Narrative Features and Cultural Motifs in a Cautionary Tradition from Mangaia (Cook Islands).

Authors

  • Michael Reilly University of Otago

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15286/jps.125.4.383-410

Keywords:

Kōtuku, Pataariri, oral traditions, narrative features, protection of vulnerable people, Mangaian Ê»are korero, Cook Islands

Abstract

A cautionary narrative taken from a 20th-century collection of Cook Islands oral traditions recounts the mistreatment of a daughter, Pataariri, by her chiefly father, KÅtuku, and his consequential death caused by a spirit power putting matters to rights. This paper highlights narrative features such as repetition, expansion, images and gestures, as well as the cultural valuing of the protection of vulnerable people by those in authority. Failure to look after others could result in spiritual interventions that admonished or even killed the perpetrators, a cultural form of policing behaviours that still operates today.

Author Biography

Michael Reilly, University of Otago

Michael Reilly is a Professor in Te Tumu, School of Māori, Pacific & Indigenous Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand. A graduate in both Māori Studies and Pacific Islands History, he has authored or edited six books and published some 38 journal articles and book chapters on East Polynesia, particularly Aotearoa New Zealand and Mangaia in the Cook Islands. He is especially interested in understanding core cultural motifs found in traditional histories.

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Published

2016-12-29