Pakeha Deaconesses and the New Zealand Methodist Mission to Maori, 1893–1940

This paper focuses on the first three decades of deaconess involvement in the New Zealand Methodist Maori Mission. Drawing upon church policy statements, deaconess narratives of experience which entered the public domain, as well as reminiscences which did not, it situates the deaconess missionaries in relation to the assimilationist discourses and gender assumptions of their day. It considers how Pakeha (European) deaconesses' potential as cultural intermediaries and models of white femininity was shaped by the particular histories of the areas in which they worked, by their own anomalous status within their denomination and by the spread of competing, secular channels of influence. As the sisters added a social work role to evangelism and education, many were drawn into close association with Maori communities, acting as advocates for Maori causes and challenging derogatory Pakeha constructs of Maori lifestyles.