Abstract
Witi Ihimaera regards the ethnicity he was born into as an asset for his thoughts. In the process of personal and tribal decolonization, Ihimaera tries to redeem Maori culture which was for a long time despised, denied and pushed away from the center to the periphery by colonizers. The methods he employs are recontextualization and reinterpretation, which enable him to give new meanings and life to Maori tradition and myths. Through the dynamism he finds in a Maori traditional symbol, koru, he reconciles the Maori past and the present, and reconstructs Maoritanga as something which has universal value. Traditionally, the Maori people have attached great importance to balance and harmony. This paper aims to disclose how Ihimaera reaches a higher harmony which is essential in the making of postcolonial identity in New Zealand by analyzing his fiction, especially focusing on The Whale Rider.
