About this ebook
This stunning book examines how five interconnected carved panels, Te Motunui Epa, have journeyed across the world and changed practices, understanding and international law on the protection and repatriation of stolen cultural treasures.
The story begins in the early 1800s in Peropero swamp, just north of Waitara. Taranaki was teetering on the edge of what would be almost a century of war, and Te Ātiawa hapū moved quickly to dismantle their most important public buildings and hide significant pieces in the swamps. The epa – serpentine figures carved in five tōtara panels – went to sleep, only to awaken one hundred and fifty years later to hands that would take them to New York, Geneva, London and the Royal Courts of Justice.
By placing these taonga/tūpuna at the centre of the story, Rachel Buchanan (Taranaki, Te Ātiawa) presents a vivid narrative, richly illustrated, that draws on newly released government records to tell a story of art, ancestors and power.
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About the author
Dr Rachel Buchanan (Taranaki, Te Ātiawa) is an historian, archivist, journalist and curator. She is the author of The Parihaka Album: Lest We Forget (Huia, 2009), Stop Press: The Last Days of Newspapers (Scribe, 2013) and Ko Taranaki Te Maunga (Bridget Williams Books, 2018). Dr Buchanan's archival expertise has included roles such as Curator, Germaine Greer Archive, University of Melbourne Archives, and publications in scholarly journals including Te Pouhere Kōrero, The Journal of Social History and Archivaria. Her writing has been translated into Māori, Farsi and French and published across Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.
