Powerpoint presentation

Learning Module

Kahukura 1968 Gordon Walters

Māori Knowledge of People and Relationships.

Associate Professor Evan Poata-Smith

Learning Module Overview Our focus in this module § How do systems of indigenous knowledge shape ideas 1

of the ‘self’ and others?

§ How do these knowledge systems shape the roles, responsibilities and obligations people have to one another and to the natural environment?

Case study: New Zealand Māori: Whakapapa.

2

Overview

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

1.Identify and describe the way indigenous knowledge systems map relationships on both the terrestrial and spiritual levels.

2.Describe how whakapapa is used to clarify roles, obligations and responsibilities to land and to kin in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

3.To discuss how Māori notions of whānaungātanga (kinship) shape the mental models or conceptual schemes that are used to make sense of the world.

Whakapapa What is whakapapa? Learning Module

§ The genealogical connections of individuals and groups to

particular ancestors.

§ It not only records human descent lines, it maps the

relationships we have to each other.

§ It also plots the roles, responsibilities and obligations people

have to one another on the basis of kinship.

NB In the Māori language kinship is called whānaungātanga. Other Māori terms for genealogy are kāwai and tātai.

Āpirana Ngata (Ngāti Porou) 1874– 1950: a key Māori politician in the early 20th century and a significant Whakapapa Learning Module

What is whakapapa?

§ The word derives from the Māori verb to

place in layers another .

or lay one upon

§ East Coast elder Āpirana Ngata explained

whakapapa as:

The process of laying one thing upon

another. If you visualise the foundation leader in the Māori community. ancestors as the first generation, the next and succeeding ancestors are placed on them in ordered layers.

Whakapapa Learning Module

However, whakapapa constitutes something more than an a genealogical table:

§ It links human beings genealogically to the origins of the

universe (and therefore all animate and inanimate phenomena in the universe).

§ In this sense, whakapapa not only binds people to other

people, it binds people to the natural environment.

§ It is a complex knowledge system that is preserved and

transmitted from one generation to the next.

Whakapapa can be considered a mental model:

Whakapapa is a “…fundamental form of knowing: it functions as an epistemological template”.

– Smith, L. (2000). “Kaupapa Māori research”. In Battiste, M. (ed.),

Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, p. 234.

Whakapapa constitutes “…the skeletal structure to Māori epistemology”.

– Tau, Te M. (1999), ‘Matauranga Māori as an epistemology’, Te

Pouhere Korero, 1(1), p.15.

“…rationalize existence and explain the origins of the universe… whakapapa codes (identifies and names) and calibrates (measures and identifies component parts) existence [by] attempting to understand the collusion of space (location), time (history) and matter (communities and individuals).”

Wharehuia Hemara

(2004), Whakapapa. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, p.1.

“Māori use of whakapapa and narrative creates a ‘metaphysical gestalt’ or whole, integrated pattern, for the oral communication of knowledge.”

Mere Roberts et al.

(2004) “Whakapapa as a Maori Mental Construct: Some Implications for the Debate over Genetic Modification of Organisms”, The Contemporary Pacific, Spring 2004, p.1..

Whakapapa Learning Module

1. Creation genealogies

§ The founda+on from which all other whakapapa

(genealogies) derive.

§ These are the most revered of all narra+ves because

they lay down fundamental beliefs about the nature of reality (i.e. an ontology).

§ Genealogies of crea+on vary from community to

community, or from region to region, and from tohunga (expert) to tohunga (expert).

• Genealogies most often begin with the unfolding
  • f the universe through various states of existence.

Te Pō

of creation).

(representing the unknown darkness

Te Kore

(primal source of energy, creative potential)

Te Ao

(the light).

Learning Module

Te Ahukaramū’s versions

§ Gave two different whakapapa

involving Te Pō, Te Kore and Te Ao. The first shows the progressions from darkness to light:

Te Pō (night, darkness) Te Ata (dawn) Te Ao (light, world) Te Ao-tū-roa (longstanding world) Te Ao Mārama (world of light).

Te Ahukaramū, a 19th-century Ngāti Raukawa leader, and his wife Manumea.

Whakapapa Learning Module

Wīremu Maihi Te Rangikāheke’s version*:

Te Pō, te Pō

Te Ao, te Ao

Te kimihanga, te hahunga, i te kore, i te kore

Ko te nui, ko te roanga

Rangi = Papa.

The night, the dark

The day, the day

The seeking, the adzing out from the nothing, the nothing

The immensity, the endurance

Sky father and Earth mother.

*Te Rangikāheke (Ngati Rangiwewehi) 1815?-1896

Creation genealogies

• Genealogical recitations usually culminate in Ranginui and Papatūānuku (the sky father and earth mother).
• This is often followed by the deities of nature and the beginnings of human and other life forms, as explanations of how the world came to be.

15

Learning Module

Creation Genealogies

In the creation of the world Ranginui and Papatūānuku were the first ancestors.

§ Their children ruled the natural world and are responsible for

the emergence of human beings and all aspects of the natural world.

Children of Ranginui and Papatūānuku:

§ Tāwhirimatea controlled the winds; § Tangaroa controlled the sea; § Tāne-mahuta controlled the forest; § Tūmatauenga was responsible for war and humankind; § Rongo was deity of cultivated foods and Haumia was reponsible

for uncultivated foods.

Source: Roberts, M. et al. (2004) “Whakapapa as a Māori Mental Construct: Some Implications for the Debate over Genetic Modification of Organisms”, The Contemporary Pacific, Spring 2004, p.1.

Kāne, Kū and Kanaloa

NB These names are found throughout Polynesia.

Tāne, Tū and Tangaroa

19 Learning Module Whakapapa This coin from the Cook Islands shows a carving of Tangaroa, deity of the sea.

Other Polynesian narratives also have an origin story linking earth and sky. While the names of the sky differ, names for the earth ancestor – are very similar.

Papatūānuku, Acrylic on canvas by Phil Mokaraka Berry

NB all begin with the prefix “Papa”.

In Tonga: Papakele In Aotearoa: Papatūānuku In Samoa: Papa ele In Rarotonga, Paparoa-i-te-itinga In Tahiti: Papatu oi Creation genealogies Whakapapa Learning Module

In Hawai’i: Papa

Creation traditions could be highly localised:

§ The Ngāi Tūhoe people descend from the mist

of the Urewera Ranges.

§ Known as Hine-pūkohu-rangi, the mist is a

tipuna (ancestor).

§ From the union of Hine-pūkohu-rangi with Te

Maunga (the mountain) came Pōtiki, a human who was the ancestor of Tūhoe, the founder of the tribe.

Urewera in mist.

Different forms of whakapapa

§ There are four different ways whakapapa

was used:

1. Whakamoe
2. Taotahi
3. Tararere
4. Whakapiri.

24

Whakamoe: line includes spouses

Learning Module

Taotahi: line excludes spouses

“Tararere”: single line of descent

Whakapiri: line to show connections

Whakapiri

To define a person s position in respect of another, a common ancestor was traced, counting down the generations to both people.

If the two are found to be from the same generation, a speaker would have to consider whether the other was from a senior branch, and should be called tuakana (descended from a senior line), or from a younger branch, so should be called taina (from a junior line).

Learning Module

Whakapapa (genealogical connections)

Ko wai koe? Nā wai koe?

§ These declarations not only consolidated relationships with ancestors and the natural environment, they also served to differentiate Māori on an

iwi and hapū basis.

§ When asked Ko wai koe? (who are you?), the response

integrates features of the natural environment (mountains, rivers, seas, lakes) and common ancestors, together with the more specific origins of your extended family.

The next two slides are examples of my response (also known as a

pepeha : i.e. a well known set of verses that describe one s genealogical links to a particular hapū or iwi; and are therefore specific to each individual and the people they descend from).

Ko Tinana te waka Ko Tumoana te tangata Ko Karirikura te moana Ko Whangatauatea te maunga Ko Te Ōhākī te whare tipuna Ko Roma te marae Ko Ahipara te kainga Ko Te Rārawa te iwi Tinana is the canoe Tumoana is the navigator Karirikura is the sea Whangatauatea is the mountain Te Ōhākī is the ancestral house Roma is the marae Ahipara is the place Te Rārawa are the people MAORI IDENTITY Ko wai au? Who am I? Ko wai au? Who am I? MAORI IDENTITY

Kinship

Iwi , hapū and whānau are the basic kinship units of Māori society based on descent from a common ancestor.

Kinship (whanaungatanga):

• Iwi are the largest kinship grouping that draws people together on the basis
  • f a founding ancestor.
• Each iwi is made up of various semi-autonomous hapū (clans or descent groups) that trace descent from the offspring of that founding ancestor.
• Hapū may range in size from one hundred to several hundred people, and consist of a number of whānau (extended families).
• Hapū have responsibilities and obligations to a defined portion of territory.

Often, these Māori concepts are described as

Whakapapa Learning Module tribes and extended families in the literature.

tribes, sub

Kinship

The use of the word reasons:

tribe is problematic for a number of

1.It has deep roots in a Euro-centric colonial anthropological tradition where tribes were defined as more ‘primitive’ forms of social organisation that were yet to be

modernised’.

2.Settler colonial states also redefined indigenous communities in hierarchical

ways as

contiguous principalities paramount chiefs’.*

or discrete kingdoms ruled over by

v This notion was, of course, especially attractive to colonial officials

looking for an easily identifiable, all-embracing and authoritative body with which to negotiate land purchases.

The use of ‘tribes’ and ‘sub-tribes’ also ignores and disregards indigenous understandings of kinship.

Note how whakapapa (genealogy) is actually entrenched in the meaning of key Māori concepts of kinship:

• Iwi = literally means bones .
• Hapū = literally means pregnant
• Whānau = literally means birth

This is also the case with respect to Māori understandings of land.

• Whenua = the Māori word for land’; but it is also the word for placenta’.

36 This is the inside of a poupou (vertical panels on the sides of the house). (ancestral house). Note the 35 whare tipuna

Whakapapa Recalling whakapapa Learning Module 37 Represent specific ancestors of the local area and their particular stories. “Poupou”:

Those formally trained as repositories of oral lore could recite hundreds of names in interlocking genealogies.

…evidence exists that the most expert tohunga did have phenomenal memories… There is some evidence that genealogies were learned in metric patterns involving changes of pitch for each generation, similar to intonation of waiata [songs], in formalised patterns designed to aide the memory…Genealogies were often rendered at a speed and in a tone of voice designed to protect both the tapu information and the status of the tohunga.

Ballara, A. (1991) The Origins of Ngati Kahungunu, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington, pp. 550-551.

38

Recalling whakapapa

§ Ethnographer Elsdon Best described one Māori informant who

dictated from memory 341 waiata (songs) and karakia (prayers).

§ Tamarau Waiari of Ngāti Koura recited 1,400 names before a

1890s Native Land Court hearing, in a dense interwoven genealogy including all living persons from a single ancestor about 20 generations earlier.

§ These individual experts had contemporaries in their whānau,

hapū and iwi, with other traditional knowledge, meaning that the overall collective genealogical memory of tribes was much larger than these impressive individual examples.

39

Whakapapa experts often had Recalling whakapapa: rākau

whakapapa , which looked similar to walking sticks, but had small ridges running along the shaft.

§ This is held by an orator. § The hand is moved along the notches as

whakapapa is recited.

§ Each new notch represents a

new generation.

Learning Module

Recalling whakapapa

§ Whakapapa links to landscape were recalled in waiata (songs), particularly oriori (chanted to children), and in stories.

§ Waiata (songs) embellished the meaning of whakapapa.

§ Kōrero (stories) and traditions were recalled which also

added meaning to whakapapa.

Whakapapa Learning Module Recalling whakapapa: 41

§ With the introduction of writing, whakapapa soon began

to be written down in manuscripts and books.

§ These books were considered tapu and were handled

carefully.

§ In many cases, when their owners died the books would

be buried with them or burnt because of the level of tapu they were considered to have.

§ In the late 19th century, when important people passed

away, their whakapapa links to the most important tribal

canoes were sent to be printed in the newspapers.

42

Other considerations:

§ Impact of colonial processes (particularly land alienation

and the subsequent relocation of people) on knowledge of whakapapa and whānaungātanga (kinship links).

§ The distortion of whakapapa and Māori oral histories by

amateur ethnographers and historians.

§ The impact of hierarchical and static models of tribal

social and political structure introduced by anthropologists and imposed on more fluid Māori knowledge systems.

§ The historical role of the state in redefining Māori kinship

institutions.

43

Learning Module

Further Reading:

• Walker, R.J., Ka Whawhau Tonu Matou: Struggle Without End, Penguin Books, pp. 63-77.
• Te Rito, J.S., Whakapapa: A framework for understanding identity, MAI Review, 2007, Article 2.
• Roberts, M. (2013). ”Ways of Seeing: Whakapapa", Sites: New Series, Vol
  1. No 1, pp. 93-120.
• Poata-Smith, E., The Treaty of Waitangi Settlement Process and the Changing Contours of Māori Identity , in Hayward, J. and Wheen, N.R. (eds.), The Waitangi Tribunal, Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 2004, pp. 168-183.

44

More suggestions and sources:

• Ballara, A, The Origins of Ngati Kahungunu, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand, 1991.
• Mitchell, J. H. Takitimu. Wellington: A. H. and A. W. Reed, 1944.
• Ngata, A. T. The genealogical method as applied to the early history of New Zealand. Paper presented at a meeting of the Wellington Branch of the Historical Association, 1929.
• Ngata, A. T. Rauru-nui-ā-Toi lectures and Ngati Kahungunu origin. Wellington: Victoria University, 1972.
• Simmons, D. R. The great New Zealand myth: a study of the discovery and
  • rigin traditions of the Maori. Wellington: A. H. and A. W. Reed, 1976.
• Simmons, D. R. The Taonui Manuscript. Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum 12 (1975): 57–82.