HAERE MAI KI TE TOI MAHARA

PŪTAKE MŌ TE KAUPAPA 

Our tūpuna left Hawaiki with a refined sophisticated culture, traversing Te Moananui a Kiwa, to arrive in Te Nukuroa, Aotearoa where they adapted and flourished in a new climate and environment.

They used exquisite artistry in their cultural expression, which is now appreciated as being of the highest quality and crafting. These cultural arts and artists were expected to adhere to clearly defined conventions of quality and correctness in their work with people, places, the environment, natural resources and spiritual appreciation and in the careful interpretation of heritage.

This degree of skilled artistry is a foundation of Mana Motuhake; distinction and unique distinctiveness and Tino Rangatiratanga; the liberty and authority to exercise a self-determined existence.

The advent of colonisation attacked the very essence of Mana Motuhake and Tino Rangatiratanga, taonga became highly sought trophies of vanquished antiquity in Western expansionist civilisation. Our cultural belief systems and practices were severely diminished in the expectation that this would lead to the extinction of Te Ao Māori. However, this unfavourable situation did not come to fruition, our practices, language and culture survived, although thoroughly diminished.

The world has changed, we now have choices that were not a part of what our tupuna took into consideration. We have not lived in kāinga; the emphasis of hapū and marae have shifted to individual choice; and our collective comprehension of Te Reo is still building capacity from a weak position.

Inauthentic interpretations and external copies of ‘poka noa’ and ‘muhunoa’ have become increasingly more accepted over time. In a globally connected digital world we have to move faster than ever to protect the ‘ownership’ of our language and stop the appropriation and undermining of indigenous learning systems, cultural models and intellectual property.

The world around us continues to change and challenge us. As the impact and adversity of 180 years is acknowledged, we look over the horizon into our future. As we actively seek and speak out in representation of our hapū and iwi, we take our spaces and return home to our whenua and whānau. As we stand on the edge of the next significant cultural shift, we weave ourselves back together and ask you:

In 2022, what should we do to revitalise Mana Motuhake & enact Tino Rangatiratanga looking forward to a self-determined and culturally distinct future in Te Taitokerau?

“...ko te papa o te rangi e tū nei, pōkai runga, pōkai raro, Wawahia te tauhi rangi, patupatua te tauhi rangi, Whakamoea Taihoronukurangi, titoko ngā pewa o Rehua-i te rangi, Ka marewa Atutahi, ka rere Tautoru, Ka whakamau ake au ki a Patari-kaihau, Ko whiti te marama he pae whenua au e... Haerea te moana waiwai, pūtātara, pūtātara, Ko Aotea, ko Aotea, ko Aotea!”