“We define ourselves by the stories we tell about ourselves...It’s my business to tell those stories to my grandchildren, and it will be their business to tell those stories to their grandchildren.”
Witi Ihimaera (wit-tee ih-hee-my-rah)
novelist, short story writer
IMAGE SOURCE: “Witi Ihimaera wins at Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.” Blog post. Penguin Books. New Zealand. 10 Aug. 2016. | TEXT SOURCE: “Interview with Witi Ihimaera.” He Tohu. 3 Jul. 2018.
QUOTE CONTEXT: ”It was the business of my elders, my grandmother to tell me those stories…And really when you think about it, all of those stories actually were initiated by the debate at Waitangi in 1840 (on the treaty between Maori and White New Zealanders), on February 6th.”
QUOTE QUESTION: What are the stories that define your People?
IMAGE CONTEXT: Beloved novelist, Witi Ihimaera, has won the Ockham New Zealand Book Award for General Non-Fiction category, for his memoir, Maori Boy: A Memoir of Childhood.”
IMAGE QUESTION: What stories capture childhood among your People?
MEDIA LITERACY CONTEXT: The quote is from an interview. The photo is from a book awards ceremony.
MEDIA LITERACY QUESTION: How does the media honor the voices of your People?
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