From traditional carving to plastic Tiki

Māori engagement with the tourism industry, from the nineteenth century to the present, has developed on face value into a ‘cultural Disneyland’ at Rotorua, where tourists partake in ‘native’ feasts while gazing at dancers twirling in unison on a timetable governed by bus schedules. Geysers likewise respond to tourist numbers and clicking camera shutters. While some condemn these experiences as inauthentic, others assert that they are based on the traditional concept of Manaakitanga (Māori hospitality). This paper examines Māori struggles to balance the ongoing coherence of their lived culture with exercising their right to benefit from commercial activities in tourism based on cultural resources, while their integrity and strength is constantly under threat from continuing processes of colonialism and globalisation. It uses decolonising methodologies and an Indigenous standpoint encompassing Kaupapa Māori to investigate the transformation of traditional carving by Māori artisans for tourist consumption. I argue that, contrary to the view that Māori have abandoned their traditional cultural values; Manaakitanga and Tikanga have evolved to suit changing circumstances during the past 150 years amid increasingly powerful forces operating within the international tourism marketplace

Aesthetics · Carving · Colonialism · Commodification · Economics · Economy · Globalization · Hospitality · Indigenous · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · Tourism · Unison · Value (mathematics · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Law

• Evaluating heritage

  Thu Thi Trinh, Chris Ryan et al.•Journal of Tourism and Cultural…•2015

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