The Disturbing Story Of The Mummified Māori Head | Mokomokai | Absolute History

The Rouen Museum has just returned a severed Maori head, which has been in its collections for 150 years, to New Zealand’s Te Papa Institute. This film reveals the story of how such heads ended up in European museums, and the Maori people's efforts to have the head returned. The story has its origins in the worst periods of colonial conquest, and perfectly illustrates the philosophy of relationships between the West and indigenous peoples in the 19th century.

[LauraTeAhoWhite]

I'm Maori and I know a (little) bit about this subject.

Mokomokai were often slave heads (mokai meaning slave/pet) that were inked either prior to or after death for the purpose of selling to pakeha (Europeans). It was the demand for firearms that fueled this (refer to the musket wars). Often the tattoos that were inked were decorative motifs (kirituhi) rather than symbolic of rank (ta moko), this is because actual heads of rangatira and ariki (chiefs) that were preserved wouldn't of been traded with pakeha. Although early on before demand caught on, people were trading the heads of their ancestors for weapons out of desperation. Traditionally toi moko were used for diplomatic negotiations after war, or used so that people could pay their respects. Hopefully this answers a few questions that weren't answered in the documentary. Also, *please return the heads.* We want our tipuna (ancestors) to come home so we can lay them to rest.

*Edit:* The tattoo expert (not Mark Kopua, the French expert at the beginning) confused me a bit, I thought he would've known more about ta moko patterns and layout. Each component of a ta moko has a specific meaning depending on placement and arrangement. So its not unusual to have differing patterns on each side of the face. It depends on who your parents were, what social class you came from and what events took place in your life. There are books written on the subject because it is quite an in-depth topic.

[kahlanstewart]

The ceremony for his return had me crying the whole time. Finally, he's home with his people. Home in his land. He's finally being seen as the warrior he is, instead of the object he was being treated as. I'm so happy he got to go home.

[kyivstuff]

Dead people can’t feel anything. But living people can. So it was a good thing for the living Maori people to have their ancestor returned.

[GuyNamedSean]

It's so weird how they had to debate over whether or not to return the head. The man himself is dead and can't speak for himself, but the people he was taken from feel his head should be returned. Sounds pretty damned simple to me. Return the head to its native land and let them determine what to do with him.

[JulianaBlewett]

Ask yourself, "What if the Māori had my great grandfather's head on display, what would I like to happen?" It's not a hard decision.

[treeflamingo]

I have seldom in my life been as angry as when I learned about the woman they referred to as "the Hottentot Venus." She was a human being and they displayed her like a zoo animal because she had cellulite. Dear God.

[jennycatzzbokii]

“jUdGiNg bY tHe HaIr We CaN sAy He WaS a MaLe” mate he has a full moko ladies only get their chins done

[cactuskaktus]

The fact that they even had to think about returning the head is baffling. It was stolen human remains. It’s sad that there’s countless of stolen indigenous remains and artifacts in museums.

[gracesadventures]

Being Maori I am pretty insulted with the fact the people who created this documentary didn't seek the advise and information about the Maori head from people within the Maori community and instead relayed in the information given to them from foreign historians and experts. We could easily tell them the history of that head and also say that the head should be returned to its ancestral home and not be seen as a artefact but as a person who once was alive and give that person respect and bring back to Aoterora.

[TheAutisticEducator]

Could our First Nations people in Australia have all their relatives returned so they can be returned to country please? You have separated them from their spiritual resting places. They should not still be there.

[Chlo-ee]

You wouldn’t believe the amount of artefacts that have ended up in French museums, taken from the South Pacific.

[KaosSchmoo]

You know it astounds me that people go to all the trouble to make these documentaries without consulting a single person from the country it's about, who could have pointed out all the mistakes made, I'm not even Maori and the amount of cringe I'm experiencing watching this is overwhelming, the island of Chatham sheesh!

[rocketbackhander]

Woow there's an element of tone deafness that's deeply disturbing. Then again the Musée de l'Homme had Sarah Baartman's taxidermied body on display until the mid-70s sooo... yeah.

[savaghamster]

“I had to think really hard about repatriation of ancestral remains of keeping them for our collection” clown of a director, the work of modern anthropology is making up for the horrendous actions of the disciplines past. This is even more true for France and Britain.

[TudorRose]

Removing the body of a Maori person from his or her land is the most insulting and hateful thing you could possibly do. No wonder Maori still have so much pain as they want their ancestors bough back home

[limeproductions]

They're acting as if it is this big thing. Like as if it should be a choice: Would I keep it here or return the head to the place it belongs eventhough it has never been done before in France? Like, excuse me? That shouldn't even be a question!!! Of course you should be giving the DECEASED PERSON back to his RIGHTFUL FAMILY. How stupid can you be? And then add to that that they didn't even try and get in touch with someone of the culture they're discussing. This whole documentary is just one big insult. Sure they did the right thing in the end but it's like for example debating as to wether or not you should let your child starve and then in the end bragging about how you decided to feed it instead of letting it starve. Meanwhile you shouldn't even be thinking about letting it starve in the first place!
Same here. Not returning it and keeping it for the collection shouldn't even have been an option to consider in the first place.

[BlindingDarkness]

I'm happy that we as humans are moving to a place were we are still curious of each other, but not from the viewpoint of those who are different are less than, odd, or entertainment. If we stay on this track, we might actually be decent beings in about 500 more years...

[kaylanotkyla]

the emotion in those mihis are so powerful. can’t believe this was only 10 years ago

[kaylizzie]

People’s bodies are not objects that you can own and display for your own pride, they belong to their families and their land. I think all body parts from every country should be returned. It should be illegal to have human remains as personal property unless you are the family of the deceased.

[koshermal]

All this research and production, yet no one thought to actually check how some very basic Māori words are pronounced.