Ideology, Morality, and Metaphor in Indigenous History: A New Zealand Case Study

The rise in the practice of “indigenous history” in New Zealand has occurred partially in response to the perceived need to revise historical narratives that have allegedly contributed to perpetuating the subjugation of the indigenous Māori population. This explicitly ideological orientation positions the researching and writing of indigenous history as a means to an extra-historical end: the transformation of “history into justice.” It also imposes a moral function on indigenous history, requiring historical evidence to be configured in order to conform to the postmodernist historical metanarrative. This work surveys some of the implications of such an approach to the practice of history.