Amiria: the Life Story of a Maori Woman [USED]

This is a used copy of Amiria: the Life Story of a Maori Woman by Amiria Manutahi Stirling, as told to Anne Salmond. It is paperback and 184 pages.

From the blurb:

Amiria Manutahi Stirling was born at Taumata-o-mihi, a small settlement near Ruatoria on the East Coast, more than ninety years ago. She was a member of the Ngati Hinekehu sub-tribe of Ngati Porou. In 1918 her elders arranged her marriage to Eruera Stirling of Te Whanau-a-Maru in the Bay of Plenty, a match aimed at strengthening traditional links between two groups. The story of her life and marriage is told in this book.

In 1949 Amiria and Eruera settled in Auckland after the tragic death of their eldest son, and over the years their home in Herne Bay became a focal point, not only for their own East Coast people, but also for many other Maori groups in the city. For many years they were revered as elders in Auckland and on marae throughout the country. Both Eruera and Amiria died in 1983.

Anne Salmond was born in Wellington in 1945, and soon afterwards moved to Gisborne with her family. She was educated at Solway College in Masterton, then spent a year in the United States as an exchange student. On her return she soon became absorbed in Maoritanga and began her education in this field with East Coast people of the Ngati Porou and Whanau-a-Apanui tribes, and at the University of Auckland, where she graduated with an honours M.A. in Anthropology. She then returned to the United States to complete a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1975 her book Hui: A Study of Maori Ceremonial Gatherings was published; in 1976 it gained the Elsdon Best Memorial gold medal for outstanding ethnographic work on the Maori. Her biographies of Amiria and Amiria's husband Eruera were both prize winners in the Wattie Book of the Year Award. Anne Salmond now is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Auckland.

ISBN: 9780790000053