Whale Runner Witi Tane Ihimaera's The Whale Rider and Patricia Grace's Potiki are set in Maori communities in New Zealand, and are part of the Renaissance of the Maori language and culture over the last forty years. Both of these stories center on magical children, Toko and Paikea, who represent the revival of traditional Maori beliefs that have been suppressed since the colonial period in the 19th Century. This was the case with all indigenous peoples in the white settler states like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Although physical genocide was the most extreme in the United States, all of the countries engaged in cultural genocide to some degree, such as taking native children from their parents and forcing them to live in boarding schools, where they were taught the Christian religion and prevented from speaking their own languages or learning about the traditions of their people. In these novels, the Maori are struggling to regain these traditions, and also attempting to resist the political and economic power of white society. In fact, resistance and revival are constant themes in both stories, more overtly so in Potiki, where a Maori community is trying to prevent a seaside resort from developing their town into a tourist attraction. The Whale Rider is also concerned with adaption and survival of the Maori in the modern world, and the struggle to preserve their traditions in a society that would abolish them. This is why the patriarch Koro rejects his great-granddaughter Paikea, since he believes that only a man would be a strong enough leader to ensure the survival of the community. In the end, though, both Toko and Paikea reveal themselves to be gods, blessed with great spiritual powers that will save their people.

Potiki...

Hemi and his wife Roimata do much of the narration in the novel, which centers on the preservation of the land against amoral and oppressive capitalist interests, represented by the developer Dollarman. Like almost all indigenous peoples, the Maori's believe that "the land does not belong to the people, but that the people belong to the land" (Grace 110). Their community is self-reliant and dedicated to the simple life, unlike modern urban society. As Hemi often points out, they have all they need and do not wish to sell their land or participate in consumerism and the money economy. Tokowaru-i-te-Marama (Toko) was born to Hemi's mentally retarded sister Mary, and he is also physically handicapped. At the same time, Toko is the Potiki (youngest born), and has the same magical powers as the creator god Maui. Indeed, he has epilepsy like Maui and dies in a mysterious fire like this god. Gods do not actually die, of course, and Toko's powers save the community from Dollarman and the ruthless developers. In the end, the "enormous machines were submerged in the sea" (Grace 185). In school, Roimata recalled how the teachers instilled Christianity in the Maori children and that the ones "who pleased Jesus could put a hand in the green tin for a picture or a toffee" (Grace 16). This was also a common feature of the relations between whites and indigenous societies, and the attempt to abolish their languages and cultures. Toko represents the revival of the traditional religion, as does the main character Paikea in The Whale Rider.
In the Maori legend, Paikea's brothers tried to…