Notes

Other Title: Story of Elsdon Best and Tutakangahau Table of contents: 1. 'White noise' : the history of ideas and the Urewera -- 2. The end of tradition and the fleets of print -- 3. Te ao hurihuri : the world of change for Tuhoe -- 4. White tohunga : Best on the frontier, 1856-1874 -- 5. Te riri me te ture : war and the law, 1864-1893 -- 6. Best matures : from Parihaka to the Polynesian Society, 1874-1892 -- 7. 'Kia ta te kawanatanga te mutunga - the government will have its way in the end' -- 8. Into the mist : in search of the 'mythopoetic Maori' -- 9. 'A territory for the Maori people and the indigenous birds' : Tuhoe and the Rohe Potae, 1896-1909 -- 10. 'Wiped off the slate of life' : the last of the 'Mohios' -- 11. The Maori according to Best : 'ka to he ra, ka ura he ra!' -- 12. 'Kia marama - let there be light!' : the half-life of Te Peehi in our midst Summary: In 1895 a meeting took place in the Urewera ranges - Tuhoe country. Elsdon Best, a self-taught anthropologist was sought out by a leading Tuhoe chief, Tutakangahau of Maungapohatu. The stories he gave to Best are with us today. How much did the old man tell Best? Was it freely given? Can Best's writings - central to Pakeha understanding of Maori culture - be relied upon