UnCooked Meets

Abstract

Aotearoa New Zealand has been invaded by strangers – and their horrible histories – for over 250 years. In October 1769, the British explorer Captain James Cook landed the HMS Endeavour on Kaiti Beach in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa: a moment of [re]discovery celebrated as the birth of a bi-cultural nation by some, and the inciting incident for multi-generational trauma by others. In 2019, the Semi-quincentennial of Cook’s arrival was marked by ‘Tuia Encounters 250’, a performative series with waka hourua, va’a tipaerua and three tall ships – including a replica Endeavour – voyaging across Aotearoa to commemorate, elucidate and reaffirm historically-significant cultural encounters.

This essay explores the performances of Tuia 250 alongside two counter-performances: Barbarian Production’s site-specific Cook Thinks Again (2019), where the ghost of James Cook leads a tour through the contemporary streets of the capital city Wellington with an intentional rethinking or disruption of the past; and the Hori’s Pledge roadshow (2022) – a modern Māori Hero’s Journey to un-name ‘New Zealand’. The discussion distinguishes Western conceptions of re-enactment – as potential for catharsis – from whakamaumahara, or performance as embodied memory: a palimpsest of traumatic meetings. In attending to the obligations of Aotearoa’s constitutional document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, this essay explores how we might relearn our pasts through the narratives held in our inherited bodies.