Whānau voices: Contributing to the revitalisation and transmission of mātauranga and te reo Māori for the next generation

Lesley Rameka; Mere Berryman; Karaitiana Tamatea; Diana Cruse

doi:10.55146/ajie.v54i2.1925

Authors

Lesley Rameka University of Waikato
Mere Berryman University of Waikato https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5337-4706
Karaitiana Tamatea University of Waikato
Diana Cruse University of Waikato

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55146/ajie.v54i2.1925

Keywords:

intergenerational transmission, indigenous knowledge systems, revitalisation

Abstract

Prior to colonisation in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Indigenous Māori population lived within whānau (family) and hapū (sub-tribal groups) community contexts where mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) was passed on from one generation to the next. Community contexts were strengthened by well-developed knowledge systems and effective pedagogical practices. Te reo Māori (the Māori language), reflecting both the cultural and social environments, was key to knowledge transference. Unfortunately for Māori, colonisation soon succeeded in undermining the cultural knowledge and beliefs of indigenous peoples and replacing these beliefs with the colonisers own values and practices.

This article begins by considering the destruction of intergenerational transmission of mātauranga Māori due to colonisation. The voices of kaikōrero (speakers) from research with two different tribal groups then consider how the benefits of growing up within whānau have provided opportunities to reconnect with mātauranga and te reo Māori. Acts of revitalising and renormalising their own tribal knowledges and practices have reasserted and affirmed pride in their own cultural identity and ways of being.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Lesley Rameka, University of Waikato

Lesley Rameka has over 24 years’ experience as a researcher, more recently as a Senior Research Fellow at the Wilf Malcom Institute of Educational Research and the Poutama Pounamu Education Research and Development Centre at the University of Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand. Lesley has tribal affiliations to Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Tukorehe. While her research has mainly centred on early childhood education, she has worked across primary, secondary and tertiary education over the years. Lesley’s research interests include theory and practice development, and Māori language, culture, and identity advancement in fields such as curriculum development, understandings of mana (prestige and personal authority) and kaupapa Māori assessment, and Māori pedagogies.

Mere Berryman, University of Waikato

Mere Berryman has tribal affiliations to Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa and Ngāti Whare. She is a Professor in the School of Education at the University of Waikato. Her research involves working with educators to understand the educational disparities for clearly identifiable groups of learners, including Māori. Mere researches and publishes in this field.

Karaitiana Tamatea, University of Waikato

Karaitiana Tamatea has tribal affiliations to Waikato and Aitanga a Mahaki. He is Kaiurungi (Mana whenua representative) and Associate Dean of Māori for Te Wānanga Toi Tangata / Division of Education at the University of Waikato. His research involves Māori medium education and the effective role of ahikāroa (burning fires denoting one’s longstanding occupation) in local education.

Diana Cruse, University of Waikato

Diana Cruse is an emerging author with a background in early childhood education. She has owned and managed early childhood centres and is currently pursuing a PhD focused on developing localised curriculum by integrating the wisdom of her tūpuna (ancestors). Her blend of practical experience and academic insight not only enriches her writing but also informs her research and leadership. Diana is dedicated to advancing educational practices that honour and integrate indigenous knowledge. Diana has tribal affiliations to Ngāti Kahungungu

References

Barlow, C. (1991). Tikanga whakaaro: Key concepts in Māori culture. Oxford University Press.

Belich, J. (2001). Foreword. In J. Simon & L. Tuhiwai Smith (Eds.), A civilising mission?: Perceptions and representations of the New Zealand Native schools system (pp. ix–xi). Auckland University Press.

Benton, R. A. (1979). Who speaks Māori in New Zealand? A paper prepared for the symposium New Zealand’s Language Future 49th ANZAAS Congress. Māori Unit, New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Berryman, M. (2008). Repositioning within indigenous discourses of transformation and self-determination [Doctoral thesis]. University of Waikato. http://waikato.researchgateway.ac.nz/

Berryman, M. (2022). What will it take? Understanding settler silencing and realising cultural and structural reforms. New Zealand Annual Review of Education, 28, 167–178. https://doi.org/10.26686/nzaroe.v28.8635

Berryman, M., Rameka, L., & Togo, T. (2022). Unlearning colonial constructs: Conception, pregnancy, birth and infancy. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 18(1), 173–181.

Bishop, R., Berryman, M., & Wearmouth, J. (2014). Te kotahitanga: Towards effective education reform for indigenous and minoritised students. New Zealand Council for Education Research.

Bishop, R., & Glynn, T. (1999). Culture counts: Changing power relations in education. Dunmore Press.

Broughton, D., & McBreen, K. (2015). Mātauranga Māori, tino rangatiratanga and the future of New Zealand science. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 45(2), 83–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.2015.1011171

Calman, R. (2012). Māori education – mātauranga. In Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/maori-education-matauranga/print.

Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory. Sage.

Consedine, R., & Consedine, J. (2012). Healing our history. Penguin Books.

Durie, A. (1997). Te aka matua: Keeping a Māori identity. In P. Te Whaaiti, M. McCarthy & A. Durie (Eds.), Mai i rangiatea: Wellbeing and development (pp. 142–162). Auckland University Press, Bridget Williams Books.

Gilgen, R. (2018). Challenges of intergenerational language disruption: An impact of British colonisation on Māori identity and language in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Scottish Languages Review, 35, 11–22. https://scilt.org.uk/Portals/24/Library/slr/issues/35/3502%20Gilgen.pdf

Harris, F. (2007). (Re)-constructing Māori children as achieving learners [PhD thesis]. University of Canterbury.

Hemara, W. (2000). Māori pedagogies: A view from the literature. New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Hikuroa, D. (2016). Mātauranga Māori – The ūkaipō of knowledge in New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 47(1), 5–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.2016.125240

Hokowhitu, B. (2004). Tackling Māori masculinity: A colonial genealogy of savagery and sport. The Contemporary Pacific, 16(2), 259–284.

Inia, R. (2021). Transmission of mātauranga Māori: Customary forms of taonga tuku iho from a Ngāti Tarawhai and Ngāti Pikiao uri perspective. Te Atawhai o Te Ao Charitable Trust.

Jackson, M. (2016). Decolonising education. In J. Hutchings & J.-L. Morgan (Eds.), Decolonisation in Aotearoa: Education, research and practice (pp. 39–47). NZCER PRESS.

Jackson, M. (2019). Interview with Moana Jackson – He Tohu interview. National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa. https://natlib.govt.nz/he-tohu/korero/interview-with-moana-jackson

Jackson, M. (2021, May 9). Moana Jackson: Decolonisation and the stories in the land. E-Tangata. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/moana-jackson-decolonisation-and-the-stories-in-the-land/

Jenkins, K., Harte, H., & Ririki, T. (2011). Traditional Māori parenting: An historical review of literature of traditional Māori child-rearing practices in pre-European times. Te Kahui Mana Ririki.

Ka’ai-Mahuta, R. (2011). The impact of colonisation on te reo Māori: A critical review of the state education system. Te Kaharoa, 4(1), 195–225.

MacDonald, L. (2018). Silencing and institutional racism in settler-colonial education [Doctoral thesis]. Victoria University of Wellington. https://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/xmlui/handle/10063/8095

Mahuika, N., & Mahuika, R. (2020). Wānanga as a research methodology. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 16(4), 369–377.

Mahuika, R. (2008). Kaupapa Māori theory is critical and anti-colonial. MAI Review, 3(4), 1–16. https://www.journal.mai.ac.nz/system/files/maireview/153-877-1-PB.pdf

Manatū Taonga – Ministry for Culture and Heritage. (2024). History of the Māori language. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/maori-language-week/history-of-the-maori-language

McIntosh, T. (2005) Māori identities: Fixed, fluid, forced. In J. Liu, T. McCreanor, T. McIntosh & T. Teaiwa (Eds.), New Zealand identities: Departures and destinations (pp. 38–51). Victoria University Press.

Mead, H. M. (2022, June 19). Understanding mātauranga Māori. E-Tangata.

https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/understanding-matauranga-maori/

Melbourne, T. (2009). Te whare-oohia: Traditional Māori education for a contemporary world [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Massey University.

Moewaka Barnes, H., & Tim McCreanor, T. (2019). Colonisation, hauora and whenua in Aotearoa. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 49(sup1), 19–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.2019.16684390

Muru-Lanning, M. (2022, September 15). Matauranga Māori and environmental research: The interface of Māori knowledge and anthropology. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Retrieved September 27, 2024, from https://oxfordre.com/anthropology/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.001.0001/acrefore-9780190854584-e-307

Mutu, M. (2003). The Humpty Dumpty principle at work: The role of mistranslation in the British settlement of Aotearoa. “He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni” and “The Declaration of Independence”. In S. Fenton (Ed.), For better or for worse: Translation as a tool for change in the South Pacific (pp. 11–36). St Jerome Publishing.

Mutu, M. (2018). Behind the smoke and mirrors of the Treaty of Waitangi claims settlement process in New Zealand: No prospect for justice and reconciliation for Māori without constitutional transformation. Journal of Global Ethics, 14(2), 208–221.

Ngata, T. (2019, June 1). James Cook and the Doctrine of Discovery: 5 things to know. The Non-Plastic Māori. https://thenonplasticmaori.wordpress.com/2019/06/01/james-cook-and-the-doctrine-of-discovery-5-things-to-know/

Office of the Auditor-General. (2013). Education for Māori: Implementing ka hikitia – Managing for success. https://oag.parliament.nz/2013/education-for-maori/docs/education-for-maori.pdf

Pere, R. (1991). Te wheke: A celebration of infinite wisdom. Ao Ako Global Learning.

Pihama, L. (2015). Kaupapa Māori theory: Transforming theory in Aotearoa. In L. Pihama, S. J. Tiakiwai & K. Southey (Eds.), Kaupapa rangahau: A reader. A collection of readings from the Kaupapa rangahau workshop series (2nd ed., pp. 5–16). Te Kotahi Research Institute, University of Waikato.

Pihama, L. (2019). Colonization and the importation of ideologies of race, gender and class in Aotearoa. In E. McKinlay & L. Smith (Eds.), Handbook of indigenous education (pp. 29–48). Springer.

Raerino, K. (2007). He tirohanga a Ngāti Awa uri taone mo ngā ahuatanga Māori: An urban Ngāti Awa perspective on identity and culture [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Auckland University of Technology.

Rameka, L. (2012). Te whatu kakahu: Assessment in kaupapa Māori early childhood practice [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. University of Waikato.

Rameka, L. (2018). A Māori perspective of being and belonging. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 19(4), 367–378.

Rameka, L., Berryman, M., & Cruise, D., (2023). Whenua ki te whenua: Indigenous naming of the land and its people by reconnecting the past to the present and the future. MAI Journal, 12(2), 244–256. https://journal.mai.ac.nz/10.20507/maijournal.2023.12.2.13

Rameka, L., Berryman, M., & Cruise, D., (2024). Whānau wellbeing: Reclaiming precolonial Māori perspectives of men, fathers and parenting. Settler Colonial Studies, 14(4), 440–456.

Rameka, L., & Paul-Burke, K. (2015). Re-claiming traditional Māori ways of knowing, being and doing, to re-frame our realities and transform our worlds. In M. Peters & T. Beasley (Eds.), Paulo Freire: A global legacy (pp. 261–271). Peter Lang.

Rameka, L., & Stagg Peterson, S. (2021). Sustaining Indigenous languages and cultures: Māori medium education in Aotearoa New Zealand and Aboriginal Head Start in Canada. Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, 16(2), 307–323. https://doi.org/10.1080/1177083X.2021.1922466

Reedy, T. (2003). Toku rangitiratanga na te mana-matauranga: “Knowledge and power set me free …”. In J. Nuttall (Ed.), Weaving te whāriki (pp. 51–77). New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Simon, J. A., & Smith, L. T. (Eds.). (2001). A civilising mission?: Perceptions and representations of the New Zealand Native schools system. Auckland University Press.

Smith, G. (1997). The development of kaupapa Māori: Theory and praxis [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. University of Auckland.

Te Puni Kokiri. (2018). Literature review: Perceptions of the health of the Māori language 2015. https://www.tpk.govt.nz/en/a-matou-mohiotanga/language/review-perceptions-of-the-health-of-te-reo-2015

Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck). (1987). The coming of the Māori. Whitcoulls Limited.

Thom R., & Grimes, A. (2022). Land loss and the intergenerational transmission of wellbeing: The experience of iwi in Aotearoa New Zealand. Social Science & Medicine, 296, Article 114804. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114804

Walker, R. (1989). Māori identity. In D. Novitz & B. Willmott (Eds.), Culture and identity in New Zealand (pp. 35–52). Government Printer.

Walker, R. (1991). Liberating Māori from educational subjection. Research Unit for Māori education, University of Auckland.

Walker, R. (1996). Ngā pepa a Ranginui: The Walker papers. Penguin Books.

Whaanga-Schollum, D., Robinson, C., Stuart, K., Livesey, B., & Reed, B. (2015). “Ensuring the container is strong”: Regenerating urban mauri through wānanga. The Landscape Foundation. https://www.landscape.org.nz/home/2017/2/23/ensuring-the-container-is-strong-regenerating-urban-mauri-through-wnanga