Narrative in Robyn Kahukiwa’s 'Matatuhi': Culture and Narrative

Abstract

The question of a dominating Western metanarrative in postcolonial societies has particular significance when people write for children in a bi-cultural situation. In a recent study the Maori scholar Jon Battista shows that fictional texts written in English by Maori in a Maori context are structured to project Maori cultural understandings and argues that these cultural beliefs shape the narrative of individual texts (Battista, 2004). I apply her thesis to 'Matatuhi', a picture book by Robyn Kahukiwa, in order to discuss the narrative operation and significance of Maori cultural beliefs and practices identified by Battista.