Te Kaharoa (E-Journal)
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Ngā mahi ora ā Rēhia (Diabetes prevention and intervention programme)
Get PDFNgā Mahi Ora a Rēhia was designed to address the epidemic of type 2 diabetes within Māori communities. The philosophy underpinning the programme is contained in the name, Ngā Mahi Ora a Rēhia. In Māori traditions Rēhia is the atua (god) of recreation, pleasure and enjoyment. By placing the programme under the auspices of this atua, a Māori health provider organisation called Ngā Kākano, based in Te Puke, Aotearoa-New Zealand, accentuates and promotes the programme as positive and enjoyable within an holistic paradigm. The word ‘ora’ is significant because it reinforces the Māori wellness approach to wellbeing.
Grounded in the community's tribal knowledge base of whakapapa (genealogy) and traditions, recreational (physical exercise) activities centre on mahi a toi (arts song and dance) associated with Rēhia. Similarly, healthy eating is shaped by the relationship with Papatūānuku (earth god) to promote gardening and the consumption of natural, as opposed to processed food. Participants are taught to prepare healthy food that is also palatable. The influence of Rēhia emphasises te reka, the sweetness of the food.
The effective management of disease to achieve the highest level of wellness possible typifies the Māori approach to diabetes intervention. Government reporting and monitoring records provides evidence that all of the participants engaged in the programme are meeting the minimal HbA1c readings <8 standard. Considering that the majority of participants when first enrolled on the programme record HbA1c readings in double digits - this is a significant improvement in terms of health gains
The potential of prophecy: Māori prophetism and the community development
Get PDFIn nineteenth century Aotearoa-New Zealand prophet-leaders rose up to challenge the hegemony of imperialism by melding Indigenous epistemologies with introduced ones. In this sense Māori prophets blended the old world with the new as a means of both cultural survival and resistance against colonialism. One such nineteenth century prophet-leader was Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki (c.1832-c.1891) who blended traditional Māori knowledge with biblical ideas, knowing that for Māori traditions to survive, they needed to be synthesised with introduced ideas, thus avoiding complete obliteration.
Te Kooti gave many prophecies, some of which were delivered as riddles rich with metaphor and mystery. As a result of severe land loss in the Rangitaiki Valley in the Bay of Plenty of New Zealand at the hands of a Pākehā (European) man, Te Kooti issued a prophecy of promise and restoration in which the future return of the land was guaranteed.
Within the Māori sub-tribes of Patuheuheu and Ngāti Haka, to whom this prophecy was given, Te Kooti’s revelations gained new meaning; his words are continually being transported from history into contemporary times. This paper will explore and analyse the ways in which this prophecy is being used today within the Patuheuheu and Ngāti Haka sub-tribes and how this research is using this local knowledge to build a culturally appropriate, transformative community praxis and development model
What's in a word
Get PDFLanguage is the cornerstone of communication and can be conveyed in many forms. One such form is composition or song. There are many indigenous compositions that provide a backdrop reflecting the landscape, events and relationships that were integral to and impacted on the life of the composer and their communities.
As a research subject, compositions from the early nineteenth century provide a template with which to analyse the language used and its relevance in today’s environment. Written languages change with the introduction of new technologies and environments. Compositions such as laments have stayed intact as part of an oral tradition. This research aims to examine whether the written history and poetic prose of the words within compositions has also stayed intact and been maintained. Specific words will be analysed in relation to their usage within both a traditional and modern context
Deep impact and the tail of colonialism
Get PDFColonialism hit the indigenous world with the destructive force of a massive comet, and its impact will be forever etched in the cultural memories of its entire people. The impact has left a crater, within the indigenous world, so deep and enormous that indigenous peoples are still fighting to ascend from the crater floor. Despite their best efforts, to ascend, they are being hampered by the tail (residual colonialism) of the comet which continues to distribute its toxic elements within the environment of the indigenous world. While the impacts of this catastrophic event are profuse, these impacts must be individually identified and defined by indigenous peoples, to help them ascend. The intention of my research is to analyse the impacts of colonisation on te reo Māori (The Māori Language) and Māori ideology. This will be achieved, in part, through an examination of the whakapapa (genealogy) of te reo Māori. The second part of my research is to apply the critical theories of thirteen chosen kaiariā (theorists), to further define the impacts of colonialism on te reo Māori and Māori ideology. For example, Niccolo Machiavelli’s theories of leadership define the rules of encounter when colonising a people. Machiavelli’s notion that the end justifies the means, is one illustration of how colonialism has and continues to be justified. Antonio Gramsci’s theory of Hegemony describes a colonising tool that is invasive and attacks the fundamental nature of indigenous ideology
Māori in video games - A digital identity
Get PDFThe indigenous image is becoming more present in the world of gaming. For many years, the ‘native’ has been cast in video games, typically playing the ‘barbaric enemy hoard’, or the ‘simple, nature-loving’ people who are only too eager to be ‘saved’ by the ‘fairer’ races. In the early years of video games, Native American images played the biggest part, in games such as, Custers Revenge, Mortal Kombat and Banjo Tooie. Recently, in an effort to teach people about Africa’s history, an online game, Africa, was created, where users were set in a 13th century African civilisation. In 2003, Māori culture first appeared in the game, Mark of Kri, and more recently in Brink, a post-apocolyptic reality of Earth, where ‘kirituhi’ (a traditional form of body art revived by modern practitioners of ‘tā moko’, the traditional form of tattoing was an option during the character creation process.
As the gaming industry becomes larger, gaming companies continue to search the globe for new and ‘exciting’ inspiration. The Māori image, it seems, has inevitably been sucked into a digital space that, if left unchecked, will create an identity they have no say over. In order for Māori to maintain a sense of ‘digital identity’, Māori must start participating and appropriating digital spaces, “. . . before the technologies are applied to them, and their culture, by another group” (Brown, 2007)
The digital dreamtime: A shining light in the culture war
Get PDFThe realm of the arts is often viewed as the stronghold in the last line of defence against the enduring colonisation process of the minority Aboriginal populace. It is one of few avenues in Australian society where Aboriginal people can have a voice and fortunately this is partly driven by the influence of the outside international artworld. In more recent years the digital production areas have further enabled the space and recognition for self-determined, culturally specific and diverse sources of creativity, exchange and community building. This is all despite a culture war where mainstream institutions such as the galleries sector, the associated funding bodies, academia and the media are all being utilised and strengthened as non-military mechanisms of imperialism
Igniting the spark: How to achieve collective ownership of a tribal language revitalisation strategy
Get PDFThe Kāi Tahu tribal language Strategy, Kotahi Mano Kāika, Kotahi Mano Wawata – A thousand homes, a thousand dreams, is now in its 11th year and has recently been internally reviewed. As a tribe we remain in the position of a people whose language is in the worse state of all tribes in New Zealand and we are far from achieving a level of sustainability in our efforts.
The greatest challenge we have faced and continue to face, is the engagement of the majority of our kin who are non-language speakers in our revitalisation effort, and this includes a significant proportion of our tribal governance. As the language continues to take 2nd place to the wider social and political issues facing the tribal collective, the task of revitalisation becomes increasingly challenging and esperate.
This paper will discuss the strategies that have been used over the past 10 years to achieve collective ownership of our language revitailstion effort and will look the challenges ahead of us as a tribe and as language communities to achieve language sustainability for our people and future generations