Hybridity and the Symbolization of Postcolonial Identity in New Zealand Maori Literature

Abstract

"I shall explore how Maori writers have constructed various configurations of cultural hybridity to symbolize what it means to be Maori in this evolving postcolonial world, and how hybrid configurations have changed over time in response to shifts that have occurred in New Zealand race relations since the 1970s, and in the way that particular authors have positioned themselves with respect to them. In the course of this exploration, I shall show how Maori authors use intentional hybridity to construct fictions that can serve as an “evocative object” - that is, a mental representation capable of eliciting awareness of prior or current states of being, or else desired potential future states, with the aim of making the external environment symmetrical to human need - at the level of the imagination - through the creation of a symbolic equivalent."