Maori Knowledge Research Articles

Contextualising assessment within Aotearoa New Zealand: drawing from mātauranga Māori

There is long-standing disparity between the schooling success of many Māori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) learners and non-Māori learners. While much work internationally and nationally has focussed on culturally responsive pedagogies, the idea of culturally sustaining assessment has received less attention. Given the historical dominance of a West-centric education system, assessment practices within Aotearoa New Zealand schools have not necessarily embedded a Māori worldview. Informed by cultural advice, assessment constructs that embody manaakitanga (care, respect, hospitality), wānanga (a forum, a sharing of knowledge, a place of learning) and culturally sustaining pedagogy were examined alongside a literature review and analysis of interviews with four education practitioners. Results show that assessment can be designed to acknowledge Māori learners’ capabilities and educational successes. Findings, presented using a Hauora Approach to Assessment (Well-being Approach to Assessment) framework, provide much needed ways for teachers to contextualise assessment within mātauranga Māori (Maori knowledge system).

Troubled waters: Maori values and ethics for freshwater management and New Zealand's fresh water crisis

AbstractThe landmass of Aotearoa New Zealand totals some 268,000 km2, including 425,000 km of rivers, more than 4,000 lakes and approximately 200 aquifers. For Aotearoa New Zealand's indigenous Maori, these freshwater bodies are part of a complex system of genealogical relationships from which derive the traditional Maori knowledge, values and ethics which shape Maori customary practices for freshwater monitoring and freshwater management. The rupture of these relationships through a century and a half of colonization and industrialization and the dispossession of Maori from their lands and waters also dispossessed Maori of their rights and responsibilities to enact traditional customary practices of kaitiakitanga, stewardship of the natural environment. In 2017 Aotearoa New Zealand's freshwater systems were designated as among the worst in the world. Today they are continuing to degrade. This article focuses on Maori traditional knowledge, ethics and values for freshwater monitoring and management. The article reviews the impact of colonization and development on Aotearoa New Zealand's freshwater systems, the extensive struggle by Maori for recognition of Maori traditional knowledge, rights and responsibilities regarding waterways, and the development of contemporary Maori models for freshwater monitoring and management. Treaty settlements and other legislative initiatives have also catalyzed changes in freshwater management. Faced with catastrophic climatic impacts on freshwater systems and implications for the wellbeing of species and communities, questions of how to ethically manage freshwater are critical. Maori freshwater ethics, values and practices provide a model of renewal and possibility, although one that is not without contest.This article is categorized under: Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented Human Water > Water Governance Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness

Pushing and Pulling Organizations to Paradigm Shift: Taking Direction from Indigenous Imagery

In a world facing increasing global challenges such as climate emergency, wildlife extinction, pollution and poverty, most people recognise the dire need for fundamental societal change, yet, we are struggling to respond at a pace required to effect healing transformation. The paper offers two contributions, firstly an articulation of Indigenous-Maori images of the organization and secondly, we demonstrate how Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies, specifically seen here through Indigenous imagery contribute to shifting the paradigm of management and organizational knowledge and practice. In doing so we address how nations might shift organizational paradigms in order to help tackle challenging problems and achieve healing transformation. We present seven Indigenous (Maori) metaphors for organizations: Papatuanuku (personification of nature), kaitiaki (organizations as guardians), whanau (familial networks), taonga tukuiho (legacies), waka (navigators), raranga (weaving), and Maui (innovators). In doing so, we demonstrate how Maori knowledge has had an immense influence on New Zealand management and organizational practices, and signals the beginnings of a paradigmatic shift in the organizational landscape. We discuss the notions of pushing down and pulling up Indigenous imagery as a form of paradigm shifting, which taken up in other contexts presents potential for global transformation.

Unfolding tensions within post-settlement governance and tribal economies in Aotearoa New Zealand

PurposeThis paper aims to examine indigenous governance and economies of iwi Maori (Maori tribes) in Aotearoa New Zealand. Research into persisting inequities amongst iwi that have settled treaty claims and the potential for intervention through new governance models and indigenous entrepreneurship contextualise the paper.Design/methodology/approachKaupapa Maori (Maori philosophy) is used as an indigenous methodology to facilitate and empower transformative change, underpinned by Maori knowledge, language and culture. A multi-level approach is used to collect data from international, national and local tribal organisations. Validity is established through stakeholder engagement.FindingsA central challenge in the post-treaty settlement context is exponentialising tribal capabilities because of the multiple purposes ascribed to post-settled iwi. Four themes, characterised as “unfolding tensions”, offer a critique and basis for solving tribal development challenges: how do tribes create culturally grounded global citizens; how do tribes rebalance wealth creation and wealth distribution; how do tribes recalibrate tribal institutions; and how do tribes embed entrepreneurship and innovation within their economies?Research limitations/implicationsAs data collection is still underway, the paper is conceptual.Practical implicationsFive strategies to address unfolding tensions are identified for tribes to consider.Social implicationsTribal governors and tribal members are implicated in the analysis, as well as the architects of post-treaty settlement governance models.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to theorising about tribal governance, economies and entrepreneurship.

The Māori language science curriculum in Aotearoa/New Zealand: A contribution to sustainable development

New Zealand's Maori language science curriculum, Putaiao i roto i to Marautanga o Aotearoa (1996), which followed Science in the New Zealand Curriculum (1993), was not introduced because of a need to convey meaning; all New Zealand Maori (currently about 14% of the total population) speak English. Nor did it arise primarily to promote science education. Instead, along with other Maori language curricula in Mathematics and Technology, developed in the 1990s, Putaiao was one of the responses to a growing public desire (resonating with legislation in the 1980s) to promote Maori language, culture and values in their own right. The writing of these Maori language curricula, however, took place in the absence of any detailed overview statement from government about their purpose. In the case of Putaiao, feedback to the writers from government was notable for directives that the structure of this new curriculum (like the pre-existing English language science curriculum) comply with the generic New Zealand Curriculum Framework, the document which initiated the whole process. The Framework's non­negotiable requirement that all curricula present content knowledge in separate strands, and that learning always be described in terms of a linear system of levels, posed considerable challenges for the writing team. T he outcome is that, in its final version, Putaiao is basically a translation, with some rearrangement, of the English language document. Its strength is that, thanks to the Maori vocabulary for science terminology which its writing stimulated, Putaiao makes possible the extended use of Maori language in school science lessons. On the other hand, the received parameters of the Framework meant that Putaiao basically reflects little that can specifically b e identified as Maori knowledge structures or epistemologies. This deficiency calls into question how far Putaiao will contribute to New Zealand's sustainable development - the making possible of genuine choices in the future. Prior to the 1980s, sustainable development in a bicultural context in New Zealand had been legislated for in terms of material assets, especially matters concerning land ownership. The case of Putaiao suggests that sustainable development through the use of an indigenous language in schools, in turn, raises even deeper-level issues of cultural ownership.

Assertions of cultural autonomy: indigenous Maori knowledge in New Zealand's community-based Maungatautari Eco-island project

This paper describes, situates and evaluates the use of indigenous knowledge by local Maori stakeholders in the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust and project, a multi-stakeholder community-based biodiversity conservation project located on New Zealand's North Island. Local Maori groups known as Mana Whenua (subtribes with ancestral rights to certain lands) connect through ancestral and tribal ties to Maungatautari, a prominent mountain in the Waikato region and site of the project. They have with varying success asserted cultural rights and sought for inclusion of cultural protocols and indigenous knowledge. In conjunction with the pursuit of their Waitangi Treaty claim for lost land and rights, this has further (re)constructed and crystallised notions of culture and identity for them. These efforts have and will continue to provide leveraging power to Mana Whenua within the project, which enables them to implement their cultural knowledge and protocols in a “culturally safe” and inclusive multi-stakeholder partnership; accentuate their sociocultural uniqueness from other New Zealanders; and contribute on their own terms to the development of Maungatautari as a compelling ecotourism site and a globally significant biodiversity conservation reserve.

Ko Aotearoa Tenei: Law and Policy Affecting Maori Culture and Identity

AbstractIn July 2011 what is commonly known as the Wai 262 Report was released. After a protracted series of hearings, dating back to 1997, the New Zealand Waitangi Tribunal has at last reported on the some of the wide range of issues canvassed in those hearings. Three beautifully illustrated volumes contain a large number of recommendations in what is described as a whole-of-government report. This article notes earlier comments on Wai 262 in this journal and reframes what is often known as the ‘Maori renaissance’ from which this claim emerged in 1991. The Tribunal decided not to discuss historical aspects of the evidence presented, except for the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907, as this was not ‘an orthodox territorial claim’ allowing the Crown to negotiate with iwi for a Treaty Settlement. Of great significance for this readership, the Tribunal staunchly refused to entertain any discussion of ‘ownership’ claims to Maori cultural property. Rather, the Tribunal focussed on ‘perfecting the Treaty partnership’ between the two founding peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand. Its report is concerned with the future and with the Treaty of Waitangi when the nation has moved beyond the grievance mode that has dominated the last quarter century. The partnership principles are pragmatic and flexible. Very seldom indeed can Maori expect to regain full authority over their treasured properties and resources. The eight major topics of the chapters on intellectual property, genetic and biological resources, the environment, the conservation estate, the Maori language, Maori knowledge systems, Maori medicines and international instruments are briefly summarised. The author is critical of this Tribunal panel's timidity in refusing to make strong findings of Treaty breach as the basis for practical recommendations—the approach usually adopted in previous Tribunal reports on contemporary issues. The article then notes that the Wai 262 report featured significantly in 2012 hearings on Maori claims to proprietary rights in freshwater resources. It featured not to assist the freshwater claimants, however, but as a shield wielded by the Crown to try to deny Maori any remedy.The low bar of partnership consultations encouraged by the Wai 262 report was congenial for Crown counsel seeking to undermine Maori claims to customary rights akin to ‘ownership’ of water. The 2012 Tribunal panel, under a new Chief Judge, restrictively distinguished the Wai 262 report and found in favour of Maori rights to water. In conclusion, the article notes the irony of a government following neo-liberal policies in pursuing a privatisation strategy and yet relying on ‘commons’ rhetoric to deny Maori any enforceable rights to water; and of indigenous people arguing for ownership property rights to frustrate that government's policies.

Maori Wellbeing and Being-in-the-World: Challenging Notions for Psychological Research and Practice in New Zealand

Psychological research and practice in New Zealand has a long history of a positivist inspired epistemology and a pragmatic evidence-based approach to therapeutic treatment. There is a growing realization that a more meaningful interface between research and practice is required to accommodate indigenous Maori knowledge of wellbeing and living. The dominant Western psychological view in New Zealand of world, time, illness and wellbeing results in practices that do not make sense in cultural terms. The medicalisation and classification of psychological disorders cannot account for the degree to which cultural and spiritual factors are associated with problems of living. Heidegger’s analysis of Being and his phenomenological method of understanding these matters ontologically reflect a persuasion not dissimilar to the worldview of the Maori and their notion of wellbeing. It offers some direction to the question of how to better integrate psychological research and practice in New Zealand.

Te Hoe Nuku Roa: A journey towards Maori centered research

Maori people have a unique body of knowledge that, while based on ancestral  traditions, has adapted  to meet con-temporary  challenges. While Maori  knowledge  is widely applied in Maori communities it is now increasingly being used in mainstream domains.This  paper will  focus  on  a  project  known  as  Best Out-comes For Māori: Te Hoe Nuku Roa Maori Profiles, a longitudinal Maori household project with a focus on Maori development in cultural, social and economic terms. This project  is  based  on  a  cultural  framework  that  has  been formulated from ‘traditional’ principles. It provides a model for  the  interaction  between Maori  knowledge  and main-stream  social  science  practices  and  demonstrates  how Maori knowledge and the Western scientific tradition can be used together to resolve critical failings in previous re-search and advance the aspirations of Maori people. It is just one example of how traditional principles are demon-strating their continuing value in contemporary Maori de-velopment.  “The challenge  today  is  to survive as Māori, to  retain a Maori  identity, while still being able  to partici-pate fully in society and in the communities of the world.”   (Durie 1997)

Curriculum and language in Aotearoa New Zealand: From science to Putaiao

What becomes of knowledge when a language has been displaced through colonisation and is being recovered and revitalized? In the 1970s in Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand), Maori began teaching their children through the medium of te reo Maori [Maori language] (L1) in an attempt to save it from extinction. This paper explores the translation work in relation to a new technical language development (L3) based on the language of instruction (L2) for a new Maori language science curriculum [putaiao]. We argue that the development of new terminology, no matter how culturally sensitive the process is, creates new problems. First, the new words can be perceived as representing traditional knowledge and, secondly, traditional Maori knowledge will be erased with the new language. The challenge presented to all concerned is how students will develop a more authentic experience of Maori language, knowledge and culture. The paper argues that the journey between science and putaiao is an ongoing transformation based on language and the epistemology held within and is made more complex by the relationships that exist between L1 (home), L2 (school), and L3 (discipline specific) in a language revitalization context.

Medicinal Uses of Fungi by New Zealand Maori People

Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand, arriving about a thousand years ago from Polynesia and developing a tribal society based on natural resources of the forest, the sea, and fresh water. In the absence of written language prior to European colonization, transfer of knowledge by the Maori was oral. Early European explorers and ethnographers documented many significant features of Maori traditional knowledge. Much detail of their knowledge relating to fungi, however, appears to have been lost through disruption of oral transmission from elders to the young. This is indicated, for example, by the lack of known correlation between many of the 183 Maori names for different species of fungi and Latin binomials and lack of knowledge of the use of most species.Fungi were not recognized as a natural grouping by Maori, and only recently has the word for Armillaria spp. (“harore”) been selected as the most appropriate generic term in Maori for all fungi. Consumption of mushrooms was the main use of fungi by Maori although mushrooms were not considered a prize food. Other uses included tinder and fire carrying (Laetiporus portentosus), a source of charcoal as pigment for “ta moko”—tatoo (Cordyceps robertsii), and as an environmental indicator (Armillaria spp. and mushrooms in general).A recent attempt to collate Maori knowledge about fungi included a survey of published reports as well as interviews with Maori elders and younger Maori. Documented medicinal uses appear to be limited to six fungal species, and only one of these was known to interviewees. Detailed information is often lacking about preparation and application of the mushrooms and the definitive symptom(s) that were treated:

Conservation of relict potato Solanum tuberosum cultivars within Maori communities in New Zealand

It is generally accepted by scholars that potatoes were first introduced to New Zealand in the late 18th century by Captain James Cook and the French explorer, Marion du Fresne. Further introductions of potatoes from a variety of sources including possible direct introductions from South America, followed into the 19th century. Maori were quick to recognize the advantages that these new introductions had over their traditional food crops including kumara (sweet potato) Ipomoea batatas and Taro Colocasia esculentum both of which they introduced from east Polynesia some 800-100 years previously. Potatoes soon became a staple item in the Maori diet and an important trade commodity and by the mid-19th century they were growing thousands of hectares of potatoes for that purpose. The various cultivars that were introduced were given Maori names and many of these early types are still grown by Maori, having been passed down through families for many generations. With their deep set eyes, often knobbly irregular shape, "open" leaves and colourful tubers these "Maori Potatoes" are quite distinctive in appearance from modern potatoes and some retain many of the features of Solanum tuberosum subsp. andigena types. This paper discusses the adoption of the potato by Maori, the effects it had on Maori society and the perpetuation of the early cultivars within Maori families and communities. This examination of an introduced crop plant and its intersection with an indigenous people is essentially an ethnobotanical study which in addition to its botanical and anthropological foci includes elements of Matauranga Maori (traditional Maori knowledge) history, geography and horticulture. The preservation of these old potato cultivars by generations of Maori people has made a valuable contribution to conservation of biological diversity.