One component to my “Re-Thinking The Endless Summer” is to acquire some cultural understanding and historical perspective of the people and landscapes that embody the foreign places that individuals travel to in search of those perfect empty waves. We are all so fortunate to live in a world full of diverse creation stories, traditional social structures, and relationships with our respective landscapes that have helped to form such dynamic and complex knowledge systems. However, throughout the course of our known history, a lack of cultural understanding and respect for these often very different ways of understanding our earthly existence has been the precursor to madness and draconian usurpation of one group of people over another. On much smaller scales, and ones that are more relevant to my intents and purposes, the culturally ignorant traveler can easily and innocently insult their host communities through their behaviors and actions. Since such a disproportionate number of surf travelers come from Westernized countries, and travel to destinations in the non-Western world, the importance of cultural reciprocity and sensitivity to different value systems becomes essential in order to maintain healthy and positive relationships with our hosts, for both our own personal, and collective continued migrations to the wave rich environments far from our homelands.
Although New Zealand was colonized by the British starting in the 18th century, and the dominant society is ruled by Westernized belief systems, the original inhabitants, recognized as the Maori people, are still very much an intricate and vital part of the New Zealand landscape.
The Maori are the descendants of Polynesian peoples from Samoa and Tonga. These ancestors made prolific voyages in their drua’s and pahi’s throughout the Great Ocean of Kiwa around AD 200, and first settled in Aotearoa, or New Zealand, around AD 800. From my reading of Ranginui Walker’s “Struggle Without End”[1], I’ve begun to understand that the story of the Maori is very complex and most importantly, demanded a Maori perspective in the telling of these complex histories, traditions and encounters with Pakeha’s (white folks/Europeans).
The Maori creation myth that Walker details is one that explains how light, knowledge, good and evil, and earthly forms, among a host of other things, came into being. There are the aeonical time periods of Te Kore and Te Po where the mythical couple Ranginui and Papatuanuku gave birth to several sons which fought for an end of the universal darkness caused by their parents everlasting embrace. The gods are both grandiose mythical immortals and nature personified. From the creation myths comes a fundamental understanding of humans belonging to the land, a very holistic and reciprocal reverence for the relationship between human and non-human life which has been a fundamental foundation for traditional Maori knowledge systems.
Patricia Grace’s book, Potiki[2], is a novel that both celebrates what Walker describes as “the most important cultural hero in Maori mythology,” who was the demi-god Maui (walker 15), and deals with very important contemporary issues of land development, identity and culture clash. These contemporary issues are also ones that Maori peoples, who were a number of distinct and sovereign tribes that settled on the islands from different Polynesian locations, have been dealing with since the arrival of Europeans in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Until contact with Europeans, the original inhabitants of New Zealand were oral traditionalists without a written language. The art of storytelling as a way to keep the history and knowledge systems of a society alive and moving forward didn’t die out as the Maori people began co-existing with Pakeha’s. Walker points out that the concept of literacy was very welcomed in Maori society, stating that, “people demonstrated keen interest in literacy…since it was easily seen as an extension of their own symbolling system in the art of carving.” (walker 85) Potiki is an excellent example of acculturation and tradition coming together to tell a new story. Throughout the book it is mentions by the narrators that “the stories are changing,” as the Pakeha developers and Maori community interact and clash with one another, due in large part to very conflicted value systems and a lack of cultural reciprocity. For the developer in Potiki, the Maori land at the ocean’s edge was, “a million dollar view to be capitalized on.”(grace 89) The Dollarman, as he is referred to in Potiki, see’s undeveloped land as a symbol of undeveloped potential and a lack of progress. However, the Maori protagonists in Potiki are deeply entrenched in a cultural renaissance that is inspired by the traditions and stories of the past, returning to the land and providing for themselves, while living very much in the present, using their stories that are adaptable and fluid to make sense of the world in which they live.
It is the stories from the past that haven’t been forgotten, the struggle for land and justice stories of Te Ope that inspire and contribute to the resiliency of the Maori community in Grace’s Potiki. These stories give the community a sense of urgency to stand up for themselves in a very diverse ways. The children want to stay and work in the community, and they want to go off to college and learn new knowledge systems to augment their own for positive means and to better understand the “other”. For me, even rudimentary understanding of these places that I’m interested in visiting can enhance my foreign experiences. In the Editor’s Note it is mentioned, “Her stories are credible at the literal level and yet, because of the way she uses imagery and symbolism, evoke other kinds of associations that are not always readily apparent. This layering of meaning allows us to appreciate her art at our own level, even as we suspect that there is much that we as non Maori can never fully comprehend. (grace 5)” I don’t need to chisel my way into the deepest, darkest treasure coves of Maori wisdom because I understand what the editor has said above. There are so many outlets readily accessible to the curious and knowledge driven to reach for to gain insight of historical knowledge and contemporary issues that can allow a more responsible, empathetic and productive cultural exchange. The issues and traditions that we don’t understand, or can “never fully comprehend,” are the dialogue drivers, the conversation starters. This way, people are welcomed back. This way we learn and grow and the ride is sweeter and fruitful. But that is just my opinion. That is just what I know…
[1] Walker is a prolific Maori scholar from the Whakatohea tribe at Opotiki. “Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou: Struggle Without End” is his retelling of the history of Aotearoa, from a Maori perspective.
[2] Patricia Grace is a Maori novelist.
new surf dialogue 
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