‘just like' the experience of Africans in the Americas and were British missionaries or colonial administrators responsible for ending the practice? What was the nature of freedom and unfreedom in Maori society and how did that intersect with the perceptions of British colonists and the anti-slavery movement? A meticulously researched book, Outcasts of the Gods? looks closely at a huge variety of evidence to answer these questions, analyzing bondage and freedom in traditional Maori society; the role of economics and mana in shaping captivity; and how the arrival of colonists and new trade opportunities transformed Maori society and the place of captives within it.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: By black and red together, the work is done
• Chapter 2: Tapu and mana: losing and regaining
• Chapter 3: The roles, status, and rights of Māori war captives
• Chapter 4: The value of captives and the impact of muskets
• Chapter 5: Dark Helens and aboriginal Messelinas
• Chapter 6: Taking British liberty and freedom to Māori
• Chapter 7: Plucking brands from the burning
• Chapter 8: Breaking the spiritual bonds
• Chapter 9: ‘Offensive to the English in the next degree to man eating’?
• Chapter 10: Enslaved by the British?
• Chapter 11: The language of slavery
• Appendix
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Plates
• Copyright