Mere Taito, a Rotuman Islander from Rotuma, Fiji, moved to New Zealand in 2007. Mere’s poetry has a distinct political edge which she describes as having matured here in New Zealand. Her writing is often a satirical and biting response to the affairs of communities in her past and present. In a recently self-published collection of ten poems titled The Light and Dark in our Stuff, Mere pulls you through ‘dark matter’ that afflicts humanity and then ‘light matter’ to soften the blow. Her work has also appeared in Landfall, A Fine Line and So Many Islands. Mere lives in Hamilton with her partner Neil and nephew Lapuke.
Mere comments: ‘The poem is a response to the copyrighting of Rotuman mythology by Wiley International. In the 1930s a missionary/linguist by the name of Churchward recorded a substantial collection of Rotuman myths and legends. These myths currently sit in the journal Oceania and are held in copyright by Wiley International. Copyrighting locks these myths. Access is restricted. On the Wiley Online Library users can choose to “Rent it for 48hrs for $6USD”, “Upload to the Cloud for $15USD” or download and print a “PDF for $38USD”. Mythology is traditional knowledge. Research and publishing institutions need to re-look at the way that they make traditional knowledge accessible to the communities they take from when they are done with their research. One courtesy hardcopy in a school library is not good enough. “Selling it at a much cheaper price” is quite frankly, insulting and unethical. Free these stories Wiley International. Place them on your Open Source platform’.
Links
Mere's Facebook page
So Many Islands anthology
Mere in interview with Vaughan Rapatahana
The Light and Dark in our Stuff reviewed on Scoop Review of Books
Review on Flaxroots Productions
Translated poem on Grădina Cu Lecturi