Kōmako Database Usability Test

Abstract

Bridget Underhill’s original Bibliography was published in 1998, entitled A Bibliography of Writing by Māori in English with partial annotation. The preface provides the cultural background and motivation behind the bibliography as well as the research methodologies used. This includes the influence of feminist theory from the 1970s and other revolutionary critics of literary canon (vii). Underhill states that the bibliography was written as a part of the larger “effort to reclaim the Māori literary tradition” from the marginalization it had faced under the western-Eurocentric literary tradition of the time. Literature prior to this period largely treated Māori literature as an ethnographic or historic artifact documenting a dying culture. This was largely shaped by philosophies such as social darwinism, and positivist scientific theories (Tuhiwai Smith, P. L., 2021, 28). During the 1980’s contemporary Māori authors highlighted the ongoing invisibility of Māori writing in mainstream literary criticism (Underhilll, x). Underhill’s thesis was only one of many projects and writings attempting to change these attitudes and validate Māori writings, along with multiple other efforts during the late 1980s and 1990s, such as Te Ao Mārama. Māori bibliographies also existed prior to this, including; Herbert W Williams A bibliography of printed Maori to 1900 (1924-1928), and Kathie Irwin’s et al. (1991) Maori women : an annotated bibliography. A key aspect of Underhill’s bibliography was its dedication to Māori research methodologies, discussions and the involvement of Kaumātua. The resulting bibliography involved over 1000 authors and roughly 1400 publications. Underhill concludes that she hopes that the bibliography would act as a catalyst for future research and discussion.