Bahadur Hāweatea Bryson –  My maternal side is Māori (Ngāi Tahu, Waitaha) back through my grandmother and great grandmothers. My grandmother grew up in a time of subtle segregation, when being Māori wasn’t easy.

Fairer, with light eyes, she kept that part of her close to her heart and didn’t raise my mother in it. It was only later that I found out she’d quietly learnt language via radio.

So long as language exists, so does everything with it.

I grew up in Australia, yet as a child I woke up with Māori names and words hanging in the leftover space of my dreams. In the 90’s, before the ease of Google, I asked for books to be sent over. Continue reading →