Nau mai, haere mai ki Te Tangi A Te Ruru.
Welcome to The Cry of the Ruru.
Voices of indigenous writers and people of colour who are signalling warnings in a time of colonial capitalism, and calling for otherworlds to be birthed.
He pitopito kōrero // About Us
The ruru is the native owl or morepork found in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Traditionally owls feature in many stories across cultures. They are the nocturnal presence often linked to knowledge and wisdom. In Māori accounts, they arrive to us from the underworld and are both good and bad omens. They act as kaitiaki (guardians) that are ever watching, while most of us are asleep. In some cases, their cry is one of forewarning, signalling danger or death.
The cry of the ruru can be both comforting and unsettling. It is an otherworldly call that comes from another time and place that pierces into the current moment. It is unapologetic and omnipresent.
This virtual library is a home for political writings that may struggle to be heard elsewhere. We centre the voices of indigenous writers and people of colour who are signalling warnings in a time of colonial capitalism, and calling for otherworlds to be birthed.
Latest Posts
Anti-Racism Resource for Diasporic Communities
As an uprising against anti-Blackness and anti-Black police murders is happening in the US, diasporic Asian communities have been mobilised to act in solidarity and take responsibility for the ways that we/they are complicit in anti-Black racism and violence. Resources lists for educating ourselves, our families, friends and communities on anti-Black racism have been shared…
Constitutional imaginings
Fine muka, wovenby grandmothers’ gnarled hands.Written in a thousand dialectsin a voice we all understand.Punctuated by tūī trills,reverberating whale song.Adorned with treasurefrom children’s trouser pockets.Let it flowwith contours of land,soar high as imagination.Large enough toshelter all,small enough to carry closeto our hearts.Let it rememberWe areof the Earth,Affirmintimate connections,Remind usto love one another,again. By Arama Rata…
It is not enough to have the right ideas
“And in the cocoon, magic things can happen”[Illustration by MZ of caterpillar turning into butterfly] It is not enough to have the right ideas. Don’t get me wrong. An idea can be a light in the wild. A beacon in dark and stagnant times. But what we so achingly need, is not just the lightbulb,…
Te Tangi A Te Ruru / The Cry of the Ruru 
You must be logged in to post a comment.