tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19217611.post3462598718075373988..comments2024-03-24T20:07:23.560-04:00Comments on KIKO'S HOUSE: Book Review: Thompson's 'Come On Shore And We Will Kill And Eat You All'Shaun Mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14964214385216513188noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19217611.post-22718543473027548492008-11-15T12:11:00.000-05:002008-11-15T12:11:00.000-05:00Dear Shaun,Thanks for the long and thoughtful post...Dear Shaun,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the long and thoughtful post about Come on Shore. The book has met with some resistance in NZ, perhaps not surprisingly, but I'm always happy when it finds readers who are genuinely interested in the historical problems. <BR/><BR/>Cheers, mate, ChristinaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19217611.post-67551163288977619302008-10-27T03:50:00.000-04:002008-10-27T03:50:00.000-04:00Ms Thompson’s book is pretty much the narrative of...Ms Thompson’s book is pretty much the narrative of the Maori underclass which still plays a part in the debate about colonisation and so forth, but it’s out of date. There are still some Maori who believe that if the British had never come they would now be better off, and maybe they would. But the fact is that all the bad statistics belong predominantly to Maori and Pacific Islanders. Like colonised aboriginal peoples everywhere.<BR/><BR/>Yet, for the last 30 or 40 years a lot of money has been transferred into Maori hands and they have been putting it to good use. There are some big and highly successful businesses making Maori more prosperous than anyone could have imagined only a few years ago — catching, processing and exporting fish comes first to mind — and more are coming along. Their political influence is gathering steam too, as I think the election a fortnight from now will prove.<BR/><BR/>The arguments about cannibalism and the pointless talk about whether it was “uncivilised” still tick on. A new book earlier this year re-opened the argument, but as time goes on the heat is going out of it. Maori origins are debated too — more and more people believe that Polynesia and New Zealand were settled from Asia, not from the east and north east Pacific. Your lady author will have been influenced by her virile Maori friend’s take on things, of course, but even Maori are not as convinced of her line of argument as they were.<BR/><BR/>So, like everything else, time moves on and things change.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com