Paper short abstract:

Okains Bay, a small settlement near Christhurch, hosts an annual commemoration of the Treaty of Waitangi in an atmosphere of unity and co-operation. However, this is achieved by overcoming or submerging a variety of historical and contemporary challenges which revolve around questions of land and its use, an important collection of Maori artefacts, and the ritual of commemoration itself. The paper explores the negotiations and compromises that surround these three areas of contestation.

Paper long abstract:

While conflict and controversy characterise New Zealand's annual commemoration of the Treaty of Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, an aura of calm, unity and co-operation appear to be features of a local celebration of the Treaty held at Okains Bay near Christchurch every year since 1976. On closer examination, however, this local event is marked by a variety of historical and contemporary challenges which revolve around questions of ownership and appropriation. These have to do with a number of things. There is the land on which the Treaty commemoration is held, in and around Okains Bay itself, linked to questions about who controls and has a right to utilise that land, and in what ways. Secondly, there is a significant collection of Maori artefacts housed in the local museum which hosts the commemoration, with questions about who has the right to these. Thirdly, there is the commemoration itself, and the bi-cultural celebration of identity that it entails. The paper explores the negotiations and manoeuvres that surround these three areas of contestation, and shows how they have been at times, and at least partly, resolved.