Stanley-Ryan on Ka mua, ka Muri: He Whakaputanga, Concealed Indigenous Histories, and the Making of International Law @ashstanleyryan

Ash Stanley-Ryan, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID); Victoria University of Wellington; Te Herenga Waka - Faculty of Law, is publishing Ka mua, ka Muri: He Whakaputanga, Concealed Indigenous Histories, and the Making of International Law in Law & History. Here is the abstract.

This article examines how our understanding of international law is harmed by the systematic erasure of indigenous experiences and histories. He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni is used as a case study. The article first considers several methodological considerations for legal historians. A theoretical approach is constructed which centres Māori voices and Te Reo Māori, and accepts that history is both political and contingent. In the next section, two parallel histories are detailed: pākehā stories of he whakaputanga as act to secure Imperial interests; and Māori recollections of he whakaputanga as an affirmation of independence, in response to an ever-more-intrusive world. The two histories are then considered through the lenses of jurisdictional encounter and international legal reproduction. These lenses show how history and law have undertaken a demarcating exercise, concealing Māori histories and removing he whakaputanga from legal relevance. This process has harmed international law, because it legitimises imperialism and hides law’s contingent nature. The article closes by recalling Moana Jackson’s call for ‘honesty about the misremembered stories and the foresight to see where different stories might lead’. NB: typos, including the use of the term "te re rangatira" rather than "te rangatiratanga", are not corrected in this preprint.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.