He kitenga kanohi, he hokinga mahara
A familiar face stirs one's memories
He kawenga mahara, he hāpori kitea
A collection of memories is a community seen
Aotearoa’s first Queer History Month, with te reo Māori name Pūmahara Ia Te Wā, is coming this July, breathed into being by Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa and the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.
Around Papatūānuku libraries are queer people’s chosen whānau. This idea has a long history. We come to libraries seeking ourselves and our histories, seeking the manaakitanga to find our stories, seeking the affirmation that our memories and our communities are not only welcome but actively invited in and protected.
Our libraries and our communities throughout Aotearoa all hurt when we are intimidated and our basic rights to share our expressions, memories and stories, and to strengthen our communities, are threatened.
Learning about our queer tīpuna and our taonga affirms queer lives and is a vital part of the whakapapa of takatāpui and tāgata Moana in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Queer people always were and always will be.
We encourage libraries across the motu invite Aotearoa’s queer and takatāpui whānau – your whānau – into your whare this #QueerHistoryMonthAotearoa in July. Invite and show your manaaki for your local queer communities by holding space, planning displays, or simply having kōrero with your kaimahi and manuhiri about how you can help keep your local queer histories alive.
Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa (formerly the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand Te Pūranga Takatāpui o Aotearoa) and Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa are hosting an all-day hui, both in-person and live-streamed from the National Library in Te Whanganui-a-Tara on Tuesday 9 July 2024, 9AM to 4:10PM. The hui taumata will mark the passing of the Homosexual Law Reform Act in Aotearoa on 9 July 1986, and will stress the importance of preserving and sharing Aotearoa’s iconic yet undershared queer histories.
We have an incredible line-up featuring Aotearoa’s first queer Poet Laureate Chris Tse, the founder of the International Committee on LGBTQ+ Queer History Months Ronald C Wilson, mana takatāpui Elizabeth Kerekere, Kevin Haunui, Dr Clive Aspin and our stunning Tīwhanawhana whānau, as well as Kawe Mahara kaitiaki, and queer researchers Will Hansen, Rebekah Galbraith, Dr Welby Ings, Dr Patrick Thomsen, and Dr Ashwinee Pendharkar on why queer archives and queer networks are so crucial, yet so undervalued.
Inspired by the United States of America’s Black History Month (founded in 1926), the world’s first LGBTQ+ History Month was founded thirty years ago in the United States. It was established as an opportunity to highlight the long-neglected histories and experiences of queer people in the United States. Since its founding, eighteen other History Months have emerged, including most recently in Italy, Cuba, and Uganda. Aotearoa New Zealand’s history month will be the world’s twentieth.
Read more about the event and register for the livestream here
Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa
Kawe Mahara Queer Archives is a rich pātaka of queer and takatāpui taonga and stories. ‘Queer’ is an umbrella term for people who identify with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and innate variations of sex characteristics, in acknowledgement of the fluidity of identities and the multiple acts of identifying and finding ourselves through time and space. Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa welcomes the many intersections with other identities, communities and politics that ‘queer’ holds.
Kawe means ‘to carry, convey, bear’ and mahara means ‘memory, recollection, knowledge’. Kawe Mahara stands for carrying the memories of all our takatāpui and queer communities in Aotearoa from the past, present and future, so that our communities can grow and thrive. Having survived an arson attack in the 1980s, and kept alive by volunteers through decades of discrimination, Kawe Mahara is a testament to the power of community archives.