Update: NZ Herald is reporting that Ihimaera will be buying back remaining stock of The Trowenna Sea and Penguin will be taking returns from any seller wishing to do so. And they will be issuing a new edition in the new year with full acknowledgements. This is a good turn of events.
The plagiarism row around Witi Ihimaera is continuing, further stoked by his being awarded a $50,000 laureate award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand. I don’t deny he has a significant body of work that puts him in the position of being one of New Zealand’s foremost writers, and would certainly be worthy of recognition.
But. But. But. And there is a significant “but” in this story. It bothers me that there has been little open and honest explanation of what the heck has gone on here. The fact that Ihimaera is one of New Zealand’s foremost writers and is employed as one of the foremost academics in the field of literature in this country makes this hugely troubling. The apology given, both to the general public and to the authors whose work has been used unattributed, was, and is, necessary and right – but how did this happen?
How did a long-term profession writer and academic get to this point? How did a well-respected editorial team allow the writer and his work to get to this point? How does a University employing this professional academic as a teacher of students (teaching and enforcing attribution rules and avoidance of plagiarism) meekly state they are “satisfied there was no deliberate wrongdoing.”? Well then, what exactly went on? Was this a memory failure, an “I didn’t get away with it” failure, a printing failure? *
And, what about the reading public? Smooth it over, defend unto death and go quietly. It would be nice to be treated like adults and given something more than bland statements and defensive answers that imply that it’s none of our business. This isn’t a personal failure, this is a professional failure in a profession that is about public work, and as such the “you don’t deserve an explanation” attitude just doesn’t cut it.
Those sorts of responses have only added to the initial drop in respect for those involved. Sadly.
* Yes, isn’t it a lot of questions?
10 Responses to “Ihimaera saga continues”
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Great set of questions, BookieMonster! I hope you don’t mind that I’ve linked to them from the discussion on my latest post.
http://publicaddress.net/system/topic,2220,busytown-a-turn-up-for-the-books.sm
Hi Jolisa, don’t mind in the slightest, in fact rather flattered.
cheers
I didn’t realise the quote from AU was “no deliberate wrongdoing”. Their plagiarism guidelines explicitly state that plagiarism can happen inadvertently – but still counts as plagiarism.
Yes, I think that is a fairly standard academic guideline (at least from memories of my student days).
Here’s a link to Beattie’s Book Blog with the statement from Geoff Walker at Penguin, quoting Auckland University. http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/penguin-is-standing-by-trowenna-sea.html
Was quoted also in Paul Holmes’ piece in the NZ Herald.
Now terrified I’m not attributing enough…
Too little too late – and really nothing from the U of A and Geoff Walker.
I have never had any time for the Arts Foundation – this paticular award to Ihimaera shows their especial brand of clueless patronage.
Hi Keri, thanks for your comment, I’ve been reading yours on Beatties Book Blog throughout this as well.
The buy back seemed like a positive gesture, but reading the interview posted on Stuff (through Jolisa’s blog) last night was rather depressing. http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/3075602/Ihimaera-to-buy-back-all-copies-of-controversial-book
Still no basic explanation which makes it hard not to think that a certain amount of professional arrogance on behalf of all parties is a large part of it.
What Keri said, especially “clueless patronage.” The Arts Foundation is all about people of money saying how much they love the arts and giving huge amounts of cash to artists who do not need it
I can’t really comment much as my knowledge of the Arts Foundation is hovering slightly above nil. I like that they’ve given money to Chris Knox.
But I do wonder if anyone thought perhaps they should at least take a moment to consider how it would look. Or was it just damn the torpedoes, it’s just a case of bad timing (or extra publicity).