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2007 days ago

Stories behind the book — 'Tatau: A History of Samoan Tattooing'

The Team from Alexander Turnbull Library

The Public History Talks are hosted by the Ministry for Culture & Heritage History Group at the National Library of New Zealand. They are usually held on the first Wednesday of the month from March to November


Date: Wednesday, 5 June, 2019
Time: 12:10pm to 1:00pm
Cost: Free. You don't need to book.
Location: Te Ahumairangi (ground floor), National Library, corner Molesworth and Aitken Streets, Thorndon
Hear Ockham winning author Sean Mallon talk about his book

In this talk, Sean discusses the book’s development and its key themes with reference to specific and some possibly surprising stories.

Tatau won the Illustrated Non-Fiction Award at the 2019 Ockham Awards.

3000 years of Samoan tatau

The Samoan Islands are virtually unique in that tattooing has been continuously practiced with indigenous techniques: the full male tattoo, the pe’a has evolved in subtle ways in its design since the nineteenth century, but remains as elaborate, meaningful, and powerful as it ever was. This cultural history is the first publication to examine 3000 years of Samoan tatau.

Through a chronology rich with people, encounters and events it describes how Samoan tattooing has been shaped by local and external forces of change over many centuries. It argues that Samoan tatau has a long history of relevance both within and beyond Samoa, and a more complicated history than is currently presented in the literature.

The book is richly illustrated with historical images of nineteenth and twentieth century Samoan tattooing, contemporary tattooing, diagrams of tattoo designs and motifs, and with supplementary photographs such as posters, ephemera, film stills and artefacts.

About the speaker
Sean Mallon, who is of Sāmoan (Mulivai, Safata) and Irish descent, is Senior Curator Pacific Cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

He is a co-author of both 'Tangata o le Moana: The story of New Zealand and the people of the Pacific' (Te Papa Press, 2012) and 'Art in Oceania: A new history' (2012), which was awarded the Authors’ Club’s Art Book Prize.

Sean has been a council member of The Polynesian Society since 2008.

Image: Cover of 'Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing' by Sean Mallon & Sébastien Galliot (Te Papa Press, 2018)

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3 days ago

What's your favourite recipe for courgettes?

Mei Leng Wong Reporter from NZ Gardener & Get Growing

Kia ora neighbours. If you've got a family recipe for courgettes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our January 2025 issue.

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4 days ago

Poll: Do you think NZ should ban social media for youth?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

The Australian Prime Minister has expressed plans to ban social media use for children.

This would make it illegal for under 16-year-olds to have accounts on platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X.
Social media platforms would be tasked with ensuring children have no access (under-age children and their parents wouldn’t be penalised for breaching the age limit)
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Do you think NZ should follow suit? Vote in our poll and share your thoughts below.

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Do you think NZ should ban social media for youth?
  • 85.2% Yes
    85.2% Complete
  • 13.5% No
    13.5% Complete
  • 1.2% Other - I'll share below
    1.2% Complete
1772 votes
2 hours ago

Newlands Resilience Group

Van from Newtown

Dear All,
Community Survey 2024
Introduction
Community resilience is having the resources, social capital, communication, and competence so the community can thrive. Disaster resilience is being ready, able to respond to, and able to recover from a disaster. A community is more likely to be disaster-resilient if it is community-resilient. A community can be resilient if a holistic and sustainable approach is taken to the well-being of its people. This survey will help inform community conversations to generate ideas to improve community resilience and wellbeing. The survey includes some basic disaster readiness questions. For more information, please visit the Newlands website newlandsnz.weebly.com...

How, When and Who
This survey can be completed online either in private or in a group and for example at home, a community gathering or a neighbor’s house etc. The survey is anonymous, and confidential and does not record any personal data of the respondents. The Aotearoa Community Resilience Network charitable trust is the caretaker of the survey data. No other public or private organization or persons have ownership or access rights to the data.

Next steps
The data will be added to the responses from previous surveys here and the results will be shared with the community. This includes a series of community conversations from February to April 2025 to discuss the findings and agree on the steps to enhance Newland’s resilience and well-being. Please tick the last box in the survey, and include your email, if you are interested in knowing more about what we are trying to do.

Please click the below link and like us. We are trying to assist people from all walks of life in Paparangi, Bellevue, Woodridge and Newlands. Your response is vital for our project. We greatly appreciate your help.
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