Brown Bodies, White Coats: Postcolonialism, Maori women and science

• Published in: Discourse (Abingdon, England) Vol. 26; no. 4; pp. 481 - 496
• Main Author: McKinley, Elizabeth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 01.12.2005; Routledge
• Subjects: Colonialism; Cultural Influences; Educational Environment; Equal Education; Equal Opportunities (Jobs); Ethnicity; Females; Foreign Countries; Gender Bias; Gender Issues; Higher education; Identity formation; Indigenous Populations; Interviews; Malayo Polynesian Languages; Maori education; Maori people; New Zealand; Postcolonialism; Racial Bias; Racial Factors; Racial relations; Research reports; Science history; Scientists; Self concept; Social history; Social Influences; Women Scientists; Womens education; New Zealand
• ISSN: 0159-6306; 1469-3739
• DOI: 10.1080/01596300500319761

In Aotearoa New Zealand journeys of discovery and colonization were also scientific journeys that brought "Maori woman" under the intellectual control of the emerging "scientific" academy. This paper argues that the historical construction of "Maori woman" through the discourses of Enlightenment science continues to affect the constitution of the subjectivities of Maori women scientists today. The paper draws on a doctoral thesis that used literary historical techniques to investigate the imperial archives and feminist narrative interviews with 16 Maori women scientists to collect the research data. I explore the conditions by which the subject "Maori women scientist" emerges and how the Maori women experience these conditions in relation to how they see themselves. I conclude by arguing that the identity of "Maori woman scientist" appears to be "impossible fiction" due to the fragmented nature of the sign "Maori," "woman," and "scientist", which can be "traced" to the historical construction of the signs.