The Whale Rider
First edition cover
AuthorWiti Ihimaera
Audio read byJay Laga'aia[1]
IllustratorBruce Potter
CountryNew Zealand
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel, children's fiction
Set inWhangara, 1980s
PublisherHeinemann
Publication date
1987
Media typePrint: hardback
Pages122
ISBN9780868636849
OCLC1031551009
823.92
LC ClassPR9639.I5 W48
Preceded byThe Matriarch 
Followed byDear Miss Mansfield: a tribute to Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp 

The Whale Rider is a 1987 novel by New Zealand author Witi Ihimaera.[2][3] In 2002 it was adapted into a film, Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro.[4]

Plot

Carving of Paikea at Whangara's marae

Set in the 1980s in Whangara, a Māori community on the eastern edge of New Zealand's North Island, the novel is a retelling of the myth of Paikea.

Kahu is the eldest great-grandchild of chieftain Koro Apirana; had she been a boy, she would have been the natural future leader of the tribe but since she is a girl,she is detested by her grandfather Koro Apirana who is a male chauvinist and blinded by culture. She is attuned to the traditional Māori way of life, and may have inherited the ability to speak to whales.[5] The novel is narrated by Kahu's uncle, Rawiri, who travels to Australia and Papua New Guinea where the narrative focuses on the shaping of his own understanding of his Māori identity.[6]

Reception

The Whale Rider has been a worldwide bestseller, and is the most-translated work by a New Zealand author.[7] In 1995 it was translated into Māori by Tīmoti Kāretu, as Te kaieke tohorā.[8] In 2006 a picture book version illustrated by Bruce Potter was listed as one of the Storylines Children's Literature Foundation of New Zealand Notable Books List.[9][10]

On the World Socialist Web Site, John Braddock criticised The Whale Rider for its reactionary focus on identity politics, noting that "Whale Rider presents Maori as “one people”. There is no attempt to concretely examine, from a critical perspective, the social system and class oppression that determine the daily realities of ordinary Maori. Their future is conceived in an entirely utopian manner—as the rediscovery of tribal roots and assertion of cultural traditions and “spirituality”—separated entirely from that of the working class." and that The Whale Rider is emblematic of "An emerging middle-class layer of tribal leaders and youth, radicalised in the late 1960’s, [who] intervened to abort the development of a unified class consciousness within the working class as a whole. Encouraged by the Labour Party and union bureaucracy, they turned Maori workers instead towards the struggle for “indigenous rights”—in particular land rights—and the rediscovery of tribal identity."[11]

In 2022, The Whale Rider was included on the Big Jubilee Read, a list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors produced to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.[12][13]

References

  1. ↑ "The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera Read by Jay Lagaaia | Audiobook Review". AudioFile Magazine. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  2. ↑ "The Whale Rider: novel by Ihimaera". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  3. ↑ "Witi Ihimaera's The Whale Rider (1987)". Buried In Print. 6 December 2010. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  4. ↑ Reinhardt, Nancy (6 May 2009). Analysis of Witi Ihimaeras 'The Whale Rider' on the Basis of Postcolonial Theory. GRIN Verlag. ISBN 9783640372164. Retrieved 6 May 2022 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ McFall, Alanna (13 October 2018). "Reading Resolution: "The Whale Rider" by Witi Ihimaera". Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  6. ↑ Ihimaera, Witi (1987). The Whale Rider.
  7. ↑ Ellis, Danika (26 August 2021). "The Most Translated Books From Every Country in the World". Book Riot. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  8. ↑ Lyell, Rebekah (20 September 2020). "Te Kaieke Tohorā by Witi Ihimaera, nā Tīmoti Kāretu i whakamāori". nzbooklovers. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  9. ↑ "Introducing Witi Ihimaera". Backyard Books. 1 November 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  10. ↑ "Remarkable Kiwis win the non-fiction Children's Choice award | Scoop News". Scoop Culture. 17 May 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  11. ↑ Braddock, John (31 March 2004). "Film-making in the service of identity politics". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  12. ↑ Sherwood, Harriet (18 April 2022). "The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen's jubilee book list". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  13. ↑ "The Big Jubilee Read: Books from 1982 to 1991". BBC. 17 April 2022. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
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