About The Disturbing Story Of The Mummified Māori Head | Mokomokai
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.
The Disturbing Story Of The Mummified Māori Head | Mokomokai is presented by Absolute History. Its listed runtime is 51 minutes. The source link and publisher attribution are provided with the embedded film.
As a society documentary, The Disturbing Story Of The Mummified Māori Head | Mokomokai uses disturbing, mummified, māori as its central frame. Social documentaries work best as invitations to examine systems through lived experience. Distinguish individual testimony from wider claims, and consider which institutions, incentives and inequalities shape the choices shown.
What to consider before watching
- What evidence, testimony or observation does the film use to explain disturbing, mummified, māori?
- Which people, institutions or historical conditions most influence the story told in The Disturbing Story Of The Mummified Māori Head | Mokomokai?
- How does Absolute History's framing affect the documentary's emphasis, and which perspectives may deserve further research?
Topics covered in this documentary
Documentary details and original source
- Title
- The Disturbing Story Of The Mummified Māori Head | Mokomokai
- Category
- Society
- Runtime
- 51 minutes
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- Absolute History
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