Comparing Welsh and Maori Poetry.

What right do I have to write about the experience of Maori? It doesn't make much difference that I was in a seven year relationship with a Maori, on the peripheries of, or living with, that culture. My cultural experience in that setting was as a white European looking in from the outside.

You could even argue that I was the 'coloniser' intruding on the 'colonised.' By virtue of my skin-colour alone my whole life experience has been totally different. Well, I accept that's all true - but only to a point. If the shoes I've walked in personally can be taken out of the 'colonising, privileged European' shoe-box, and seen for what they are in the light for just a second, what then?

The Political Situation for Maori and Welsh.

When it comes to my experience as a Welsh person -- a member of an indigenous minority whose native language and culture are under threat -- then the differences are only skin-deep.

The political situation for Maori and Welsh is strikingly similar. As a writer, of course I want to write about these similarities. As a Welsh person I want to extract all the insights I can learn from this common situation and pass it on in the hopes that it might somehow be beneficial to people of any cultural minority anywhere who are experiencing something similar.

I'm not trying to claim Maori culture or the Maori experience as my own. I've never tried to, have never been interested in doing that. What I'm trying to do is compare the two situations so that the bigger picture of what both Maori and Welsh are up against - Anglo-American hegemony - becomes more obvious.

Maori and Welsh, Poets and Poetry.

As a poet writing in English (since like many Maori and Welsh I'd lost my native language through the processes of English imperialism) I was also interested in looking at what Welsh and Maori poets writing in the English language had been saying.

I used post-colonial theory to analyse the work of Anglo-Welsh poet R.S. Thomas and Anglo-Maori poet Hone Tuwhare to see if there were any similar observations, feelings or themes being expressed. Both these poets were born and raised prior to the revival/renaissance of their indigenous culture, and both had struggled for years to learn their native language.

Both decided to write in English because it was the language they were able to use more ably. Both regretted not being able to write their poetry in the language of their own people. Beyond that, yes, there were some pretty big differences on the surface:

Most notably, Hone Tuwhare appeared cheerful most of the time whereas R.S. Thomas was a seriously miserable-looking dude. If you'd like to read what else I discovered in my analysis please read my essay on the subject -- you'll find it at page 103 of this issue of the University of Otago's ezine Deep South.

Portrait of R.S.Thomas used with kind permission of Daf - check out more of his artwork.

Photo of Hone Tuwhare from honetuwhare.org.nz.