Te Kaharoa (E-Journal)
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From Kūkaniloko: The Celestial Rulers of Space and Time
Get PDFThree celestial pairs, a male and female in each pair, were understood as rulers of space and time in precontact Hawai'i. This paper discusses these pairs and their associations with rulership, space and time
Te Umutaoroa – The Slow-Cooking Earth Oven: A Case Study of Intergenerational Transference
Get PDFIn 1886 the Māori prophet Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki delivered a prophecy of hope to Patuheuheu – a hapū of Ngāi Tūhoe – following the loss of their land at Te Houhi in the eastern Bay of Plenty. Te Kooti named this prophecy, Te Umutaoroa – the slow-cooking earth oven. This article explores the emergence of Te Umutaoroa and will explain the intergenerational transfer of this prophecy and how it is utilised today. Significantly, this article will present a case study of how Te Tāpenakara mo te Iwi Charitable Trust – a Waiōhau-based health and wellbeing clinic – uses Te Umutaoroa as a model for its healing practice
New Zealand in the mid-1960s: A Nexus of Culture, Economics, and Ethnicity
Get PDFThe purpose of this article is to provide a general survey of the nature of New Zealand culture, society, ethnicity, and the nation’s economy in the mid-1960s. It commences with a snapshot of the country in 1966, and then explores various facets of the country in that decade, with a focus on selected political, economic, and social developments, and the role of Maori in the emerging society and economy. The nexus between a nation’s culture and history, and its economic condition is well-established (Beugelsdijk & Maseland, 2010), with historical and culturalassessments providing a vital context to economic analyses (Hodgson, 2001). The socio-cultural dimension to economics is critical. It provides frames of reference for economic data, insights into variables that affect economic performance, and helps to explain the decisions of actors in the classical and neoclassical traditions of economic analysis (Smelser, 2010)
Dancing from Te Kore into Te Ao Marama
Get PDFContemporary Indigenous performance awakens and brings into ‘now’ the inherited mauri of all that we are, carried through the wairua from our ancestors and the whenua in the woven whariki of memory held in time and space. Whether in Aotearoa or on another’s whenua, on a stage, in someone’s lounge room or in the ngahere gathering rongoa, when we dance from te kore into te ao marama, we activate ihi, wehi and wana: a power that awakens within and between us and the universe. We come alive in the performance of our cultures and ourselves, see our living relevance today, and are uplifted by our potential to contribute to our world socially, culturally, politically, spiritually and personally. Māori culture activates in me keys and the tools, ways of moving and giving voice, the power to share who I am in my fullness today with other cultures. This presentation reflects on the power of my own current practice as it represents the culmination of my performances, dance teaching, cultural exchanges and facilitation experiences within New Zealand and internationally. How might performing as Maori and Indigenous peoples be seen to strengthen and empower our selves, communities and cultures, whoever and wherever we are in the creation of the future
Power and Privilege: The Role of the Reviewer in Responding to Indigenous Theatre
Get PDFIndigenous performance is powerful. While embracing commonalities, it can: dislocate dominant cultural constructions of reality, time and place; interrogate the distinctions between ‘us’ and ‘them’; and carry the ability to refute cultural homogeneity. The latter is especially relevant when applied to critical analyses of Indigenous performance. These are often laced with challenges of power and privilege, for example: varying degrees of cultural awareness; a tendency to blur differences between Indigenous peoples and their creative works; an inclination towards what Rhoda Roberts calls the ‘kindness approach’; and the persistence of Euro-centric aesthetics as the ultimate measure of success. How do reviewers respond to Indigenous performance from positions (real or perceived) of power and privilege, and how are these constructed when framing critical responses? Further, how are these responses complicated when the performance under review is by Indigenous peoples who are not of this place? This paper looks at what happened when HART, an Aboriginal Australian theatre work based on testimonials from the Stolen Generation was reviewed in New Zealand by predominantly Pākehā critics. It also examines how, as reviewers, we can develop a practice of robust criticism that offers an active and engaged response to Indigenous performance and, thereby, empowers the production of Indigenous performance to extend far beyond the walls of the theatre
A Body of VA'rt
No full textHow can a body act as a tool for decolonising performance? As an artist, my body has become a powerful space for my art practice and cultural heritage to come together, the past and the present. My Polynesian body is the genealogical vessel that collapses time and space, allowing our ancestors and the atua to have a presence in the Now. I live through them, and they live through me at the point of performance. In this, I follow the Ta/Va philosophy (Mahina, Wendt, Refiti, Tavita) as it has been vigorously circulated and exchanged for well over a decade within Polynesian academic, cultural and artistic circles. With this in mind (and body), I will present a visceral experience featuring aural, visual and performative elements, weaving in and out of spoken words, both academic and artistic, to demonstrate the power of the body as a vehicle to create works of VA’rt
‘Mōhiti E’: Empowering (Trans) Indigenous Performance
Get PDFHow might a collaborative performance staged across indigenous cultures – in this case Māori and Native American – be seen to create a shared wairua that leads to mārama? For this Symposium, Valance Smith (Ngāpuhi/Waikato) will compose a waiata as the starting point for a hoop dance choreographed and performed by Eddie Madril (Pascua Yaqui) from the Sewan American Indian Dance company. Waiata is, at its simplest, song. It is a vessel for a kaupapa, in the lyrics and also in its music, an embodiment of the singer’s mauri that, in the ideal, resonates in the listener. Hoop dancing has many purposes. It describes the complexities of life, expresses many aspects of the scientific nature of the world through the art form, and invokes the meaning behind the cycle of all living things. In bringing together two distinctive performance languages and cultures, we will be looking for common ground, exploring possible synergies and seeking an experience of the metaphysical in the physicality of our song and dance that can be translated back into a deeper understanding of the potential power of (trans) indigenous performance. How might such a shared, cross-cultural performance not only inform the way we think about the particular practices involved, but also challenge our assumptions about what it means, both in theory and in practice, to perform as Māori and as Native American
Taera, Awenga: Sexuality, Power
Get PDFA Māori-Pasifika dance crew called Torotoro was formed in 2000 to help create a song and dance show called Mika HAKA.[1] The dancers were in their teenage years and early twenties. The show sought to amplify, for British stages, the burlesque performance of takataapui (gay Māori) identity, through which Mika (then aged 38) had carved out a unique niche for himself in the UK fringe festival circuit. I was his international collaborator, supporting creation, development and touring of Mika HAKA. On the surface, Mika HAKA was a flirtatious, sexualised, glamorous and just-about family-friendly reworking of the concert party show format that is the core of touristic renderings of Māori culture. At the same time, it integrated hip-hop and other contemporary pop references. This reflected Mika’s commitment to the juxtaposition of Māori-Pasifika performance with aesthetics and forms circulating globally as an expression of the complexities of (his) urban Māori identity.
[1] Mika HAKA debuted 25 January 2001 at the Maidment Theatre, Auckland (New Zealand). Its international premiere was 1August 2002 at Dance Base – National Centre for Dance, Edinburgh (Scotland). The production toured widely in New Zealand, and in 2003 visited Adelaide (Australia), and revisited Edinburgh
Towards Māori corporate social responsibility
Get PDFThis paper explores the potential interface between Māori collectively-owned organisations, and those organisations and businesses that practice corporate social responsibility (CSR). The literature suggests that CRS is good for business; that it is possible to achieve a double bottom line on social and financial performance. These performance outcomes will be of particular interest to Māori collectively-owned organisations charged with growing tribal wealth, as well as delivering better social outcomes to their beneficiaries. Recently, as a result of the Treaty of Waitangi claims processes, Māori tribal organisations have proliferated. These tribal organisations have consequently adopted governance arrangements designed to deliver both commercial and social outcomes. Additionally, they are expected to incorporate Māori culturally specific values that ultimately underpin the governance of the organisation. Beneficiaries of most Māori collective organisations are members of the tribe that have recognised genealogical links to a founding ancestor. Tribal organisations are consequently becoming increasingly responsible for the financial, social, cultural and environmental wellbeing of the tribe. Furthermore, the management of tribal assets to enhance tribal wellbeing is embedded in the notion of sustainability – specifically inter-generational wealth creation. 
He Mokopirirākau: Cliff Curtis
Get PDFMokopirirākau are native New Zealand forest geckos that metamorphosise their appearance to blend with the environment as a survival mechanism. A well-known human mokopirirākau is Te Arawa’s Cliff Curtis. Arguably the world’s most successful Māori screen actor, for more than twenty years, he has maintained a Hollywood ‘calling card’ by convincingly transfiguring himself into an array of ethnic characters: Arab to Hispanic to African-American to . . .Here in Aotearoa, we can see that Curtis’s long career in performance started when he was a school-boy, in kapa haka. Even now, he participates in an annual maurakau wānanga on Mokōia Island, and he has recently turned to competitive kapa haka at regional level with Ngāti Rongomai. Kapa haka is one of Curtis’ longest practiced performance disciplines; it underscores his film performances and lends them power. With the increased popularity of Māori-centred film and the rise of Māori TV, more kaihaka – like Curtis – are transitioning to careers on-screen. This paper asks: what power do kaihaka performers carry with them from the kapa haka stage to the screen? That is, how do they too become mokopirirākau? Further, how might the knowledge gained from kapa haka act as a scaffolding for a framework for analysing characters and performances? How could such a framework also serve to structure critical thinking both about Māori performance about non-Māori roles performed by Māori? Indeed how might a kapa haka based analytical framework provoke new ways of thinking about performances by and for non-Māori