Te Kaharoa (E-Journal)
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Reinga to Leina: Ghost - Dancing Leylines
Get PDF In this essay I evoke ghostly remnants of my choreographic research practices[1] facilitated via a series of global inter-disciplinary collaborations in Hawaii[2] and California[3] bridging Māori cosmologies and epistemological frame works with inter-cultural collectives[4]. Reconstructing diary, email and interview material[5] offers a unique creative insight into contemporary Maori performing art practices, re-experiencing the presentness of time, as intimately informed by an erased other, where the former recipient now becomes the medium, the ghost reader. This essay mirrors the creative processes, tracing moments, already lived, to dance the intangible spirit across leylines of transitional space[6].
[1] Cultural interventions within community spaces of exchange such as public singing lessons, group visits to sites, performative explorations, community sleepovers.
[2] Work was undertaken at The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum during a seven week artist residency in 2013
[3] Work was undertaken as a guest choreographer in residence at University of California Berkeley for the Berkeley Dance Project in 2014 and as an Assistant Professor at the University of California Riverside during Spring Quarter 2014
[4] I am a founding member of Atamira Dance Company and was involved in the collaboration of the Whare Tapere by Charles Royal and Louise Potiki Bryant
[5] I have used my emails as a source material to reflect the nature of fragmentary knowledge and cultural revitalisation, a major part of the Whare Tapere as a research archive
[6] Local Maori tribes hold various sources of story that relate to Cape Reinga or Rerenga Wairua as a spiritual highway. These leylines are echoed throughout the world, in places I have travelled such as Hawaii and New Mexico
Retracing Ancestral Footsteps
Get PDFIn Aotearoa New Zealand, retracing the footsteps of famous Maori tipuna or ancestral trails is not a new phenomena, but the availability of social media has enabled this information more accessible, reaching a wider audience. Events span from retracing tribal battles, following ancestral mountain trails to the moana and beyond. One such voyage, involved a group of 50 students from Tauranga Moana, who retraced their ancestral connections of the Takitimu waka back to Rarotonga (Te Kanawa, 30 July 2016). The Commemoration of the Battle of Ruapekapeka also followed the footsteps of tipuna, the famous warrior chief Te Ruki Kawiti and his peoples, whose memories were honoured by a 400 strong haka party, dignitaries, politicians and hundreds of people, (Forbes, 2016). Following the journey of Tainui rangatira, was a pre-season bonding exercise that Waikato Chiefs rugby coach Dave Rennie identified as beneficial for his players to learn more about their surroundings ‘…an arduous two-day torture test which connected with the past, the land, the people and the sea they will represent this season’ (Napier, 2013). Over the last three decades, there has also been an increasing interest in the histories of Māori prophets throughout Aotearoa. The journey of children from Parihaka Pa was made into a documentary named Tatarakihi: The Children of Parihaka (2012), which followed the ancestral journey of their tipuna Te Whiti ō Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi (and their people), arrested in Parihaka Taranaki for ploughing their land and wrongfully imprisoned in Christchurch and Dunedin without trial (www.parihakafilm.com; https://www.nzonscreen.com). The Tamakaimoana people also undertook a pilgrimage in December 2013 to retrace the footsteps of their prophet Rua Kenana from Maungapōhatu (Te Karere, April 4 2016). Several Gisborne iwi recently retraced the route from Gisborne to the Rēkohu Chatham Islands following their prophet Te Kooti Arikirangi (Smith, 2016). Retracing the footsteps of ancestors is not only a physical undertaking, but for many, also an emotional, cultural and spiritual journey. The Waitaha People of Te Waipounamu South Island, retraced Te Maihāroa (? – 1885) and Te Heke (The Migration 1877-79) on a contemporary peace walk called Te Heke Omaramataka (2012). The experiences of these trekkers were captured by filmmaker Bronwyn Judge in a free to view documentary entitled ‘Te Heke 2012 Waitaki Mouth to Omarama’ (Judge, B, 2012, Youtube: Te Heke 2012 Waitaki Mouth to Omarama). This paper is based on the whanau journals recorded by participants as they trekked from the Waitaki river mouth to Omarama in December 2012
Maori Prophetic Movements as Sites of Political Resistance: A Critical Analysis
No full textThis article will argue that Māori prophetic movements were sites of political resistance where Māori prophets resisted colonisation and developed syncretic theologies that gave their followers a sense of hope within a tumultuous colonial environment. The movements of four Māori prophets will be discussed in chronological order: Te Atua Wera and the Nākahi movement; Te Ua Haumēne and the Pai Mārire or Hauhau movement; Te Kooti’s Ringatū movement; and Rua Kēnana and the Iharaira movement. This article will critically analyse these Māori prophetic movements as sites of religious and political resistance to show how Māori prophets challenged colonisation and land loss
Tūwhitia Te Hopo, Mairangatia Te Angitū
Get PDFTokohia kē nei ngā tāngata e whai ana, e ako ana i te reo Māori ka patua tonutia, ka whakatekotekotia anō e tēnei mea rongonui, e te whakamā? I ēnei rā, ko te nuinga o ngā pakeke e kōrero Māori ana, he reo rua Māori. I āta rangahaua tēnei āhuatanga e Vincent Olsen-Reeder (2017, wh.99) rāua ko Te Huia (2013, wh.198), ki tā rāua, ”Ko tēnei mea te whakamā he āhuatanga ka pā ki te tini me te mano o te reo rua Māori, o te hunga kōrero Māori, tae atu anō ki te hunga matatau”. Hei tautoko ake i tēnei, anei ngā kupu nā Olsen-Reeder (2017) i tīpakohia e ia i ngā rangahau a Selby (2006) rātou ko Christensen (2001), ko Te Huia (2013), arā, “Kotahi tonu pea te taniwha hiku roa e rere ai te mauri o te reo rua Māori, arā ia ko te whakamā
Discovery Myths of New Zealand: Some Cultural, Historical, and Philosophical Perspectives
Get PDFThe discovery of New Zealand, first by Polynesia and followed by Europe, have become important narratives in the nation’s evolving sense of identity.[i] However, these narratives are neither straightforward in themselves, nor always completely complementary with each other. The purpose of this particle is to explore some of the historical, cultural, and philosophical bases of these discovery myths, with a focus on their construction and reconstruction. What emerges from this survey is that the discovery myths are an example of history being appropriated at times for ideological purposes, and that the character and content of these myths is necessarily fluid in order to accommodate the shifting requirements for which they are employed.
[i] Elements of this article are taken from my book Encounters, the Creation of New Zealand, A History, Auckland, 2013
Nostalgic Utopianism: The New Zealand Values Party’s 1972 Blueprint
Get PDFAlthough the manifestos or policies of most New Zealand political parties aspire to improve some aspect of the country, few have matched the Values Party’s 1972 Blueprint for the utopian form and extent of the changes it promised to being into effect. And unlike the policies of most other New Zealand political parties in the twentieth century, the Values Party proposed that material progress ought to be stopped at some point, echoing the notion of the stationary state which John Stuart Mill devised in 1848. However, the Blueprint’s distinctly utopian orientation was not only necessarily subversive of the political status quo in the country, but simultaneously rejected the past and present in favour of a radically transformed future, while (seemingly paradoxically) drawing on a nostalgic interpretation of aspects of New Zealand’s colonial era as a thematic source of its utopian construct for the country. This article examines these dimensions of the Blueprint, and how the inherent flaws in practically all utopian movements similarly undermined the Values Party’s programme for a utopian New Zealand
Te Ara ō Rakimārie: The Pathway of Peaceful Living
Get PDFThis paper traces the peacebuilding efforts of Anne Te Maihāora Dodds (Waitaha) in her North Otago community over the last twenty-five years. The purpose of this paper is to record these unique localized efforts, as an historical record of grass-roots initiatives aimed at creating a greater awareness of indigenous and environmental issues. It describes the retracing of ancestral footsteps of Te Heke Ōmaramataka (2012), the peace walk at Maungatī (2012) and the Ocean to Alps Celebration (1990). This paper also discusses the genesis behind cultural events such as Oamaru Stone Carving (2000), the short film entitled Tohu (2006), the dramatization of Te Maihāroa and Te Heke (2002) and the historically significant Waitaha Taoka (treasures) held within the Willets Family Artefacts Collection (1990). The accompanied whānau photographs present a visual snapshot of these experiences and provide a sense of the occasions. This paper is concluded with a brief synopsis of these peacebuilding activities, and the added richness to this rural community
Te Umutaoroa – A Patuheuheu Research Model
Get PDFThis article describes a Māori world view, and contrasts it with a Pākehā world view in order to demonstrate how cultural norms influence the way in which a person views the world. This article will explain the notion of Kaupapa Māori ideology, which is supported by the Māori world view. The Rangihau model, which places the Māori world view at the centre and locates the Pākehā world view on the periphery, will be used here to illustrate Kaupapa Māori ideology. One of the features of the Rangihau model is the cultural notion of whenua, which is used as a portal through which to access a new research model. This model can be used as a methodological basis for research pertaining to Patuheuheu hapū – a subtribe of Ngāi Tūhoe
Ngā Tikanga Whakamāori Kōrero: Ngā Tikanga Whakamāori Kōrero
No full textNō te whakamanatanga o te Ture Reo Māori i te tau 1987 ka ara ake i tana moe te mahi nei o te whakamāori kōrero. Nā te ākinga e taua ture i puāwai ai te ahumahi whakamāori i ngā tau tata o muri mai, ā, mohoa nei e kaha tonu ana i te rāngai pāpāho, i te rāngai ture me te rāngai mātauranga. Hei tā Te Rōpū Kaiwhakamāori ā-waha, ā-tuhi o Aotearoa1 e tika ai tētehi whakamāoritanga me mau tonu te aronga ake o ngā kōrero ake, ā, kia kaua rawa atu te whakaaro e whakariroia, e tāpirihia, e tangohia rānei e te kaiwhakamāori.2 Ahakoa he aha te reo, ahakoa te momo reo, kei te kaiwhakamāori te haepapa ki te whakatutuki i tēnā whāinga, engari te kaiwhakamāori tuhinga pakimaero, ko te wātea ōna kei te āhua o tāna whakamāori i te tuhinga, inā hoki, kotahi te kōrero, manomano whakamāoritanga. E rua ngā tino tikanga hei whāinga mā te kaiwhakamāori; ko tētehi ko te whakaahurea-tauiwi3 i te kōrero, arā, ko te mau tonu ki te ahurea me ngā ariā o te tuhinga ake, ahakoa pēwhea nei te rerekē o taua ahurea me aua ariā i ō te reo tuarua. Tēnā ko tēnei, ko te whakaahurea-māori4 i te kōrero, arā, ko te whakahāngai mai i te ahurea me ngā ariā o te tuhinga ake ki ō te reo tuarua (Yang, 2010). Ehara noa iho i te whakamāori ākupu, engari he whakamāori i te ahurea kia tau ai te noho o te kōrero i roto i te reo tuarua. Kāti, kia tirohia ētehi tauira o mua me ētehi o nā tata nei i whakamāorihia mai i te reo Pākehā e whai ana i ēnei tikanga whakamāori e rua. Mā te pēnā e mōhiotia ai me pēwhea te kaiwhakamāori tuhinga pakimaero i ēnei rā. Ko te Paipera Tapu te pukapuka kua kaha rawa te whakamāorihia, huri i te ao. Kua eke tonu ki te 3000 ngā reo o tēnei pukapuka (Wycliffe Global Alliance, 2017). Nō te tau 1827 i tāia tuatahitia ai ētehi wāhanga o te Paipera Tapu i Poihākena. He mea whakamāori aua wāhanga nā ngā mihingare, nā Henry “Karuwhā” rāua ko tana teina, ko William “Parata” Williams (New Zealand Bible Society, 2017). Kei whea rā he tauira i tua atu i tā rāua i waiho mai ai hei whakaatu i te tikanga o te whakaahurea-tauiwi i te kōrero? Ahakoa he rerekē noa atu tā te Karaitiana titiro ki te ao, i tā te Māori, kāore ngā koroua rā i paku whai ki te whakaahurea-māori i ngā kōrero. Heoi anō, he whāinga anō tā ngā mihingare i pēnā ai rātou. Nā te pēnā i ako ai ngā iwi Māori i ngā tikanga me ngā ariā ā-ahurea o te whakapono Karaitiana. 
The critical theory of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki
Get PDFInscribed in an autograph book in 1949, Sir Āpirana Ngata’s[1] celebrated ōhāki, or parting/death speech, encourages Māori to understand introduced Pākehā knowledge and technologies, while maintaining the knowledge and traditions of their ancestors as a two-pronged approach for Māori progression. He states:
E tipu, e rea, mō ngā rā tōu ao;
Ko tō ringa ki ngā rākau a te Pākehā hei ara mō te tinana;
Ko tō ngākau ki ngā taonga a ō tīpuna Māori hei tikitiki mō tō māhuna,
ā ko tō wairua ki tō Atua nāna nei ngā mea katoa (Panapa, n.d., p. 33, emphasis added).
Anglican Bishop, W. N. Panapa, gave the following translation:
Grow up oh tender plant
To fulfil the needs of your generation;
Your hand clasping the weapons of the pakeha
As a means for your physical progress,
Your heart centred on the treasures
Of your Maori ancestors
As a plume upon your head,
Your soul given to God
The author of all things (Panapa, n.d., p. 33, emphasis added).
With these words, Ngata offers positive change for Māori going forward through the advantageous amalgamation of two different knowledge systems: ngā rākau a te Pākehā - Western knowledge; and ngā taonga a ō tīpuna Māori - Māori knowledge.
Tipene Tihema-Biddle, a healer from the Waiōhau community in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, states that there needs to be a balance between the whare Māori and the whare Pākehā – the Māori and Pākehā paradigms:
We talk about the whare Pākehā and the whare Māori, and the way we work through things is to come to the realisation that one whare should not impose its tikanga on the other. Yes, Pākehā have imposed their tikanga on Māori for so long and we know the outcomes of that…. It is our belief – and indeed it is the way that we operate in our healing practice – that the whare Māori and the whare Pākehā have their own tikanga working within them, but that both can be neighbours, rather than in constant opposition (T. Tihema-Biddle, personal communication, 20 October, 2011).
The emphasis above relates to collaboration between the Māori and Pākehā ways of knowing and being. However, in order to achieve this, an acute awareness of how the two paradigms interact historically and politically in relation to colonisation and oppression is required. Thus, a considered and critical approach to Western knowledge is necessary. When used critically, Western knowledge is not only useful to colonised people but can be used to transform communities. Royal (1992) states:
We [Māori] are at a point in our history where a tremendous challenge has been laid before us: to seek all that is good in the past, in the world of our ancestors, and place it alongside all that is good from the Pākehā world, thereby creating a new and better world (p. 16).
In the lyrics of Redemption Song, Bob Marley (1980) emboldens the oppressed: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds” (n.p.). Marley’s music speaks of liberation from oppression (Worth, 1995) and therefore resonates with Māori and their political struggles (Karini, 2009). Like Marley, Freire (1970) states that only the oppressed are capable of freeing themselves. While it is certain that only Māori can emancipate themselves, Māori are free to use whatever methods they choose to achieve this. Ngata believed that using both Indigenous and Western approaches would be a beneficial process. This is also true of the psychiatrist Fanon, who used Western psychiatric and psychological theory as a means for decolonisation (Greedharry, 2008).
This article is about emancipation; it is about the critical use of Māori and Western theory together as a strategy for decolonisation and transformation. This article will define critical theory from a Horkheimeran perspective. A biography of Te Kooti’s life is provided to attempt to understand the critical nature of his spiritual and political agenda, and the social, historical, political and religious context from which his ministry emerged.
[1] Walker (2001) writes that Sir Āpirana Ngata was “…one of the most illustrious New Zealanders of the twentieth century” (p. 11). Ngata spent his life pursuing the emancipation of the Māori people as a politician and as a prominent leader in the Māori world. Walker (2001) argues that Ngata was “…a man of such extraordinary gifts of intelligence, energy and foresight that among his own Ngāti Porou people he was esteemed as a god among men” (p. 11)