Māori identity

Māori identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a Māori person and as relating to being Māori (Māoriness). The most commonly cited central pillar of Māori identity is whakapapa (genealogy),[1] which in its most literal sense requires blood-ancestry to Māori people.[2]

Overview

Witi Ihimaera, the first published Maori novelist, has described its connection as follows: "For many Maori, the key to their cultural or ethnic identity as Maori lies in whakapapa, that mystical element that forever links Maori, through their tipuna, to this land".[3] Alternatively, Peeni Henare has criticised blood quantum factors in relation to Māori identity, suggesting it is an attack on the identity of urban Māori and non-Māori-speakers.[4]

Colloquially, Taha Māori (the Māori perspective) is used closely in association with the identity of Māori people.[5] Māori identity can be defined independently of religious identity; Māori are a diverse group in terms of religious affiliations, including Māori Christians and Māori Muslims, as well as followers of the traditional Māori belief system. In Māori mythology, the indigenous faith carried largely unchanged to Aotearoa from the tropical Eastern Polynesian homeland Hawaiki Nui. Tangihanga (mourning ceremonies) or native funeral rituals,[6] as well as tangata whenua (people of the land) are both strongly linked with the concept of Māori identity.[7]

Local government in the Auckland Region actively promotes its growth, stating that "Using Māori names for roads, buildings and other public places is an opportunity to publicly demonstrate Māori identity".[8] Auckland Council have also stated that both kaumātua and kuia (male and female tribal elders) are crucial to the "matauranga and tikanga that underpins Māori identity".[9]

Categories

Māori identity can be described as consisting of interconnected parts, some or all of which may constitute an individual's self-identification:

  1. Māori peoplehood,[10] a Polynesian indigenous ethnic identity, identified most readily via whakapapa
  2. Māori religion, the observance or recognition of the Māori belief system
  3. Māori culture, celebration of Māoritanga and traditions

Academic research

Academic research examining Māori cultural and racial identity has been conducted since the 1990s.[11] The 1994 study by Mason Durie (Te Hoe Nuku Roa Framework: A Maori Identity Measure), Massey University's 2004 study of Maori cultural identity, and 2010's Multi-dimensional model of Maori identity and cultural engagement by Chris Sibley and Carla Houkamau have explored the concept in various ways.[12] 2015's Perspectives towards Māori identity by Māori heritage language learners, conducted at Victoria University of Wellington, acknowledges that "Māori identities continue to evolve and adapt as a result of social and environmental changes Māori experience".[13] In 2019, the University of Auckland conducted the Māori Identity and Financial Attitudes Study2.[14]

Community work and investment

Community work in New Zealand has identified males struggling with their Māori identity, often also living by Māori lunar calendar, as a significant suicide risk.[15] In 2015, The Guardian covered a crisis of Māori incarceration and identity in relation to the New Zealand prison system. Toby Manhire reported:

While those who identify as Māori make up about 15% of the New Zealand population, the corresponding figure behind bars is more than 50%. Among women, for whom there is no Te Tirohanga option, it is higher still, at 60%.[16]

In 2019, The Northland Age reported on the merits of a noho-marae style of counselling to incarcerated Māori, utilizing tikanga (traditional rules for conducting life) in a "course that uses Māori philosophy, values, knowledge and practices to foster the regeneration of Māori identity".[17] In 2019, in a Radio New Zealand budget summary, the announcement of an NZ$80 million investment in Whānau Ora, including a Māori suicide prevention initiative, "as well as eight programmes to strengthen Māori identity".[18]

See also

References
  1. Women's Studies Journal (Volumes 20–21 ed.). University of Michigan Press. 2009. Knowledge of one's whakapapa and ancestral links is at the root of Maori identity and heritage
  2. Joanna Kidman (2007). Engaging with Maori communities: an exploration of some tensions in the mediation of social sciences research. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0958261067. However, whakapapa is the basis for Maori identity, and whakapapa in its strictest genealogical sense, requires a blood-link to a Maori ancestor.
  3. Witi Ihimaera (1998). Growing up Maori. Tandem Press. ISBN 978-1877178160.
  4. Rawiri Taonui (15 May 2019). "Room for kumara and potato at table of identity". Newsroom.
  5. Maika Akroyd (12 September 2019). "Hospital weekly waiata 'like having our own marae'". Gisborne Herald.
  6. Karen P. Sinclair (1990). Jocelyn Linnekin; Lin Poyer (eds.). Cultural Identity and Ethnicity in the Pacific. University of Hawaii Press. p. 219. ISBN 978-0824812089. In contemporary New Zealand, Maori funeral rituals, known as tangihanga 'mourning ceremonies', have become an important constituent of Maori identity.
  7. Andrew Dawson; Jenny Hockey; Allison James, eds. (1997). After Writing Culture: Epistemology and Praxis in Contemporary Anthropology. Routledge. p. 211. ISBN 978-0415150064. Self-identification with the land is crucial to Maori identity - tangata whenua means 'people of the land' - but the state intervened early in indigenous land rights.
  8. "New Māori and Indian street names in Puketāpapa". Auckland Council. 7 August 2019. Using Māori names for roads, buildings and other public places is an opportunity to publicly demonstrate Māori identity. This is encouraged in the Auckland Plan too as Māori identity is Auckland's point of difference in the world.
  9. "Marae projects get funding boost". Auckland Council. 24 June 2019.
  10. Waikato Law Review (Volume 1 ed.). University of Waikato. 1993. p. 62. The assertion of Maori peoplehood through their Treaty-guaranteed kaitiakitanga (guardianship) of the land and other treasures, as Maori understand and value these, is thus the key discourse in the construction of Maori identity
  11. Belinda Borrell (2006). James H. Liu; Tim McCreanor; Tracey McIntosh; Teresia Teaiwa (eds.). New Zealand Identities: Departures and Destinations. Victoria University Press. ISBN 978-0864735171. Establishing a 'secure' Maori identity based solely on particular criteria of Maori culture (i.e., te reo Maori, tikanga, knowledge of marae and whakapapa) continues to be problematic for some Maori ... Although there is a growing body of research that looks at conventional markers of Maori identity (Broughton, 1993; Fitzgeraldn et al, 1997; Shepheard, 2002; Stevenson, 2004)
  12. John Nauright; Tony Collins (2017). The Rugby World in the Professional Era. Routledge. ISBN 978-1138665446. Parameters of Maori cultural identity, adapted from the Te Hoe Nuku Roa project (Durie et al., 1995; Stevenson, 2004) and markers of Maori identity developed and tested more recently by Houkamau and Sibley (2010).
  13. Awanui Te Huia (2015), Perspectives towards Māori identity by Māori heritage language learners, Victoria University of Wellington, Māori identity has been studied in detail. McIntosh explains that Māori choose to identify as Māori, the individual is engaging in the act of "claims making" (2005).
  14. "What's Māori for Growth Fund? A Te Reo Kiwisaver guide". Scoop. 4 September 2019.
  15. "Rangatahi tackle some tough subjects in Nga Manu Korero". Gisborne Herald. 20 June 2019.
  16. Toby Manhire (15 August 2015). "Unlocking Maori identity: keeping New Zealand's indigenous people out of jail". The Guardian.
  17. Peter Jackson (20 June 2019). "Award for Ngawha prison programme leader". The Northland Age.
  18. Leigh-Marama McLachlan (15 August 2015). "Budget 2019 for Māori: Whānau Ora to receive $80m over four years". Radio New Zealand.
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