Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Lack of Fair Trade in the Far North: Book Launch

‘Ultimately, the volume of trade and centralised control thwarted Māori …’ as Dr. Adrienne Puckey discovered when researching her latest book, Trading Cultures: A History of the Far North, (Huia Publishers), which will be launched at The University of Auckland Business School on Thursday 22 September.
Trading Cultures: A History of the Far North examines the pressures of trade between Māori and Pākehā for the past two centuries. The book begins with trade between whalers and Māori in the late 1700s and culminates in the present-day situations and the claims, outcomes and settlements after 1980.

The book is wonderfully illustrated with historical images, diagrams and maps giving an informed description of how the early Far North traders operated. The first trades were simple, but as settler numbers increased, so did the difficulties surrounding the differences between gift, barter and moneyed exchanges.

Adrienne Puckey analyses society, economics and political history in a narrative that is both insightful and accessible. Puckey, a direct descendant of early Church Missionary Society missionary, William Gilbert Puckey, who settled in Northland, has also co-written histories for Ngāpuhi Treaty of Waitangi claims.

The book will be available from 16 September 2011 and will retail at $45.00. 

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