Danny Keenan

Guest writer

Danny Keenan (Ngāti Te Whiti, Te Ātiawa) is a Māori historian and writer, and was a founding member of Te Pouhere Kōrero Māori Historians Network. He presents a Māori view on the Land Wars at www.newzealandwars.co.nz. He has a PhD in history, obtained at Massey University in 1994 and is the author of the biography Te Whiti O Rongomai and the Resistance of Parihaka (Huia Publishers, 2015).

CIRCA 1840: British naval commander William Hobson (1793-1842), circa 1840. Hobson was appointed as first governor of New Zealand and negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi with the Maori chiefs, which granted England sovereignty over the country. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Debunking the ‘one people’ myth: a historian on the invention of Hobson’s Pledge

Māori historian Dr Danny Keenan explains why it is highly unlikely William Hobson ever made his famous 'pledge'.

By Danny Keenan | 30th November, 2017

A place for returning: injustice, legacy and reconciliation at Parihaka

A place for returning: injustice, legacy and reconciliation at Parihaka

Taranaki will tomorrow witness a formal reconciliation and settlement with the Crown. And like so much Maori history, it is about mana surviving, despite the odds, writes historian Danny Keenan.

By Danny Keenan | 8th June, 2017

Children from Parihaka Pā with Taare (Charles) Waitara standing centre back. The white feathers show that they are followers of Te Whiti. (Photo: William Andrews Collis/Alexander Turnbull Library)

Parihaka, 5 November 1881

What happened that morning in Parihaka on November 5, 1881? Te Whiti O Rongomai by Danny Keenan, a finalist in tonight's Ngā Kupu Ora Māori literature and journalism awards, sets the scene for the armed invasion.

By Danny Keenan | 3rd October, 2016