Te Takupu / Te Wananga o Ruakawa 2017

The Balance Destroyed is one of those seminal pieces of work that challenges the fundamental underpinnings of colonial ideologies that have become embedded within Aotearoa and have served to perpetuate multiple forms of violence against Maori generally and Maori women specifically. The arguments are clear and articulate. They cut through the colonised representatives of our tikanga that have served to disrupt the balance of our stories, of our relationships, of our positioning as tangata whenua, of our connection to our lands and waters. The imposition of Victorian colonial beliefs and practices has caused havoc upon many of our whanau, hapu and iwi, and continues to do so. These ideologies are not merely discourses of oppression, they are what has justified and rationalised state violence upon Maori for over 200 years...