New Treaty, New Tradition: Reconciling New Zealand and Māori Law—Carwyn Jones (2016)
'New Treaty, New Tradition' is thoroughly grounded in Māori language and storytelling traditions revealing a powerful new way of using indigenous knowledge to critique, reform and undermine the assumptions of the West’s racist, colonial legal regimes and systems imposed on indigenous peoples.
Publication details
Jones, C. New Treaty, New Tradition: Reconciling New Zealand and Māori Law. Vancouver, Canada: UBC Press, 2016 (republished by Victoria University Press, 2016).
About the book
Carwyn Jones (Ngāti Kahungungu) breaks new ground with a masterful use of a variety of critical methodologies and scholarship applied to the contemporary human rights situation of indigenous people around the world. Jones interweaves legal analysis with Māori language and storytelling traditions, revealing a new way of using indigenous knowledge to critique the assumptions of the West’s racist, colonial legal regimes and systems.
While indigenous people face the challenges of self-determination in a postcolonial world, New Treaty, New Tradition provides a timely look at how the resolution of land claims in New Zealand continues to shape indigenous and non-indigenous cultures alike. The settlement of historical land claims has affected issues of identity, rights and resource management. Jones’ analysis reveals the enduring vitality of Māori legal traditions, making the case that genuine reconciliation can occur only when we recognise the importance of indigenous traditions in the settlement process.
Drawing on examples from Canada and New Zealand, Jones illustrates how Western legal thought has shaped the claims process, deepening our understanding of treaty work in former British colonies, bringing into focus prospects for the long-term success of reconciliation projects around the globe.
2017 Winner - Book Prize, Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand.
2017 Winner – Non-fiction politics award, Ngā Kupu Ora Awards.
Further information
This publication is part of the series Te Takarangi: Celebrating Māori publications - a sample list of 150 non-fiction books produced by a partnership between Royal Society Te Apārangi and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga.