Hine-Titama: Maori contributions to feminist discourses and identity politics

Feminist discourses attend to the experiences of women in many social spher es, including that of the artworld. In this paper I, as a Maori woman, offe r an outline of Postcolonial Maori Feminism that complies with the cultural theorist Homi Bhabha's notion of 'Post-colonial criticism'. The connection between feminist discourse and the accomplished Maori artist Robyn Kahukiw a has not been strongly emphasised in current published literature. The cul tural context that Robyn Kahukiwa refers to in her art is, primarily, that of Maori women. I argue, by using one exemplary picture entitled Hine-Titam a, that Robyn Kahukiwa and her artwork align with the work of some other Ma ori feminists. I also posit an association between Kahukiwa and some exampl es of 'non-Maori' feminist writing that furthers our understanding of cultu ral identities based on gender and race. I refer to those cultural identiti es as they relate to Maori women in New Zealand.