The Whale Rider
Culture & Identity Reflection
(20 Points)
For this assignment you must take on the identity of one of the characters in
the film The Whale Rider and compose a letter to another character in the
film.
The letter can be from any of the following characters and can be to any other
character:
Characters in Film:
Paikea
Koro (Paikea’s Grandfather – “Paka”)
Nanny Flowers (Paikea’s Grandmother)
Porouragni (Paikea’s Father)
Rawiri (Paikea’s Uncle)
Hemi (Paikea’s friend)
1. Letters must be two-pages handwritten or one page typed (singlespaced)
2. The letter should be written in the first person. YOU are the character,
and YOU are conveying how YOU feel to the other person
3. The letter should reflect some aspect of cultural/identity change or
conflict portrayed in the film and should refer to particular events in the
film
4. The letter should convey the characters feeling about the topic and
should try to explain/educate/or entreat the recipient to see him/her
for who they really are or what they believe needs to change
5. See if you can also mention some of the local terms/customs in your
letter! (see back)
Letters are due in class by Tuesday, December 2
Whale Rider Glossary
Mäori are the indigenous people of Aotearoa - New Zealand. The word to describe this
relationship is Tangata Whenua, meaning people of the land. Although described by many as
'Mäori' in fact Mäori are a composition of many Iwi (Tribes) Hapü (Sub tribes) and Whänau
units.
Paikea = important mythic Maori ancestor of the East Coast tribes, especially the Ngati Porou
tribe, of New Zealand's North Island. Various legends say he came from Hawaiki to Aotearoa
[New Zealand], riding on the back of a taniwha [whale].
Te Here Tangata = The Rope of Mankind, is also used to describe Maori genealogy. This
eternal "rope" can be visualized as stretching into the past for generations back to the Creation,
as well as extending forward through all future generations for at least as long.
Aotearoa (Maori: "Land of the Long White Cloud") = New Zealand
Hawaiki, or Hawaiiki = Maori for "Land of the Ancients," in Maori oral tradition the homeland of
Maori ancestors [may refer to Tahiti and/or other islands of French Polynesia in the eastern
Pacific].
ihi = power
kura = school to instruct (i.e. male) youngsters of a Maori tribe in the way of the ancient ones.
Marae = Meeting place
Mau rakau = Stick fighting
Pakeha = non-Maori, white European settlers of New Zealand and their descendants
reiputa = Koro's whale tooth pendant, the symbol of his chieftainship
taiaha = Fighting stick or spear
tapu = Sacred, sacredness, the rules of sacred
propriety.
Waka = Canoe.
wehi = fear
Whangara, setting of Whale Rider (film & novel), is
located on the East Coast of New Zealand's North
Island. (Star on map.)
Wharenui = Big House, Meeting house
Whitireia = the Maori meeting house built at Whangara
in 1939.
Source: Cora Agatucci, Professor of English, Central
Oregon Community College
URL: (accessed 12/11/13)
http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum210/whaleri
der/whaleriderglossary.html