Whanganui-based historian Danny Keenan awarded Michael King Writers’ Fellowship

Whanganui-based historian Danny Keenan has been awarded the 2023 Michael King Writers' Fellowship. Photo / Bevan Conley

An academic based in Whanganui has received the prestigious Michael King Writers’ Fellowship and plans to write a history of Māori health.

Dr Danny Keenan (Ngāti Te Whiti ki Te Ātiawa), from New Plymouth, is the 2023 recipient of the literary fellowship, which will support the development of a new work examining a history of Māori responses to three significant pandemics.

Keenan said the new book, with the proposed title In Sickness and In Health: A Cultural History of Three Māori Pandemics 1895-2021, would illuminate Māori response to the events, including how they mobilised communities, grounded by mātauranga (Māori knowledge) frameworks.

Most New Zealanders were probably aware of the impacts of the 1918 influenza pandemic, which killed 8600 New Zealanders, including 2160 Māori, he said.

Fewer would be aware of the health crisis of the late 1890s.

“It came about because of the unchecked spread of diseases like diphtheria, tuberculosis, measles, skin rashes and rheumatic fever.

“The poor condition of pā and papa kāinga exacerbated the spread of these conditions, as Māori were urged to attend to urgent sanitation issues like boiling water, washing blankets, moving fires outside, cleansing of ablution facilities and applying strict hygienic controls to tangihanga.”

Keenan said the $100,000 award would allow him to spend time examining all the historical data on how the health crises affected Māori and how they responded.

“My approach will be to examine all the documents, tribal records and written reports relating to these pandemics. I will also be filling in as much background analysis as possible relating to health issues affecting Māori since 1840.

“A certain narrative history will emerge from all this.

“But, in particular, I want to see what the documentary evidence says about how Māori themselves responded, especially in the earlier periods, utilising customary and cultural knowledge to address the dire predicaments faced by pā and papa kāinga.”

The research would include the sometimes controversial reliance on traditional healing methods, supported by the application of long-standing knowledge systems concerning personal well-being.

“The important roles played by tohunga and Māori women in mediating these approaches to their communities will also be examined,” he said.

“The interesting question is – what do the primary records, often written by Māori themselves, say about this?”

Many of the reports were written by Māori health workers, travelling the country, visiting papa kāinga often in a wretched state, reporting on what they saw and what Māori were saying and doing.

The aim, he said, was not only to legitimise the successful application of mātauranga Māori frameworks in the distant and more recent past but, when applied to the most recent pandemic situation, would be a source of important customary knowledge for generations to come.

His daughter Dr Ngaire Keenan, a paediatrician with an interest in early Māori sickness, will be one of the people supporting him with the development of the project.

There are many memorials for the New Zealand victims of the 1918 influenza epidemic, including the one at Waikumete Cemetery in Auckland. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The Michael King Fellowship, awarded every two years, had arrived at a perfect time, Keenan said.

His book on Māori political struggles during New Zealand’s Liberal era from 1891 to 1912, The Fate of the Land Ko Nga Akinga a Nga Rangatira, was recently published and he has completed a revised version of his earlier book Ahuwhenua: Celebrating 80 Years of Māori Farming, first published in 2013.

“To some extent, this project has arisen from my latest book,” he said.

“It was a time when political groups like Te Kotahitanga, the Ōrakei Parliaments and the Kīngitanga were established to strongly advance the Māori cause and the book accentuates the amazing rangatira who were politically active then; and there were so many.

“At the time, the terrible state of Māori health became an important issue, compelling urgent if short-lived action from the government.”

Keenan, who was a visiting Fulbright professor at Georgetown University, Washington DC, in 2009, said the fellowship award was a pinnacle in his career.

“Years ago, I was privileged to work with Michael King and I know [2021 recipient] Monty Soutar quite well so I understand how prestigious the award is,” he said.

“Everything I’ve ever learned has led to this point and it’s my chance to bring all that knowledge to the fore.”

Creative New Zealand manager of arts practice directors Malcolm Burgess said he was thrilled to be able to offer the 2023 fellowship to Keenan.

“We are very excited to support Dr Keenan to work on a project that will shed new light on pandemics that have afflicted Māori communities throughout our history”, he said.

“Dr Keenan has an impressive publication record and we look forward to the matāuranga that will emerge from a compelling and engaging project that will have a wide impact for generations to come.”

Michael King, who died in 2004, wrote and edited more than 30 books, including the best-selling Penguin History of New Zealand. Creative New Zealand first offered the fellowship in 2003 and awarded it annually until 2017, when it became a biennial award.