Te Hau Kainga: the Maori Home Front During Second World War

Taking readers to the farms and factories, the marae and churches whereMaori lived, worked and raised their families, Te Hau Kainga tells thestory of the profound transformation in Maori life during the Second World War. While the Maori Battalion fought overseas, the Maori War EffortOrganisation and its tribal committees engaged Maori men and women throughoutAotearoa in the home guard, the women’s auxiliary forces, and nationalagricultural and industrial production. Maori mobilisation was an exercise ofrangatiratanga and it changed how Maori engaged with the state. And, as Maorimen and women took up new roles, the war was to become a watershed event forMaori society that set the stage for post-war urbanisation. From ammunition factories to kumara fields, from Te Puea Herangi to TePaipera Tapu, Te Hau Kainga provides the first substantial account ofhow hapori Maori were shaped by the wartime experience at home. It is a storyof sacrifice and remarkable resilience among whanau, hapu and iwi Maori. Te Hau Kainga ispublished alongside its companion volume Raupanga: Nga Pito Korero o tePakanga Tuarua no te Hau Kainga, edited by Angela Wanhalla and LachyPaterson. Raupanga features thirty-five succinct,illustrated essays exploring the Maori home front, translated into te reo Maoriby Lachy Paterson.