'Dirty laundry' in Māori education history? Another spin for Washday at the Pā

Abstract

In 1957, Ans Westra immigrated, as a young adult, from her native Holland to Aotearoa-New Zealand, where she eventually became one of the nation's foremost photographers, and perhaps the pre-eminent photographer of Māori people and events. Early in her career, before she became a famous photographer, Westra worked on contract developing classroom readers for the state education publisher, which were distributed to every school in the country. On its release in May 1964, one such book written by Westra, Washday at the Pā, became the subject of protest led by the Māori Women's Welfare League (MWWL). In response, in August 1964, the Minister of Education ordered all 38,000 copies recalled and destroyed. This incident ignited a national controversy, which has in turn generated some scholarship over the decades, mainly centred on themes of art and censorship. To date, Roger Openshaw (2005) is the most prominent educational scholar to write about this fascinating episode in the history of education in Aotearoa-New Zealand, so some critical analysis from a Māori education perspective seems warranted. This article presents a Kaupapa Māori reading of the book and the controversy, considered in the light of previous scholarship, in particular Openshaw (2005). This research explores the larger, ongoing meanings and learnings to be drawn from the eventful history of this controversial school journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]