The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke by Tina Makereti

As part of Indigenous Literature Week, here’s my review of The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke by Maori author Tina Makereti.

The violence of colonisation can take many forms. There’s physical violence, of course, in the form of land grabs, murder, rape, mutilation, and other forms of terrorism. There’s psychological violence: the colonisation of the mind of its subjects with the insidious idea that they are innately inferior. There’s cultural violence: the destruction of traditions that have evolved over centuries or millennia, the colonisation of language, etc. There’s spiritual violence: the imposition of a foreign god and the insistence that local beliefs and practices are the works of the devil. There’s economic violence: enslavement, exploitation, the appropriation of goods and raw materials, etc. The list goes on.

In The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke, Tina Makereti explores most of these forms, but her focus is mostly on the violence of the colonial gaze.

Set in Aotearoa and London some time in the 19th century, the novel tells the story of a Maori boy whose whole family is killed in the chaos of war between local tribal groups and displacement by the advancing British colonial forces. Hemi aka James Poneke eventually makes his way to London thanks to an English artist who uses him as a live exhibit in his show, where he is poked and prodded and scrutinised as a “savage”.

But Hemi is not content to remain a victim. He also turns his own gaze on the people of London, overturning the power dynamic and rebelling against the role he has been allotted. He plays his own part, seeks his own education, his own experiences. And this is his memoir, his story told in his own voice, and he has a lot to say about the city that claims to be the heart of civilisation.

On his blog A Writer’s Life, British novelist Andrew Blackman shares book reviews, insights into the writing process and the latest literary news, as well as listing short story contests with a total of more than $250,000 in prize money.