Race and Empire at Our Place: New Zealand’s New National Museum
Author(s)
Macdonald, Charlotte J.
Abstract
The Te Papa [Our Place] Museum, New Zealand’s premier public history venue, opened in 1988. It is substantially publicly funded, offers free admission, and is clearly intended as a monument to national pride. However, the issues of race and empire, as represented in the exhibits, are problematic. The central racial issue is that of relations between the Maori and European peoples, and that relationship is fundamental to the museum’s physical and cultural space. The exhibits, however, marginalize the concept of empire and suggest that “history” belongs to Europeans and “culture” to the Maori. Although New Zealanders are struggling with the demands and controversies of post colonialism in the period since the museum opened, the absence of “empire” in the museum apparently has not been missed as visitors have exceeded projected numbers and Te Papa has been lauded by diverse peoples.
