Issue 19 | Te Ao Marama by Salient

NGĀ KAIMAHI ĒTITA / EDITOR: Jade Gifford marinojade@gmail.com COVER: Kahu Kutia kahukutia@hotmail.co.nz KAIHOAHOA / DESIGNERS: Tamatha Paul tamatha-paul@hotmail.com Georgia Gifford georgiagiffordg@gmail.com KAITUHI PIKITIA / ILLUSTRATORS: Georgia Gifford Jade Gifford Kahu Kutia Tamatha Paul Tahu-Potiki Te Maro-Doran KAITUHI MATUA / FEATURE WRITERS: Eru Ruanui Tia Kapa-Kingi Te Aorewa Areta Sam Henare Ruben Toa Kearney-Parata Ataria Rangipikitia Rereahu Hetet KAITUHI / WRITERS: Te Nia Matthews Kalany Shelford Nohorua Parata Symon Palmer Tahua Pihema Mason Lawlor Danielle Sword Maia Te Koha Awhina Henry Te Mahara Swanson-Hall Carlos Carter Poipoia Te Taonga Poa Ariel McLean Robinson Te Nia Matthews Pounamu Tipiwai-Chambers Meikura Williams Uekaha Douglas KAIWHAKAMĀORI / TRANSLATORS Teaonui McKenzie NGĀ RŌPU TAUIRA / ASSOCIATION COLUMNS: Nga Taura Umanga, Ngā Rangahautira NGĀ KĒMU / GAMES: Lea Rust KAI TAUTOKO / SUPPORT PEOPLE: Vini Olsen-Reeder Marlon Drake Special thank you to te whānau o Te Herenga Waka

RĀRANGI UPOKO 3

TE RETA O TE ĒTITA

NGĀ KAUPAPA O TE WIKI O TE REO

5 6

24 25 26 27

TE REO ME ŌNA TIKANGA He Taonga Tuku Iho, He Taonga E Huna Ana The Values that Maketh the Man Arotake Pukapuka: He Kupu Tuku Iho NGĀ TOI KAUAE Indigenous Eyes Untitled Poem Arotake Waiata: Marlon Williams & Soccer Practice Arotake Kiriata: Pō HAUORA ME WAIRUATANGA Ethnocentrism, Te Ao Māori, and The Church Kua tae mai te Wā! Me kōrero tātou! He Ara Hou He Hononga

RANGI AND PAPA

30 31 32

TŌRANGAPŪ The Lie of the ‘Warrior Race‘ Tōrangapū Māori: Meeting Our Māori MPs An Open Letter to My Former Educators Aotearoa MANA WĀHINE Ko te mana wahine, ko au? Arotake Pukapuka: Poūkahangatus Deluxe Cheeseburger Takatāpui

8 10 11 12 13 17 18 19 20 21

36 38 40 41 44 45 46

51 52

TE TAIAO Looking back to the past, in order to sustain the future Tōpu ki te Kōpu Māori Environmentalism

NGĀ RŌPŪ TAUIRA

NGĀ KĒMU

47 48

Te Reta o te Ētita JADE MARINO GIFFORD

Nō Wairoa, Waimana, me te Kuki Airani ahau. Ko Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa me Ngāi Tuhoe ōku iwi. Ko Jade Marino Gifford toku ingoa. Tihei mauri ora.

is to be Māori. Besides a half a page in the usual Salient issues, Te Ao Mārama is the one and only opportunity of the year where we, as Māori students at Victoria, have complete control and authority over writing and compiling our own stories and opinions on paper. My hope is that it will be somewhat reflective of the whakaaro of Māori students today. I have kept the words of the writers the way they were written, and the way they wanted them to be read. I believe that although the issue may not be entirely in te reo Māori, that the kupu and whakaaro are clearly and intrinsically Māori in of themselves. It is unquestionably clear that the experiences and opinions of the writers would not be possible if they weren’t Māori.

This year I am honoured and privileged to be the editor of Te Ao Mārama. A magazine which has a long and beautiful history here at Te Whare Wānanga o te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui. This issue focuses on the experiences and concerns we face as Māori students. It’s about weaving together our own experiences and wider indigenous knowledges. He taonga tuku iho, the intergenerational passing down of knowledge. We write against the dominant narratives of Māori in Aotearoa today, and we prioritise Māori ways of knowing. The issue is split up into six sections - tikanga me ōna reo, ngā toi (arts), wairuatanga & hauora (spirituality and wellbeing), tōrangapū (politics), mana wahine, and te taiao (the earth). These sections arose out of the desire to do something a bit different, to discuss what we are interested in, and the things that we want to talk about more.

I am incredibly proud to say that this issue was entirely constructed by Māori students. This year we have over thirty contributors - from writers, designers and translators. Ngā mihi to all of you who have helped to weave this taonga together. And a extra special thank you to Tamatha Paul and my sister Georgia Gifford - for putting in the hard yards and many a V-fuelled late night with me to design the issue.

We write to anger and to empower, to sadden and to overjoy, to discomfort and to comfort, to make cry and to will laughter. Te Ao Mārama gives us the opportunity to use our writing as a tool to conjure up the past, celebrate the present, and anticipate the future. And I hope that these pages overflow with the aroha and mana I know they contain. For they contain not solely the knowledges of the individuals who wrote them, but represent the whānau, hapū, iwi, awa, maunga and tīpuna that preceded them.

During this year, many of us have dealt with loss. The loss of a beloved fellow Māori student, a kuia of the marae, of whānau and of friends. Let this issue be a tribute to all those who have passed on, to those we think about everyday and who have influenced our lives in unforgettable ways. Without these people this issue would not be possible. To our tīpuna, friends and whānau this is for you. Moe mai rā.

For those of you who don’t already know, this is a very important week. This week is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori - a time that celebrates not only the Māori language but encompasses all that it

Ngā mihi.

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori

@ngaitauiraVUW

NGĀ KAUPAPA O TE WIKI 10-16TH MĀHURU

@ngaitauira_vuw

RĀHINA MON

Stay updated with times and venues for events on the Ngāi Tauira social media:

8AM-10AM

10AM-12PM

12PM-2PM

2PM-4PM

4PM-

TE AO MĀRAMA . RELEASE.

Hīkoi Whakanui i te Reo Māori Parliament Grounds

12pm $5 Kai at the Marae

Kapa Haka in the . Hub followed by Rewana making at the marae

. .

.12-1pm Sausage Sizzle

. 12pm $5 Kai at the Marae

2pm - Te Reo . Debate in the Wharenui

. .

RĀTŪ TUES

. Kapa Haka in the hub

RĀAPA WEDS

12pm $5 Kai at the. Marae

RĀPARE THURS

. .

10am - 3pm Raranga (weaving) in the Wharenui

12pm $5 Kai at the Marae

5.30 Ngā Rangahautira . Māori Mooting . Competition at the Marae

RĀMERE FRI

@ngai.tauira

. .

12pm $5 Kai at the Marae .

. .

6PM Pasifika . Students Cultural Night

5pm Ngā Taura Umanga -Tatai Hono .Event Quiz Night at Hunter Lounge

KO TAHU-POTIKI TE MARO-DORAN NŌ NGĀTI POROU TE KAITUHI PIKITIA O TĒNEI MAHI TOI

“He Taonga Tuku Iho, He Taonga E Huna Ana” Paiahahā, paiahahā! NĀ ERU RUANUI TIA KAPA-KINGI TE AUPŌURI, TE RARAWA, NGĀTI KAHU KI WHANGAROA, NGĀ PUHI NUI TONU, WAIKATO-TAINUI, TE WHĀNAU-A-APANUI

Ka tū ki runga, ka tū ki raro, ka tū ki hea, ki hea, ka tū kia puta ki te wheiao ki Te Ao Mārama, tīhei wā mauri ora! Tīhei wā uriuri, tīhei wā nakonako, ka tau ka tau hā ko Rangi e tū iho nei, ka tau ka tau hā ko Papa e hora ake nei, whanō, whanō, utaina mai te mauri ki runga ki a tātou, kua tau!

te mana, ko te tapu, ko te noa, ko te utu, ko te manaaki, ko te whakapapa me te whanaungatanga. Arā noa ngā uaratanga o tā te Māori titiro, o tō te Māori whakaaro. Hākoa ia kua panonitia i te ao hurihuri nei, kei reira tonu tōna ngako, tōna taikara e koiora tonu ana. Engari, kāhore rawa ia e kaha kitea nei, e kaha rāngona nei. Engari mō te reo Māori, mō te kapa haka, mō te toi, mō te aha rānei, ko ērā ko ngā momo o te Māori kua matawhānui i tēnei ao.

Me mātua rere atu ngā mihi ki a rātou ngā whatiwhatikī kua whakahā atu i te tuamatangi. Kei aku mate, moea te moenga mokakore, haere atu rā ki te poho o te pō horo taniwha, ki te paepae purapura tuawhiti, hei reira, whakaoti atu rā. E kīia nei te kōrero, e kore a muri e hokia. Ana, haere!

Na, me aropū ki te reo Māori hei whakataurite mā tāua. E mihi ana ki te nuipuku kua kaingākau ki te arero pounamu hei Pae Tawhiti mō rātou, ki te hunga e āta whakamākūkū nei i te kākano o reo Māori kei roto i a rātou anō, kia tipu matomato ai ia hei ngā rā ki tua. Mahi tika ana! Nā konā kua piki haere ake te ora o te reo. Koinā i kī ai ngā karāhe reo Māori i ngā whare wānanga i te tini me te mano. Kuuuuuuua roa ngā raina o ngā tāngata e kūwata ana ki te reo taketake o Aotearoa nei. Ka mutu te pai! Heoi anō rā, ko te reo ko tētahi kura anake o ngā kuratini o te ao Māori. Me mahara tātou ki tōna hoa piri tata, ki a Tikanga. Kei a ia hoki he kura, he taonga e huna mārika ana, kāhore anō kia tino whaiwāhi i tō tātou ao tūroa nei. Anō nei he manakore tōna, e mara mā, tēnā pōraruraru tēnā!

Hoki rawa mai ki a tātou ngā waihōtanga iho e takahi tonu nei i te mata o te whenua, e pīkau tonu nei i te mana o rātou otirā o tātou. E ao nei te kupu whakanui! Mai i te tai whakararo ki te kei o te waka a Māui, huri, huri noa i te motu whānui, tēnā rawa atu tātou. Nei rā te pūtātara a Take e tangi nei. Hei whakaarara, hei rāhiri i te tī me te tā, e tōia mai ai te taringa rahirahi ki ahau e. Kei taku iti, kei taku rahi, tēnā, pīkarikari mai nei! Me tōtika atu te tauihu o tō tāua waka ki te kaupapa, ki te tikanga a tātou a te Māori. He aha rā ia? Ki ōku ake nei, koia rā he mea tuku iho e ō tātou tūpuna, arā, i ahu mai i te ao o tuawhakarere. Hei aha? Hei tohutohu, hei tāwharau, hei whakamana i a tātou haere ake nei, haere ake nei. Ko ōna poupou ko

Kei pōhēhē tātou he rerekē te tikanga a te Māori i te reo o te Māori. Ko rāua anō rāua, arā, he mahi takirua tā rāua. Ko tā rāua, he whakatinana, he whakakiko i te 6

mana o te Māori o tuawhakarere, o ō tātou tūpuna. Mehemea ko te reo ko te kākahu o te whakaaro Māori, ko te tikanga ko tōna tokotoko hei taituarā mōna. Mehemea ko te reo Māori te huarahi ki Te Ao Tūroa, ko te tikanga tōna wakatere hei kawenga mōna ki hea ki hea ki hea rāini. Engari, kei tua o te pekerangi tēnei taonga tuku iho, kāore i te matawhānui nei i waengarahi i a tātou. Horekau noa ia kia whaikiko, kia whaimana rāini i ngā kokona katoa o te ao nei. Ki te whakarauora tātou i te reo Māori, ka taea te pēnā i te tikanga nōki!

pūnaha hoki i wēnei momo take, kua kore pea wēnei pōreareatanga. Kei wareware i a Ngāi Tātou, he toto, he werawera i heke ai, mō te ora o te mātauranga Māori te take. He kaha i pau ai i a rātou mā. Arā, he utu tō taua hekenga, hei kawe, hei whakatutuki hoki mā tātou, kia kore ai e moumou te ōkea ururoatia o te mātauranga Māori. Me ngana tātou ki tēra! Heoi, me pēhea tēnei utu e ea ai? E aku rangatira, me whakaaronui ngā momo katoa o te ao Māori. Me whānui, me whāroa te titiro ake ki tō ao. Whāia ko te reo, ko te mahi a te rēhia, ko te maramataka Māori, ko te aha rānei. Arā noa ngā mātauranga o te Māori, hei matapihi ki te ao o neherā. Ā, whāia hoki ko te tikanga! Koia tēnei e whakatuāpapa nei i aua momo katoa kua kōrerotia kētia. Ki te kore āia, kua kore te Māori!

E kitea hoki nei e au te hunga kei te nanaiore, kei te manawanui ki te haka a te Māori. E mihi ana ki tērā kaha. Heoi anō, mā te haka noa iho ka aha? E kore rawa te mana Māori me tōna katoa e ora i tērā mahi noa. E haka ana, e waiata ana, e mōteatea ana, tēnā pai tēnā. Heoi anō, me uaua ka kite i te hunga e manawanui pērā ana kia ū ai ki ngā uaratanga o te whakaaro Māori hei tikanga mā rātou. Ka mutu, e whati tonu ana te tikanga i a tātou. Ērā ko ngā tāne Māori e tūkino nei i ngā wāhine, ko ngā kēnge kino rawa atu nei kua kī i te kirimangu, ko ngā pōrangirangi hoki o te tarukino. Rawa ērā e whai nei i ngā uaratanga, i ngā whakaaro, i ngā tikanga Māori.

Atu i ngā marae me ērā momo wāhi, mū rawa ana a Tikanga Māori. Ko tāku noa iho tēnei ki a tātou, hei hiki mā tātou. Ki te whakahokia mai te mana Māori, ā kāti, whakarauoratia ngā momo katoa o tō tātou ao. Whakahuratia tēnei taonga nō mua, tēnei kura e huna ana, e arorangi ai tā tātou haere ki anamata. Whakaarahia ake ngā pou o tō whare o Tikanga Māori.

E aro hoki ana ki te korenga o te tikanga Māori i te ture me ngā take tōrangapū o te wā. E Ngāi Te Rangi, e Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei, e ngā hapū o Whakatōhea, e ngā hapū o Ngāpuhi nui tonu, e tātou katoa, ka aroha ki a tātou. E hia kē nei ngā raru kua puta i ngā kerēme mō te Tiriti o Waitangi. Kua pakanga atu te Māori ki te Māori mō te mana whenua te take, anō nei e noho tonu nei ki te puku o te rautau 19. Ā, he aha i pēnei ai? Ki tāku e titiro nei, he korenga nō te tikanga Māori i te Taraipiunara o Te Tiriti o Waitangi me ngā whakataunga o ngā kerēme. Nā konā i raru ai. Pākeha ake nei, Pākehā ake nei! Nā whai anō e tutū ana te pūehu. Mā te pūnaha Pākehā nei te mana Māori e tārona ana. Ina hoki atu tātou ki ngā uaratanga o te tikanga Māori hei rauhī, hei

Tātou mā, kia kaua rawa e hurikōtua ki te mana o te tikanga, kei takahi i te mana o ō tātou tūpuna. Me kore ake rātou, ko kore rawa tātou. Nō reira, me whāngai e tātou te katoatoa o tēnei mea te ao Māori, te taha ki te reo, te taha ki te tikanga, me ērā momo katoa o tātou, kei huri katoa te tikanga hei kai mā te ahi! Whiua te tikanga ki te rangi, ki te whenua, ki ngā kōti me te ture, ki ngā kāinga, ki ngā kura, ki ngā tari, ahakoa te aha, kia rangiwhāwhā ai mō ake tonu atu. Kei aku tāngata, Māori mai, Pākehā mai, wai atu mai, nei te mānuka e takoto nei. Hīkina! Whakamaua kia tina! Haumi e, hui e, tāiki e!

The Values that Maketh the Man.

cultural concepts are underpinned by aroha. Secondly; where did this masculinity come from?

culture

It is important to point out that Māori masculinity cannot be analysed merely from a contemporary snapshot, as masculinity is a historical construction. So in order for us to pull apart the role of masculinity in New Zealand we have to understand the effects colonial attitudes have had on Māori men. Research out of the University of Sydney identifies the vital role institutions such as governments and schools have on the construction of gender. Gender orders are constructions subject to change throughout history. Therefore, it makes sense that gender is connected with the process of colonisation arguably the most important historical change in modern world history which has been critical for the making of masculinities, for both the colonising powers and those who have been colonised. The mentality that a white person is the exemplary human, and others are defined against their unmarked norm was inherent in the fabric of 19th century European society, Reverend Butterfield, the headmaster of a Gisborne Māori boys boarding school, told young Maori men that “999 out of 1000” Māori boys could not bear the strain of higher education. In commerce, Māori could not hope to compete with the Pākehā. This idea of white supremacy has influenced contemporary New Zealand via colonial expansion, ultimately discounting Māori people and tikanga Māori. Pākehā would use this idea to highlight the ways in which white men had been “burdened” with civilizing indigenous men as they were thought to be incapable.

Nā Te Nia Matthews, Ngāi Tūhoe

This article aims to discuss the role of Māori male masculinity in contemporary New Zealand. I am writing this in hopes that this will recognise the influence colonisation has had on Māori male identity. Māori made up 50.7 per cent of New Zealand’s prison population, despite accounting for just 14.9 percent of the population at the last census. 65 percent of male prisoners and 63 percent of female prisoners under 20 are Māori. 90 percent of prisoners under 20 have had contact with Oranga Tamariki. These high rates of punishment for Māori seems to be a popular characterisation of contemporary Māori masculinity that needs to be challenged and the place of colonisation in New Zealand needs to be discussed with depth if we have any chance of healing our people from this hurt. The two questions I want to answer here is Firstly; did this culture of masculinity always exist among Māori men? The easy answer is of course not. Since the arrival of Māori in 1350 AD there has been several key ideals that have been solidified as part of the culture. Some of these are: whanaungatanga for establishing meaningful and reciprocal relationships, manaakitanga for sharing and supporting each other, and aroha for having respect for each other. Academics such as John Rangihau of Tuhoe has extended on these values, encasing Māoritanga (Māori culture) inside the concept of aroha (profound love). From this concept, he depicts how all Māori

These early colonial representations of Māori men as unintelligent were later modified to Māori men being more “practical-minded” as the colonial government realized the benefits of having a manual workforce resulting in Māori boys receiving a limited form of education that funnelled them into non-academic industries and vocations. In the 1860s through the 1940s, New Zealand’s 8

educational policies reflected “a narrow and limited view of Māori potential and the role of Maoris in New Zealand society”.

to Wellington in his early 20s becoming an activist and a member of Black Power. O’Reilly sympathised with the plight of urban Māori and was often shocked by police attitudes toward them. He saw Black Power as a modern urban tribe that could be a vehicle for positive social change in the lives of its members. Research done in Ontario with indigenous Canadians who were involved in gangs show corresponding experiences where all of the participants identified assimilation and colonization as a detrimental influence on the identities of indigenous men. One of the participants described colonization as the point where “our whole culture took a nosedive.” Other men described that they felt inadequate as fathers because they could not protect their children. They feel completely powerless and referenced this powerlessness as losing their warrior spirit. 3/11 men disclosed that either they or their immediate family members had been sexually abused. They attributed their abuse to the cultural disruption that came from the violence of colonization and the subsequent transmission of intergenerational trauma. Some of the men also disclosed facing racist stereotypes throughout their lives, and talked about how this had negatively impacted their identities as Indigenous men. One man stated how his feelings of self-esteem were negative, he said: “I was told I was stupid, worthless, that I’d never amount to anything. A lot of things that our people are told, you know?” Another man shared how common stereotypes about indigenous men that negatively influenced his identity also led to criminalization.

However, the achievements of Māori students in math, science, and literature at Te Aute College were equal to any in New Zealand, with the school producing national leaders such as Sir Apirana Ngata and Te Rangi Hīroa. In 1866 the Inspector of Native Schools James Pope complained about this, suggesting Te Aute should instead be an institute where “Māori boys could be taught agriculture, market gardening, stock farming, poultry keeping and bacon curing.” As a result, school authorities dropped many of the academic subjects from the Te Aute curriculum having significant implications for Māori boys attending the school. In 1906, the inspector of Native Schools William Bird declared that Māori were unsuited to academic subjects and unable to compete with Europeans in trades and commerce -- the natural genius of the Māori was limited to manual labour. This mixture of circumstances where indigenous males create their identities from the intergenerational effects of residential school experiences that foster feelings of cultural loss; loss of identity; and discrimination based on lack of opportunities. The effects of the restriction of Māori boys in New Zealand’s education system has led many New Zealanders to view Māori as lazy, irresponsible, dole-bludging, dirty, socially and morally lax, ignorant, superstitious, and opportunist, living in over-crowded accommodation and failing to cultivate or care for their land. At least this is how they were portrayed in media. This then led disillusioned, indigenous youth to turn to gangs for a sense of identity and purpose. This can be seen through the rise of the Black Power, who in 1977 banned any of the chapters from wearing Nazi regalia in an attempt to better connect with their predominantly Māori roots. These efforts, were supported and influenced by people such as Denis O’Reilly, who saw the gang as a form of Māori resistance and tried to angle it toward positive endeavors, this proved to have lasting effects. Denis moved

Despite indigenous men being spread globally, their collective experiences are eerily similar. Where even pioneering Māori leaders such as Ngata and Hiroa from Te Aute were only further undermined by the New Zealand education system. This summarizes the similar experiences of colonisation, where indigenous men have been subjected to aversion of themselves and their intellect.

AROTAKE PUKAPUKA

HE KUPU TUKU IHO TIMOTI KĀRETU & TĀKUTA WHAREHUIA MILROY NGĀ WHAKAARO Ā KALANY SHELFORD, NGĀI TŪHOE, TE AITANGA-Ā-MĀHAKI, TE ARAWA

E mōhio ai koe ki a au, me mōhio koe ki tōku reo. He pūrongo arotake tēnei mō te pukapuka ‘He Kupu Tuku Iho: Ko te Reo Māori te Tatau ki te Ao’ - Nā Timoti Karetu rāua ko Te Wharehuia Milroy. Tomo mai ki taku ao Māori i runga i te reo pōhiri o ōku tupuna, te reo maioha o ōku pākeke, me te whakaaro nui o ēnei mātanga reo ki te poipoi i te reo, me te kaha o tā rāua whāngai i te reo ki te hunga e ngākanui ki te reo. Nau mai te taringa, nau mai te manawanui. Nau mai, pānui mai rā e nga toa tauā e ngana nei ki te hauhake i te kai a te rangatira.

te mea i kapo noa mai i te rangi, ehara hoki i te mea i ahu mai i te reo tawhito, ko tō rāua, he āta whakaarohia te momo wairua o te kupu me tōna kaupapa, koirā e mana ai. Kātahi te whakaaro ataahua ko tēnā. E tohu ana tēnei i te āritarita o ngā arero Māori ki te whanake tahi me te ao hurihuri. Kia kaua noa e mau ki ngā āhuatanga ō rātou mā (kia kaua hoki e whakarērea) engari kia ngātahi te katete atu. Ko tāku i kapo mai i ngā kōrero ā ngā koroua, e whakapapa pounamu ngā wai o ō rāua manawa i runga i te mōhio, e ora pai nei te reo Māori ki tēnei reanga ōku, me te reanga ō runga ake (takiwa o te 14-45 tau). Inā te nui o te whiu tao ā ngā pakeke mō te kino o te reo a ngā rangatahi, me te kino ō ngā waiaro hēoi, anei ngā mātanga e mīharo ana ki te rangatahi, mō te pīkoko ō te ngakau, te hia kai o te arero ki ngā hua o te reo Māori me ōna katoa. Nei ngā rangatahi e whakatairanga i te reo, e kawe nei i te reo i roto i ngā mahi o ia rā, ki ngā tōpito katoa o tō rātou ao. Kāore tēnei reanga e tino mihia e ngā pakeke... Anō nei kua whakawhiwhia ki te tohu hōnore nui ktk.

Kāore pea te ao e mārama ki te nui o te tōtā kua heke i te rae o ngā tautōhito nei a Tīmoti Karetu rāua ko Te Wharehuia Milroy, mō te reo Māori tonu te take. Ko ngā kai ō roto, he tuinga ā-kupu o ngā rautau e arohanuitia e rāua ki te reo, ō ngā tini wheako whaiaro hoki. Hei tā Te Haumihiata, he oha nō ngā morehu koroua nei ki te hunga e kaingakau ana ki te reo Māori. Inā te maha o ngā pukapuka kua whakarewahia e te tira Perehi ō Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmakimakaurau heoi, kaore ōna rite ki tēnei rourou mātauranga a ngā koroua nei. Ko te nui o ōna hiranga e mau nei ki tōna tuāpapa ara ki ētahi o ngā kai ō roto, e kīia ai ko te tikanga-ā-iwi, te wetereo, te mana, te tapu, te wairua, me ngā take kōrero o ia rā. Koinei ētahi ō ngā kaupapa whāiti e hōhonu ai te ruku a ngā ruānuku matararahi nei. Ko te mea mīharo rawa atu, koinei te huatahi ō te tokorua nei, kāore e kitea he kohinga kōrero pēnei nā i runga i ngā pae pukapuka o te ao.

E hoa mā, me he tūtara kauika kua pae ki uta, e hao nei te hoki ki tai. Taihoa te ao e manawanui mai ki tō tātou nei reo. E noho ana au ki te poho o tōku whare ō Te Tumu Herenga Waka. Kōtahi atu taku wairua ki te whenua taurīkura, ki roto o te rohe pōtae o Tūhoe. Panekire maunga tēnā koe, Taiarahia maunga tēnā hoki koe, kei ngā uri o ngā maunga whakahī, ngā poutokomana o te Panekiretanga, nei ā mihi e kore e ngū.

Ko ētahi o ngā kai ō roto e aro ana ki te ao hou me tōnā reo. Hei tā ngā kaituhi, ko te nuinga ō ngā kupu e kaha rangona ana i ēnei rā he mea waihanga o roto i ngā rautau tata nei. Ehara i

face associated with the Māori culture. The fact that there are already so many stigmas and stereotypes about the Māori people makes it harder for me as a young Māori to know the right way to behave at every point in time in front of the public eye. Not only am I being judged as an individual, my whole ethnicity will be, because I wear it on my face. My mother and I have always said that when one is ready the other would support. I would have never wanted to share this experience with anyone but her. For some, the decision was not theirs to make. For some, the time and place were not theirs to choose. For some, the artist was not even known to them. I feel fortunate to have had a hand in specifying these details for my own experience. I received my moko kauae on the 30th June, 2018. This was four years to the day that my family and I buried my grandfather. I tāia au ki taku ūkaipō, ki taku tūrangawaewae, ki Te Poho o Mahaki. Surrounded by my whānau, kuia, aunties and uncles. It was one of the happiest moments of my life.

KAUAE

“Nau mai ki te Kāhui Tara”. I pōhiritia māua ko taku māmā e te hunga mau moko kauae. Engari anō mo te hunga kāre e mārama ana ki ngā tikanga e pā ana ki te kawe i te moko ki te kauae.

NĀ TAHUA PIHEMA, TE WHĀNAU-A-APANUI

There is a type of support person whose support comes in the form of getting one herself. This is loosely termed as being a “whāriki”. The intricacies of the supporting role are unknown to most of the public and in turn, their views are often misconstrued based on their limited knowledge about moko kauae. As I understand it, to be a part of a whāriki is to be under the same tuāpapa, the same foundations upon which you chose to receive a moko kauae.

There are struggles and benefits of every action you make. Receiving a moko kauae was no exception to this. This article will outline the majority of the details that surrounded my decision to receive a moko kauae, and the ongoing aftermath of that decision. I grew up in Tūranganui – a – Kiwa, a small place with a population mounting up to a whopping 30,000 residents. We all know each other or each other’s cousins. We all went to school together one year or another. We’ve all played each other in weekend sports. It’s the town that never changes. I grew up seeing my kuia, koroua, aunties and uncles receiving the kauae or mataora, and so wearing tā moko on your face was becoming normalized. Enough of our culture has already been ripped away, so gaining the strength to be able to perform this traditional art form is a way of taking it back.

I never knew the effect this would have on my life. To this moment I still get looks and feel the judgement. Because of my age. Because of the way that I dress. Because of the things that I partake in. There are real concerns out there about what a person carrying a moko kauae and the ramifications their actions have on the rest of the Māori people. Ultimately, I have come to the conclusion that I didn’t do it for anyone but myself and my whānau. If there are questions, I am open to them.

There’s a whole spectrum of reasons as to why a person will get a moko kauae.

Come and ask, before you judge. “Kua roa e ngaukino te mamae ki roto i te whatuamanawa i to ngarohanga atu.

In recent years I have wondered what I would look like with a moko kauae. This was without expectation of getting one in the immediate future. The decision to get one was not decided on a whim. Many years of wānanga, discussion, had gone in to the decision to receive my moko kauae. We had discussed the reasons for and against. How it would affect my life as a young person in the big world. How it would affect my behaviors outside of home. Details right down to how I present myself to the world were discussed at length because I had to realize that once it was done, I would become another

No reira kua tau koe ki te whatumanawa, a, inaianei kua taa koe ki te kiri. Anei nga tohu maumahara kia koe, e kore koe e warewaretia e matou, e kore e mimiti te aroha, e kore e maroke to puna roimata. Ko au ko Apanui, ko Apanui ko au.”

~Indigenous Eyes~

CAPTURING THE ESSENCE OF INDIGENOUS EXPERIENCES ON THE WORLD STAGE NĀ TE AOREWA ARETA, NGĀI TE RANGI, NGĀTI RANGINUI It often seems that an indigenous perspective embodies a ‘greater purpose’ or meaning towards its view of the world and the way things are experienced and interpreted. In many instances this is true because in numerous ways indigenous people express a value for all things beyond what is purely obvious or ordinary, but instead from a multifaceted point of view.

a performance of some sort, or they themselves want to impact performing arts in some way. Both these reasons come to create a passion for developing art that will inspire and have the potential to change audiences’ opinions around certain issues. This I believe, corresponds with an indigenous perspective of performing and furthermore for Māori as well. This being because we vividly see when observing the projects created by indigenous cultures that they constantly breathe a need and an urgency to be heard, to have a vital say. It is as if every moment of the showcase is an opportunity to influence and connect with others on a level that is rarely attained in reality.

Being raised in Aotearoa New Zealand as an indigenous Māori offers a lot of experiences and knowledge for growth as an individual, but furthermore as an artist as well. This is because you become influenced by so many things throughout your upbringing that are in some cases uplifting but then in other instances feel deeply diminishing. Māori have always had the qualities of strong and fluent performers because the ability to express oneself is cemented within a Māori lifestyle. Storytelling through an oral manner is simply a natural way of life that continues to play a role in the way Māori deliver on performing arts stages today.

For Indigenous cultures, performing is a valuable tool which is grasped firmly because for many reasons, performing arts is not interpreted simply as acting or pretend, but is a form of treasured communication which speaks their ideas and beliefs in a way that has provided a source of identity for the people of these cultures like Māori. There is a whakatauki that comes to mind which is “Ki te kore te reo, ka kore hoki te Māoritanga~ If the language dies, so will my Māoritanga”. This proverb enlightens one’s knowledge of how essential language as communication

There tends to be two ways in which someone discovers a deep relationship with performing arts and that is either because they have been impacted by

is to Māori and their survival as a people, because within language, you find identity but also a sentimental source of belonging.

the important role indigenous performing arts has towards manifesting a cultural mark within a space that in the past may have felt less embracing for indigenous people. When there is an abundance of places that expose a limited reflection of diversity it can lead those who experience resistance within these spaces to question where they belong and whether there is a space for them to thrive in at all. The spaces within performing arts at times mirror these situations, as the theatre craft can often project an overwhelmingly westernised image or depiction of how performances and plays are exhibited and should be understood.

It is through a play’s storyline and dialogue that Māori are given a medium to intricately weave knowledge surrounding their cultural identity. But also exert a voice promoting resilience and selfrepresentation, on a platform that seeks to share the main ideas in a way that intrigues but also educates those who are watching. It was a man named Erving Goffman who expressed the idea that- ‘Life is a neverending play. In the way that we all act both as audiences and performers towards each other every day. From this we can strongly realise that there is an array of content that Māori would have the inclination to depict on a stage setting based on the lives they’ve lived. Māori have held a similar role to numerous other indigenous cultures for much of their existence, which involves an intense impact from adversity and loss. A performance stage is a vital environment where indigenous cultures can express some of the most confronting and unsettling themes and discussions in a space which seems to have the ability to suppress conflict. It is this which offers a power of sorts to indigenous performersA chance, which allows these discussions to be encountered openly and freely. And it is from this that we come to observe that perhaps despite the nature of the history that has been endured by indigenous people, Māori like many other indigenous cultures reveal that a challenging history may just create an incentive, or ‘a spark’ within, to create art that speaks beyond what is seen onstage but rather symbolizes aspects that have been left hidden for a long time.

I see these types of encounters as experiences that surround Māori from the moment they embark on their educative journey within a variety of environments because as mentioned before- our lives themselves are a play. There are many instances where a dilemma is exposed within westernised spaces which leads to indigenous people having to make the decision of whether to act unfazed and go with the grain’ or be willing to go against and express themselves in a way which embraces who they are. Whether it’s by simply speaking within their native language, being the single indigenous face within a room or in this case, a part of an ensemble in a performance, it is this which catalyses a change of lens and influences others to see through a different pair of eyes. Indigenous depictions of performance all embody something more than a presentation of a story but essentially a sense of ‘Wairua’ that comes from the respect and integrity that has been given to the project and resonates simultaneously with both the performers and the audience. This for me is what makes performing arts so special and unique as there are only certain moments where a performance creates an ambience that connects with people emotionally regardless of what

There is a phrase “putting our faces in our places” which has been expressed within a Māori mapping class that I’ve been a part of this year and analyses how places can be decolonised. This phrase fluently reflects

ethnicity they may derive from. Performing for indigenous people encompasses an awareness for all facets both physically and spiritually which consequently offers valued meaning to the final piece of work. This can be reflected within Kapa Haka. Waiata or seeing a Māori piece of theatre, as each if these examples exert not only the visible elements of emotion but the intangible features which leave a lingering effect long after the final line has been read.

within theatre while additionally involving the aspect of standing as Wahine Māori. Through listening to Te Puawai’s words it was moving to find a sense of direction and inspiration within her responses. What was especially interesting was her work on the play “He kura e huna ana” written by Hohepa Waitoa and directed by Nancy Brunning which came to Wellington this year in June. This play is a true landmark within indigenous theatre as it is the first play of its kind to be toured around Aotearoa completely in Te Reo Māori, thus the ability to express theatre within a language so deeply personal proved to be a poignant moment for Te Puawai and the ensemble who developed the production. Te Puawai’s complete honesty and transparency when discussing the questions, I had, thoroughly shed a humble light on her presence as a Māori woman within the industry but more importantly as a mother to a young daughter. I understood in that moment that this is what being present within a westernised craft is about, it’s about representation. There is a sincere value and need for Women to represent each other not only within the world but on the stage as well because it is not just ourselves we stand for, it’s for those still yet to be seen. So, by collaborating with other Māori performers such as Te Puawai, it becomes really clear that an indigenous stance with performing arts is nourished by unity because all indigenous performers bear the same vital responsibility and that is to be pillars for one another.

An essential way that this can be defined is through the performance of ‘Troilus and Cressida’ directed by Rachel House which took place at the Globe theatre in London and within Aotearoa as well in 2012 . When studying this version for a Māori theatre paper based on ‘theatre of Aotearoa/New Zealand’ I vividly remember seeing the members of the cast forming a huddled embrace with each other, arms looped over one another’s shoulders, shedding tears of appreciation. This moment was not an aspect of the actual performance, but it was a type of performance which was overpowering in terms of the lasting effect it initiated. This presentation of ‘Troilus and Cressida’ was the first Shakespearean play to be entirely translated, devised and performed in Te Reo Māori by Māori actors and it is this occurrence which undoubtedly would have given an immense sense of fulfilment to those who viewed the play and for the creators especially. To have such a prominently English playwright like Shakespeare being interpreted and shared by an indigenous ensemble working alongside the Globe theatre signifies such a powerful reflection of potential for indigenous artists within a westernised craft like theatre. It was this piece of work which indicated how successfully Māori could adapt and form an admirable bridge between indigenous and non-indigenous perspectives. I had the opportunity to interview Te Puawai Winterburn who for me was a valued figure of support to build on the discussion about indigenous experiences

I recently watched a screening of Merata Mita’s documentary ‘How mum decolonised the screen’, directed by her son Hepi Mita and there was a moment from her film ‘Mauri’ where a young boy stands on top of a hill waving a blanket through the wind like a flag which was deeply touching because at that point I became aware that I was seeing more than just a single boy on top of a hill with a piece of fabric, I was seeing an indigenous figure. There was a Māori being exhibited

before my eyes but more importantly there was a performance showing what it means to be indigenous within performing arts and within the world. There are many circumstances when indigenous people may feel isolated and out of place within environments that seem to hinder indigenous expression and perspectives. But what we need to maintain is this- at least we are there and at least we continue to exist, because the single figure standing upon the hill is all of us and represents

something more fulfilling, ‘a greater purpose’ so to say. We all contribute and symbolise something important because we convey how indigenous cultures can share perspectives through their eyes by adapting spaces into places where we can thrive and belong. “We try hard to maintain a level of integrity, that is part of being Maori and telling Maori stories” - Merata Mita-

Many thanks and gratitude to the Editor and team of Te Ao Mārama for their generous guidance, Te Puawai Winterburn for her inspirational words and Awatea Mita and Heperi Mita for the valuable assistance.

The blur is strong today Here barely looking awake. Think I left the “ideal” loose in my dreams I swear this day has hung with me before My attitude is softer now I think im getting used to it all. Im growing still, but slow. Im cosy in these pillows, then wake up with a swell. See feathers float then see them melt. Hit cruuuise control then stroll through Unfortunately can’t roll though Resort to same packaging Same day, same baggage. Played Usher “Love in this club” Hit part II till our childhood grew up. Circled back to my suburbs Simply stacked are my things and belonging, drying out every summer. With love I wear this sweater I am warm, I am sheltered Whether any weather

- Anonymous

AROTAKE WAIATA NĀ SYMON PALMER, NGĀI TE RANGI

Aotearoa has a diverse and small music industry, with many successful exports and a sometimes-hidden or soon to be discovered local talent. Yes, there is Stan Walker and the like but there is also much more to be discovered in the slightly less mainstream spheres. I’d like to draw your attention to two important Māori musicians of today creating in these spaces.

SOCCER PRACTICE Before seeing Soccer Practice live, the only Māori I’d ever heard spoken at a gig was cohar (koha). Soccer Practice have carved out a space where te reo Māori can be proudly privileged (and pronounced correctly) in New Zealand’s indie music scene. Their throbbing beats and electronic treats are matched with stimulating visuals at live show - something you’ll have to see for yourself. Hailing from Tāmaki Makaurau, they have had a run of successful shows nationwide. Keep an eye peeled on local gig guides as they are sure to be touring again soon due to a recent release: Kaua e Mate Wheke (available on Spotify now) Earlier this year they put on a stunning performance at the opening of Te Papa’s rejuvenated exhibition space Toi Art. If you haven’t heard of them yet, you are likely to going forward as they just got signed to Kartel Music Group (UK) who also represent the likes of Fat Boy Slim and Peaches.

MARLON WILLIAMS This globe-trotting modern Māori legend is critically acclaimed worldwide. Hailing from Ōtautahi, this Ngāi Tahu contemporary country/blues artist has toured the world several times now and has even been coined as ‘the Māori Elvis’. Country music might be seen as a turn-off to some, but Marlon makes it cool again. His songs range from the upbeat that will get you ready for a Friday night, to ballads that will be there for your next break up. These are melodies to melt to. If you ever get the chance to see him live, be sure to get tickets early as local shows always sell out. His latest record came out earlier this year and is well worth the listen. Make Way For Love is available on all the usual platforms and physical copies exist for those good people who still buy music.

AROTAKE KIRIATA

PŌ NĀ NOHORUA PARATA, RONGOWHAKAATA, NGĀTI KAHUNGUNU, NGĀTI RUANUI, NGĀTI TOA, TE ĀTIAWA

Suicide is a huge epidemic within New Zealand. The fact that so many people, especially young rangatahi, are suffering from mental health in our own communities, highlights how great of an issue this really is. It is a topic that is rarely spoken about, and an issue that is rarely addressed by mainstream media here in Aotearoa. It is a huge epidemic here in Aotearoa. I believe it’s something that we need to discuss a lot more.

no hesitation, four other students and I filmed, recorded, produced and edited the documentary over the course of six very emotional weeks. The film shared stories and experiences from four different interviewees who really opened up and took us on a journey through the encounters with suicide and mental health. As well as the emotions and feelings that they suffered from after losing a loved one. What really captures the audience and draws them in is the films’ harsh reality. That these are real people from our community telling real stories from their experience. Yes, it does put people in an uncomfortable position but that was my main objective from the get go. Being uncomfortable is the only barrier between us talking about it and sweeping it under the rug. Suicide is a huge epidemic here in Aotearoa. We need to talk about it. The Wait Is Over.

Last trimester, I pitched a film idea to my FILM311 class about potentially shooting a documentary that raises awareness for suicide and mental health - a very bold move on my behalf, but it was a risk I was willing to take. I titled the film PŌ (King and Parata, 2018) for two reasons. Firstly, “pō” can be translated to “night” or “darkness”, which can reflect the internal darkness those, who are struggling with mental health, face on day-to-day basis. Feeling trapped, alone and vulnerable. Secondly, “pō” in a more metaphorical term represents the underworld or the place of departed spirits. Thus giving the title a double meaning that reflects the tone and the theme of the film. Understanding that it was a sensitive topic to discuss, it was something I felt had to be done. Without

Ki a koutou mā kua riro ki te tatau o te pō, ki te korowai o Ranginui, ki tua o te arai, haere, haere, hoki wairua mai. E kore te aroha e mimiti.

Ethnocentrism, Te Ao Māori, and the Church NĀ SAM HENARE, NGĀTI HINE

In 2014 my wife and I went to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, for six months to work. My wife is a nurse, so was involved with different NGO’s offering free medical care. I, however, was involved in a local church, where my role was to support the music team and be involved in leadership. Being overly enthusiastic about my role, I went about getting songs translated, teaching these and helping people use their voices in a more powerful way. It was, what appeared to me to be, a successful use of my time -with the church and teams eager to receive my ideas.

cross-culturally. This realisation caused me to consider all that I had done in Cambodia. I had been teaching songs that I thought were good, songs that worked at home; but were they relevant to Cambodia? I had been teaching timings of songs that people were struggling to play; on reflection, these timings were not familiar to the Cambodian people and their traditional songs. I had tried to change the voices of the Cambodians to sound more like what i was used to; it sounded good to me but it certainly didn’t sound Khmer any more. What had I done?! This is a true experience from my life, however it can also be a true reflection of the way that Western influenced Christians have historically done church; confusing their world views as scripture and preaching what is not necessarily biblical. Japanese theologian Kosuke Koyama wrote “The cultural views of Asia and the Pacific have not been appreciated. They were, in a package,

After our time in Cambodia I read a book about Christian missionaries working into Asia. As the book described the local people and how they, I believed, oddly lived out their Christianity; I noted an overwhelming sense of judgement in my heart. This was an alarming moment for me. I had thought I was “Mr Cultures”, successful at working 21

decided to be against the values for which Jesus Christ stood, though in most cases such judgement has been given in terms of the values found in the Western lifestyle for which Jesus does not necessarily stand. That which was unfamiliar to the church was condemned as anti-Christian”. I am not condemning Western influenced Christians for the way this has been done. I believe the cause is an ethnocentric attitude; an attitude which we are all guilty of having. After I recognised the ethnocentrism in my own heart, I knew it was something that I needed to change and so started my journey of being a learner instead of somebody who thought they had the answers. This must also be the attitude for others brought up in a Western influenced church.

Wade Davis, states: “A language is not just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules. A language is a flash of the Human spirit. It’s a vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture comes into the material world”. This suggests language is an expression of how a culture views the world; that by learning a language we learn about that cultures world view. We learn what is important to that culture, their values, the motives behind their actions and insight into their thinking. We learn words that have no direct translation into English because the meanings far outweigh a single word, we learn concepts central to their cultural identity. Language also gives us insight into how cultures refer to God and how they interpret the bible. It’s unfortunate that (in my experience) western influenced christians believe their understanding of the bible is the only right interpretation; that we know more about the bible than other cultures when the bible isn’t even a western book. Our world view is the lens by which we (usually unintentionally) interpret the bible, which may cause us to align scripture in a way that is implicit with western culture, when sometimes this is incorrect. Please don’t hear what I’m not saying. I am not saying that the Western way of viewing the bible is completely wrong, but I am saying that other cultures interpretations are needed to give a fuller understanding. From personal experience, by bringing te reo Māori and te ao Māori into church, our view of God can grow exponentially. Māori concepts such as Tūrangawaewae, Mannakitanga and Whānaungatanga can explain so much about the person of Jesus. The Teara definition of Tūrangawaewae : “is often translated as ‘a place to stand’. Tūrangawaewae are places where we feel especially empowered and connected. They are our foundation, our place in the world, our home”. Suddenly, through the use of te reo Māori, we have an incredible word that we can use to help us deeper understand the person of Jesus.He (Jesus) is our ‘place to stand’, the place where we feel ‘especially

In the Bible, the book of Revelation gives us an image of what the church is to look like: “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb”. This is an exciting view of how church should be; all nations, tribes and peoples around the throne singing in their own languages! How boring it would be to have all these amazing differences but to all be singing in English, doing church in a typically Western influenced style. I believe if we want to see the church grow to its fullest potential in Aotearoa, we need to make space for te ao Māori in Christianity and church. By this I don’t mean create a neat little corner for it, but rather let Māori do Christianity in a Māori way; we otherwise run the risk of still doing the same Western influenced style of church, just in a different language, which is missing the point. Mike Hosking has recently claimed that we should no longer promote the (supposed) dying Māori language in schools; we should instead teach languages that will be valuable for communicating internationally for business and trade. If we believe the only purpose of a language is communication, then perhaps Mike Hosking has a point. However, language is far more than just a means of communication. Anthropologist, 22

empowered’ and ‘connected’ to the Father, He is our ‘foundation, our place in the world, our home’.

English but also Latin (an example of the Western influenced church using worldview to shape the churches outworkings). This was the case for Tamihana Te Rauparaha, son of Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha. When Tamihana first became a Christian his passion for the gospel was evident; travelling to Pēwhairangi to increase his biblical knowledge and facing persecution from within his extended whānau. However when he attempted to become a minister, he was faced with numerous hurdles. It is claimed that half of the Māori population attended church when Christianity first blossomed in Aotearoa, with the message of the gospel being preached by Māori to Māori. How heartbreaking that when there was an opportunity for Māori to take ownership of Christianity for themselves, they were hindered by their Pākehā brothers and sisters.

Māoritanga is also important to embrace as it acts as a gateway for many nations to find their standing place in Aotearoa. After the first Christian sermon was preached on December 25 1814 by Ruatara and Samuel Marsden; Ngā Puhi responded with ‘Te Hari a Ngā Puhi’, saying “Ka nukunuku ka nekeneke’ - a response, making a place for Pākehā in Aotearoa. Today still, Māori have an ability to make other cultures feel at home. From encouraging the use of te reo Māori in church and teaching on cultural concepts such as Tūrangawaewae, I have personally heard stories of people from Zimbabwe, Samoa and other cultures say that although they have lived in Aotearoa for many years, understanding these concepts gave them a knowledge that this was their home too, that they have a place to belong. I can recount a time during a church gathering when a Pākehā worship song was being sung and the worship leader translated a refrain into Māori to finish; but instead of finishing, this inspired a host of people from other nations to sing out this same chorus in their own languages. In my opinion this is far closer to how the church in Revelation is described!

If we are to be the church the Bible describes in Revelation, then we must humble ourselves. We need to become learners listening, challenging and taking the time to understand - in order to build a church community that reflects the character of God and the diversity He created. When cultures come together it can be messy as we bring different values, mannerisms and world views. However if we understand our relationship as brothers and sisters in Christ, we can approach these differences in love, knowing that we are for one another. Let me finish with the words of Bishop Whakahuihui Vercoe when he spoke at Waitangi: “May God give us the courage to be honest with one another, to be sincere with one another, and above all to love one another in the strength of God”.

Looking at the Christian history of Aotearoa, we see the church being responsible for some amazing things, things that they are unfortunately not given credit for; however we can also see times where they got it wrong. Using the same example as above, history tells us that Samuel Marsden preached the first sermon to local Ngā Puhi, but tells little of the role of Ruatara. Ruatara is known in this context for translating, however it is argued he would have also been interpreting world view; presenting the preach in a way Māori would have found relevant. I personally believe that Ruatara had the harder job in this situation. History also shows the difficulty faced by Māori to hold a place of office in the church; not only did they have to learn

Tuhia ki te rangi, tuhia ki te whenua, tuhia ki te ngākau o ngā tangata katoa. Ko te mea nui ko te aroha. Tihei mauri ora!

KUA TAE MAI TE WĀ! THE WAIT IS OVER NĀ MAIA TE KOHA, NGĀTI POROU ourselves how we are? Our silence is the enemy of change. Me patu te taniwha o te nohopuku. Today is the day we stop being silent about the way we feel. Kōrero mai, kōrero mai, kōrero mai! Let’s talk about our mental health the same way we talk about any other natural part of our being. Mental health shouldn’t take a back seat to physical or spiritual health. Mental health issues are not a weakness or personality trait, they are a medical condition which deserves to be addressed and taken care of like any other physical health condition. If aren’t expected to just ‘get over’ a broken bone, asthma or the flu; we shouldn’t be expected to just ‘get over’ our mental health issues either. Let’s normalise improving our mental health and support each other the way we encourage ourselves and loved ones to eat healthy or go to the gym. Having open conversations about these illnesses, choosing to no longer be silent is our first step in eroding the stigma around mental health and making it easier for our friends and whanau to ask for help. Pātua te ngangara o te wahangū. We deserve a health service and resources that meet our needs. We deserve to have a government that recognises the needs of its country’s young people, and work with us to fulfil them. We deserve to always be in our best health.

On Wednesday 22 August, three hundred students rallied to Parliament to demand for better funding of tertiary mental health services as part of The Wait is Over student campaign. At the rally, there were three student speakers. One of these speakers was Maia Te Koha. Below is her speech that moved the crowd to tears and was followed by a haka from Ngāi Tauira nō te whare wānanga o Wikitōria and Te Rōpū Māori nō te whare wānanga o Ōtākou. “Tēnā tātou katoa, Tēnā rā koutou kua tae mai i tēnei rā i runga i te karanga o te huihuinga nei. Kua tae mai tātou hei kaikawe i tēnei kaupapa, hei tuara mō o tātou hoa me o tātou whanau e noho mauiui ana, hei waha kōrero mō rātou e noho ngū ana; nō reira kōrero mai, kōrero mai, kōrero mai. Today I am speaking on behalf of my older sister, Hine-i-whakinate-rangi Ngarimu, who in January 2013 passed away after taking her own life. My sister was a 4th year student at Victoria University. She had many friends, great flatmates and a caring family. My sister was loved, and yet she was quietly suffering; suffering from an illness we couldn’t see, which in the end became something she could not overcome on her own. Hinerangi never presented symptoms of mental health issues to us, her friends or the services at Victoria. I often ask myself what I could have said or done differently. How often did I take the time to ask how she was doing? Did I tell her I missed spending time with her? That I love her? How often do any of us take the time to ask the ones we love how they are, or tell them that we love them? How often to we take the time to ask

E te iwi, kua tāwhiti kē tō tātou haerenga mai, kia kore e haere tonu. He nui rawa o tātou mahi, kia kore e mahi tonu. We’ve come too far not to go further, we’ve done too much not to do more. The time for silence is over, it’s time for action. Kia ora.” 24

The issues of mental health have been increasing in kōrero everyday. People like Mike King, Sir John Kirwan and Tā Willie Apiata have spoken out and raised awareness about the massive impact mental health has on us as young people, especially rangatahi Māori.

Me kōrero tātou! Nā Danielle Sword Muaūpoko, Te Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai, Ngāi Tahu

I am not famous. I am not an expert on mental health. However, I do have experience as a young Māori woman going through university and struggling with anxiety and depression. Talking about mental health, especially your own experiences, can be overwhelming and daunting. But I have decided to share my story for two reasons: 1. To continue to normalise talking about mental health and the struggles we face. 2. So that others who experience mental health issues will know they are never alone in this.

pounding through my chest. I was constantly worrying about something wrong happening to me. I also was unaware that when I was feeling lonely and worthless, constantly tired from spending hours at night crying and being scared to face the new day – that was depression. I would turn on my bed, try going back to sleep and feel incredibly lost. I had no drive or motivation to have goals and achieve anything. I felt this dark feeling starting to takeover me, and I lacked the desire to fight it. I would go through this for days and weeks straight because I was keeping it all to myself, still blindly hoping I could make it go away eventually. Then it got to the point where I could feel my hinengaro, wairua and tinana were all falling apart. I still thought opening up would make me a disappointment to whānau and friends.

Struggling with mental health is incredibly hard to do by yourself. When my depression or anxiety became too difficult to manage, I felt like every little issue was the end of the world. Sometimes I felt like I didn’t belong here. When I was first experiencing depression and anxiety I fooled myself into thinking that these early symptoms (like getting upset at a relatively small issue or having mild panic attacks) would be the worst of it. But it grew to the point that I felt so low, I was questioning my place to be here, and my self-worth was just plummeting. Imagine this all happening to you when you are still young and under the pressures of university where you are supposed to be setting yourself up for your future. It is unfortunate that this is the reality for many of us rangatahi Māori. Yet a lot us don’t know that we are not alone in this struggle. Talking about what we are going through has to be the most important step in getting better. Trust me, if you don’t talk about your struggle or ask for help, it can lead to negative consequences and make things worse for you.

However, I eventually realised my pride and worries were preventing me from getting better. I accepted that speaking up and asking for help was okay and what I needed to do to get back on the path to feeling happier and confident in myself again. It turns out opening up was the best thing that I did for myself. Since I started talking about my mental health issues and asking for help I have been able to turn the tables and take back the reigns on how I go about my days. For anyone reading this who have may have experienced or currently experiencing similar feelings to what I have described I have one request from you. If you need to talk, please do! Whether it’s to you friend, whānau or a medical professional. Making the decision to open up about your problems is the hardest but vital part. Remember we are not in this alone, all we need to do is kōrero.

It took me a very long time to even accept the possibility that what I was experiencing was depression and anxiety. I had little to zero knowledge about mental health issues and so I had no idea what I was experiencing. I wasn’t aware that anxiety for me was a sudden feeling of nervousness and shakiness, with my heart 25

He Ara Hou NĀ MASON LAWLOR

NGĀTI KAHUNGUNU

Kei aku whakatiketike ki te rangi, kei aku whakatamarahi ki te whenua e kai ana I te mātauranga kai raro i te pūāhurutanga o Tāne whakapiripiri, o te Herenga Waka, otirā, Te Whare Wānanga o Te Upoko O Te Ika a Māui, tēnei te whakamānawa atu nei I a koutou. Ko tāku, he whakatewhatewha āke i ngā huarahi I whāia e ō tātau nei tīpuna hai māmā āke i mamae o te mate pouritanga.

NGĀTI MARU

runga i a tātou i tēnei wā tonu, ngā tore kai huruhuru kua taka ki tua o Tāwauwau i te tau nei, inā te tuatinitini, te tuamanomano o rātau mā. Nā te taniwha e mōhiotia whānuitia ana, ko te mate whakamomori. Ko te mate pāpōuri tētahi whatitoka me kī, e taea ai te taniwha te hou mai i roto I tō hinengaro. Ko au tētahi o ngā tauira e whawhai tonu ana i tēnei mate. He mate e kore e kitea e te āo, he mate kei roto i te hinengaro, i te wairua anō hoki. Ka whawhai anō i te āo i te pō, tē taea te aha. Ehara I te mea ko ngā rongoā pākehā i te huarahi anake hei whainga mōu. Kāore au i te tākuta hinengaro, hoi, he wheako whaiaro maku tēnei.

Taku rākau e Tau rawa ki te whare Ka ngaro a Takahi e Te whare o te kahikatoa Hei ngau whakapae He whakapae ururoa e hau mai nei Kei waho kei te moana Kāore aku mihi e Aku tangi mō koutou Mau puku ko te iwi Ka mōwai tonu te whenua E takoto nei e…

Nā tāku nei rangahau I ngā ara hei tūtuki I tēnei, kua kite au I te āhua o waiata moteatea. He mana, he tapu tō te kupu o ngā moteatea pērā. Kei pōhēhē tātau mā, kāhore ngā tohunga, tangata mōhio, aha noa atu rānei ngā kaitito anake I wēnei moteatea. Tēnā pea he kare-ā-roto tō te tangata, ka taea e ia te tito mō wērā kare-ā-roto. Korekau he ārai, kei tō hinengaro ngā ārai o tōu pohewatatanga. Pēnei I ahau, ehara ahau I te tangata tohunga ki te hohonutanga o te reo rangatira, engari, ka tito tonu ahau I wēnei tūmomo āhua.

He mea tito tēnei nā te tohunga tito waiata, a Mihi-ki-te-kapua, nō roto mai o Ngāi Tūhoe. He waiata tangi ki tōna tāne a Hikawai i mate i te riri ki Te Rahui o Mahia. I rongonuitia whānuitia a Mihi-ki-te-kapua mō āna titonga waiata. Ko te kaupapa o te nuinga ērā he kōrero mō tōna mokemoke me te pouritanga i pā ki a ia. I wehe atu āna tamariki, i mate tōna tāne. Nā te pākira o te whenua ia e whakamokemoke.

E kī ana te Pākehā, he ‘poetic’ me kī, kei huri ki tā te Pākehā whakaaro mō tēnei tino momo taonga taketake. Ko ngā waiata e pēnei ana, he matapihi kē ki te wairua o te tangata. He pakupaku iho ngā kupu, hoi, he nui tō te kōrero o roto rā. Mehemea ka rongo koe I tētahi waiata tangi kei runga I tō marae, I te papawhakatūwaewae rānei, ka tino rongo koe I te kaupapa e waiatatia, e tangihia. Anō nei te ātaahua o te iwi Māori. Tē hiahia rānei ki te tino mōhio ki te reo hei whakamārama I te kaupapa o te reo, ka mārama ai koe i te rerehua o ngā waiata koroua.

Anō nei te hāngai ki te reanga nei. Ko te nuinga o ngā moteatea e mōhiotia ana, he waiata tangi. Koinei he huarahi, e kore rawa e whāia e te hunga taiohi hei whakaputa i ngā whakaaro, e hika mā, he ara tēnei e mahia e ngā tīpuna o nehe hei whakakupu, kia māmā āke ai i te mamae i pā ki a rātou e noho I raro iho I te kāpua pōuri. E hika mā, inā te huhua o ngā tini aituā kei 26

He Hononga NĀ AWHINA HENRY, NGĀTI POROU, TE WHĀNAU A APANUI Papatūānuku is our earth mother here in Aotearoa. Our blood is connected through her whenua. She is our ancestor, she is our mother, she is our goddess. But she is suffering and needs us, her mokopuna, to help her. Not only by recycling, following our moon cycles, and removing plastic, but also by HE HONONGA (CONNECTION). When Ranginui was separated from Papatūānuku she was in mourning, and succumbed to a constant state of mamae; physically, spiritually and emotionally. Saddened by this, Io-Matua sent down rākau to heal, cover and love Papatūānuku. One of the rākau sent down to her was kawakawa. This kawakawa covered her body with love and grew almost everywhere. Kawakawa also healed the scarring of her earth. After Papatūānuku separated from Ranginui she suffered from broken bones, sore ligaments and muscles. Io-Matua sent down the rakau, Tūpakihi, which repaired her bones and muscles. Nowadays, like down in Christchurch, Tūpakihi will grow wherever there are big cracks in the whenua to sew Papatūānuku back together. This whakapapa is very important to understanding Rongoā Māori. This shows us the connection; That we, as people, are one and the same as Papatūānuku. Once we become enlightened by the realisation that she too is a living being, we can begin to connect with her. Kawakawa, as mentioned above, covered the Earth mother’s skin to heal imperfections. For us humans, it is a natural remedy for common skin problems such as eczema and rashes, even cuts and sores. Kawakawa also helped Papatūānuku’s heart recover from the painful trauma of separation. For us again, kawakawa can be used to assist the heart in pumping blood around our body. This is why, amazingly enough, kawakawa is shaped like a human heart. The similarities between ourselves and Papatūānuku are self-evident when you take the time to discover the native rakau of Aotearoa. To use the example mentioned above, Tūpakihi, not only is this rakau infamous for repairing fissures in Papatūānuku, but it can also be used to heal our bones, repair our muscles and even alleviate the symptoms of arthritis. Rongoā Māori is the native plant medicine of Aotearoa. Once we understand what heals Papatūānuku then we can begin to understand what heals ourselves. But to make this connection we must remain open, and use more than our eyes to see. ‘Rongoā’ literally means the five senses; to see, smell, hear, touch and taste. All you have to do is know the plants and they will teach you; who they are and who you are. Ko au te rongoā ko te rongoā ko au. If wanting to know more about rongoā check out my Instagram page @awhiorarongoa.

The lie of the ‘warrior race.’ NĀ RHIANNA MORAR, NGĀTI POROU

The lie of the ‘warrior race’ remains the feature piece of the colonial narrative. The dispute resolution method painted as murder people, birds and animals. Ignorant of any pale confinements - crossing all boundaries of ‘the law’. Often described in academia as ‘lawless’ and ‘primitive’, but now saved by the Queen. How did such warriors continue to grow, thrive and flourish? We did not lay down - active in history. did not have prisons to keep us ‘safe’. We did not have terms such as ‘unconscious bias’ to bury our heads under. It is our whanaungatanga. It is each other.

A system of power, some call the establishment. Silent societies, safer societies - a lack of representation, you are to be quiet. The missing ingredient - a pale future no more. A pale present is upon our door. Mistaken, as to the interpretation of the ‘warrior’ race. Warrior; a brave or experienced fighter. We are brave - to stand against incarceration. Our single mothers, fathers or sisters and brothers, continuing to fight another day. A fight to exist in this pale world. To change a pale world. Experienced, discrimination. Experienced, racism. Every breath we take, to fight another day. From light to dark, you are not alone my friend. We are experienced and brave fighters - fighting for a system that will embrace us. Immersed in our kaupapa, singing the same waiata. Incarceration does not breed restoration. That is the lie of the fearsome, unruly, primitive - warrior race.

We operate as a collective. You are not alone in this my friend. Your shame is our shame. Your pain is our pain. To rectify this, we must play our part in a great muru - to put right a wrong. Utu extracted - some quiet, some loud, yet we all keep to our positions. In harmony we live as one - we continue as many. The sun sets, and it rises again the next day. Another day, we stand as one. You are not alone, my friend. As we play our part, we feel it is almost over. To restore, we must have patience. To have harmony, we must have unity. A wrong made right - we continue as many. My friend, I’m sorry. In a pākeha world, you are alone. Your shame is exactly that - yours. You must suffer this pain alone, and repent the actions for which only you are responsible for. There is no great muru or utu to be extracted. It is just you and a pale man with a gavel. A pale jury this is your pale future. There is no restoration only incarceration. Our mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers become segregated from the rest. To them, another blemish removed from the soft paleness colouring our future.

Restoration breeds vibrant societies. A coloured world - astray from a pale past. Our tikanga, waiata, karakia - colouring in between the lines on pale paper. You are not alone my friend. Our tīpuna weep with joy - no longer is their vibrance hidden. A sheet over an ancient artefact, brush off the dust and move it into the light. A coloured world - astray from a pale future. The sun sets and rises again, casting a new colour each day. Silent societies are not safer societies. The forgotten ingredient - a pale future no more. A coloured world, where we will be heard. To restore, we must have patience. To have harmony, we must have unity. A wrong made right - we must continue as many. Restoration freed our mothers and fathers, our sisters and brothers. We must continue as many, to defeat the lie of the warrior race.

A strategic plan - a long term goal. Incarceration of all it must be so. To us, it’s our whānau. Not hooligan’s, crim’s or delinquents. The truth can only be told - slowly but surely our fates align with the pale future upon the sunrise. A law passed, for safer communities. A law passed for a growing necessity. With incarceration comes disenfranchisement.

Recently, I spoke with some of our Māori MPs from each political party in Parliament for Te Ao Marama, including: MARAMA DAVIDSON, Green Party Co-Leader, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngati Porou; DAVID SEYMOUR, ACT Party Leader, Ngāpuhi; Cabinet Minister SHANE JONES, New Zealand First, Te Aupōuri, Ngāi Takoto, Ngāti Kahu; JOANNE HAYES, National Party List MP, Ngati Porou, Āti Haunui a Paparangi, Rangitane ki Wairarapa; and PAUL EAGLE, Labour Party MP for Rongotai, Waikato Tainui. Here, I hope to provide a brief view into the different experiences and perspectives of 5 of our MP’s (Māori in Parliament) from Whangarei in the far North to Rēkohu (the Chatham Islands) in the far South. I encouraged them to reflect on their own māoritanga and whakapapa. I asked about their inspirations, their hopes for young Māori people, and their position on contemporary issues of today.

TŌRANGAPŪ MĀORI: MEETING OUR MĀORI MPS NĀ RUBEN TOA KEARNEY-PARATA TE ĀTI AWA KI WHAKARONGOTAI, NGĀTI RAUKAWA, NGĀTI TOA RANGATIRA

At this point in time every political party in the New Zealand parliament has a leader/or leaders with whakapapa Māori. Each Māori member in Parliament represents different tribal connections, constituencies, and a diversity of interests; each supporting different kaupapa across Aotearoa today. I believe it’s important to look at the big issues of today through a critical lense. However, I also understand that because our elected representatives can seem detached from our communities, our whānau may sometimes feel disconnected from the parliamentary political system altogether.

WHAT, OR WHO, WERE SOME EARLY INSPIRATIONS THAT GOT YOU INTO NATIONAL POLITICS? MARAMA. . . “My nana – and her sense of justice and injustice” DAVID . . . “The great reformers who had changed the face of New Zealand: Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble. . . most of them emerged into the ACT Party – also Dame Iritana who was the founder of Kohanga Reo, she was also an early supporter of ACT” SHANE. . . “Ko nga pūmanawa me nga pūkenga i whakawhiwhia mai ki ahau mai taku whakatupunga atawhainga hoki me taku tononga ki te kura i Tīpene, ā te wharewanaga ō Akarana, Pōneke, Ahitereiria me Havard; the most profound of influences are those that lie at the foundation of my being. . . they’re traceable back to my upbringing and education” JOANNE. . . “My background working in Māori health and whānau ora. And my desire to change the policy around Māori health - it just wasn’t working for us” PAUL. . . “My dad, Brian, who was a Minister in the Methodist Church. . . At the time, the church and Labour were synonymous, with David Lange.

Last year during the General Election, me and my cousins organised a hui on our home marae, Whakarongotai Marae, for our whānau and the candidates standing in our Māori Electorate of Te Tai Hauāuru. This combined two of the things I personally am most passionate about - Māori politics & empowering our community through direct political discourse and participation. We participated in national Māori politics on the marae - a place for kōrero, whakawhanaungatanga, and kai - instead of merely observing it on TV. It made me proud to see my kaumātua stand up and challenge the people who could potentially hold the power in a New Zealand government. And more so, it made me determined to continue to help bridge the gap between our communities and Parliament.

That’s where I got the values of caring and serving. . . And also my son Tama, I feel blessed to represent Rongotai because having the Chatham Islands as part of that electorate makes the connection to my son’s Ngāti Mutunga whakapapa more special” AND HOW HAS YOUR MĀORITANGA PLAYED A ROLE IN THIS JOURNEY FOR YOU? MARAMA. . . “Māoritanga is at the core of everything I do and say – my taha Māori is my strength that keeps me grounded and informs my politics. . . We [Māori] are held hostage by the system. The whole concept of this political system is in conflict with the Māori world view - it sets us up against one another. . . But when we welcome each other onto the marae for instance, we acknowledge the inherent mana and whakapapa of every person we’re working with - and that transcends all political lines” DAVID . . . “It’s critical... most people see me as a white guy from Epsom, but it’s always in the back of my mind; that part of my ancestry is Māori from the Far North going back and giving my whakapapa at Te Tii Marae, the Waitangi Day before last, was a very special experience to me. . . A lot of my learning about my māoritanga and te reo Māori has been through my very good friendship with Marama Fox – she’s been fantastic as a friend” SHANE. . . “Māoritanga was a term I heard a great deal growing up. . . through the Māori Anglican church, the marae, and my mother - she was very keen that I learnt the language from my grandmother. And when I got a little bit older I was involved with the Māori protest movements of the late 70’s and 80’s. It was like a rite of passage. I was a bit of a ‘rhetorical rebel” PAUL. . . “I was adopted into a Pākeha family, which was really common for Māori at the time. . . I think it’s sad that a lot of people who were adopted, Māori in particular, don’t know where they’re

MARAMA DAVIDSON GREEN PARTY CO-LEADER “Māoritanga is at the core of everything I do and say – my taha Māori is my strength that keeps me grounded and informs my politics.”

DAVID SEYMOUR ACT PARTY LEADER “Most people see me as a white guy from Epsom, but it’s always in the back of my mind; that part of my ancestry is Māori from the Far North.”

SHANE JONES NEW ZEALAND FIRST LIST MP “I want to leave a legacy of Māori economic prowess... I envision that I will be like Gandalf, I can snap my fingers and some magical taiaha will arise from the mist.”

PAUL EAGLE LABOUR PARTY MP “[we need] to work to provide hope and opportunity when things get tough... so that young Māori people can feel they’ve got access; to support services, to study opportunities, to affordable homes.”

JOANNE HAYES NATIONAL PARTY LIST MP “I was influenced through my education by the kaupapa and philosophies of Sir Apirana Ngata; that Māori should take both worlds with both hands.”

from, they were told to assimilate fully into Pākeha New Zealand. . . So I’m incredibly proud to be the first Māori Male in Labour to hold a General Seat – it only took them [Labour] 101 years!” JOANNE. . . “Even though my father was a native speaker, my mother was not. We were brought up in a little Pakeha town called Rangiwāhia, Manawatu – there were only three Māori whānau there at the time. . . I was influenced through my education by the kaupapa and philosophies of Sir Apirana Ngata; that Māori should take both worlds with both hands”

WHAT IS YOUR PARTY DOING FOR YOUNG MĀORI PEOPLE? MARAMA. . . “I hope that everything we do is for young Māori people. . . Our focus on social policy is a huge priority – and these are issues that often disproportionately and negatively affect young Māori” DAVID . . . “Charter schools – out of about a dozen charter schools, nearly half are explicitly Māori. Sir Toby Curtis recently said at the select committee that ‘there’s nothing wrong with state schooling, other than that it has failed Māori for more than 178 years” SHANE. . . “The focus is on enterprise and industry; creating jobs and employment” JOANNE. . . “Education – we’ve made a commitment to reestablish partnership schools. We understand partnership schools aren’t just about Māori and Pasifika. . . but that is the population that has been benefiting from it” PAUL. . . “I think that giving hope is a really big thing. . . It’s important for us to work to provide hope and opportunity when things get tough. . . So that young Māori people can feel they’ve got access; to support services, to study opportunities, to affordable homes”

HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU SEE IT THAT THE LANGUAGE CONTINUES TO BE SPOKEN AND SUPPORTED IN THE HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT TODAY? MARAMA. . . “It’s essential for us to speak it in Parliament. . . it’s also essential for us to continue to support people speaking everywhere in the country. . . My journey is commiting to speaking the language at every opportunity” DAVID . . . “I absolutely defend the right of people to speak... I think it’s critical that our parliament accepts te reo as a language. But I don’t think it’s under any threat. . . I’ve tried to learn te reo many times” SHANE. . . “I’m living proof of it! I believe it starts with whānau. . . we worked unstintingly to ensure that our kids learnt te reo Māori. . . to let them know that it is an incredibly important element of their heritage. . . I use it a lot, I lapse in and out of the language [in the house] all the time” JOANNE. . . “I do [see it as important]. And even though I’m not as fluent. . . I one day hope to learn the reo” PAUL. . . “There’ll always be those who push against the language. . . But I see now that te reo is fundamentally part of the New Zealand way. Learning te reo is one of my three goals I want to achieve – it’s gonna be a journey”

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO ANY YOUNG MĀORI PERSON WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN POLITICS? MARAMA. . . “I see it as my responsibility, as a Māori women politician, to help mentor and support young Māori and Pacific women who’re interested. . . it’s about being involved with collaborative community action on the important issues that you care about. For me it’s supporting collaborative, community grassroots driven campaigns on progressive kaupapa” DAVID . . . “What was it that Sir Apirana Ngata said – ‘Keep your heart rooted in your culture and turn your hands to the tools of the Pākeha’. I’d also say to read extensively on public policy, philosophy and economics. Most politicians don’t do that unfortunately. But that’s very important in order to understand politics” SHANE. . . “It’s important that you know how to treat people. Engari me te tangata koe i te tuatahi; live your life first”

JOANNE. . . “Learn how the system works and get involved. . . For those interested in the Nats, myself and Nuk Korako are forming the Kahurangi Blue Māori Youth Branch for the National Party” PAUL. . . “You’ve gotta have it in your heart to give something back to the community”

JOANNE. . . “Equity of Māori – that’s what it would be” PAUL. . . “It would be ‘transforming’ the Adoption Act 1955 - that act impacted on Māori children most significantly. And there are a lot of Māori out there now who don’t know where they’re from, who aren’t connected to their tūrangawaewae” ...

YOUR DREAM POLICY. IF YOU COULD IMPLEMENT IT TOMORROW, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

“When we welcome each other onto the marae, we acknowledge the inherent mana and whakapapa of every person we’re working with. . . And that transcends all political lines”

MARAMA. . . “I can’t get away from some form of distributing wealth and power. Every issue and every crisis – climate change, inequalities – have been caused by a massive concentration of wealth in the hand of the few” DAVID . . . “ACTs Housing Policy – which is replacing the Resource Management Act and Urban Planning Laws in cities to help free up land. . . because it’s just too hard to build more homes nowadays. . . And who’s the biggest loser from a tight housing market? Well, statistically it’s Māori” SHANE. . . “I want to leave a legacy of Māori cultural pride and Māori economic prowess. . . I envision that I will be like Gandalf, I can snap my fingers and some magical taiaha will arise from the mist”

In this article, I wanted to provide a brief glimpse into both the different and shared experiences of some of our Māori in Parliament. Each person here provided interesting insights and perspective on many of the different issues affecting te reo me te ao Māori katoa i tēnei rā. Each reflecting the diversity of views held across the Māori population and across the political party spectrum in Aotearoa. Nō reira, e mihi ana ki ngā rangatira Māori o te whare paremata. Tēnā koutou katoa, ō koutou kōrero nui, ō koutou whakaaro pai ki a tātou mahi a Te Ao Marama. Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui koutou ki runga i te whare!

MY MARAE, WHAKARONGOTAI, IN WAIKANAE 35

An open letter to my former educators... I am writing this letter to let you know that you have inspired me to be a teacher. Not because I have fond memories of how you all taught me valuable lessons that I will carry forever. No, I have become inspired to be a teacher because I have recently discovered that during my time at school, I was being blindfolded and led down a path paved by early European settlers. A path headed in the opposite direction to my culture, a path that so many of our rangatahi are still being led down, a path that had I continued down for much longer, would have seen me likely to never turn around. I remember being ignored when asking about the assigned work. I guess my friends and I just laughed it off and used it as an excuse to not do the work. Instead of helping the confused Māori kids you neglected them, because you probably thought ‘he’s just going to end up in jail or on the benefit’. Unfortunately, it was a thought shared by far too many people. I would see my peers achieve merits and excellences while I was scraping through school with achieves and not achieves. I’ll admit it, I too started to think I was probably going to end up on the benefit or working at the local construction company with a bunch of my mates. We all did, that’s because that’s what you wanted us to believe. Instead of using your role as educators to help the kids underachieving, you sat back and let society tell us that we were worthless and watched as we were constantly weighed down by negative stereotypes and assumptions. We were taught about ‘great’ European pioneers like James Cook and how

Aotearoa

An abundance of nature and culture are the first things to spring to mind The land of the long white cloud has left colonisation far behind If we say ‘bicultural’ loud enough maybe it will ring true, this time And we will forget that to this day the Crown fails to uphold the treaty that we signed Lost in translation we were told, kāwanatanga and sovereignty were supposed to be the same I’m just saying that you took everything and wrote the document, but the language barrier is to blame? If we really are a progressive nation, trying to write the wrongs of the past Why is it you can’t find New Zealand history being taught properly in a single high school class?

NĀ TE MAHARA SWANSON HALL TE WHĀNAU-Ā-APANUI, NGĀTI AWA, NGĀPUHI

If you want your Māori name pronounced correctly you are flat out of luck And people wonder why Taika called this country “racist as fuck” Do you remember Taika Waititi our internationally famed director, representing us without fail Until he called us all out for our issues, now he is just a brown Māori male “But Māori get scholarships and that’s racist to whites” I have heard being said throughout my entire life Māori are more likely to drop out of school, and be from a low socioeconomic background We are over represented in every negative statistic in this country, studies found More likely to have poor physical and mental health than any race from any nation The only thing higher than that is our rate of incarceration There are many factors that contribute but systemic racism is key That is why before you play victim understand what they represent is equity If you are claiming inequality educate yourself on what privilege may be Understand that your scholarship was not being born into a minority This country claims to appreciate our culture so much they want the world to know I am so glad the “Nau mai, Haere mai” billboards at the airports aren’t just for show Everyone can chant the haka with the all blacks when they 38

are on an international stage Our language must be thriving you’d think, after seeing it welcomed in this way. Let’s make Te Reo compulsory for schools to offer, and an ‘option’ for you to take Cue the mass hysteria, “you will not force my children to learn this useless subject” they say The irony being it was our government that beat it out of our ancestors in the first place But as soon as a policy reform comes around it’s not government’s job to save. No one is forcing anything; Te Reo Māori will simply die out if no longer heard I am sorry it has been ingrained that my ancestor’s language won’t get you anywhere in this world But it shouldn’t be up to you to take away the opportunity of future generations to learn Give back the voices of my tīpuna. Let. Them. Be. Heard. It was never once we were warriors, our people are warriors every day Fighting for the language and culture this country tried to take away And for some it is easy to sit there and say all this is a thing of the past That Māori would have still fought Māori without the Pākehā And we would have, but there was no need to eradicate a culture’s identity Now on our own land we have been reduced to a small brown minority You can sit there and say despite it all, “it’s not my problem” and that’s your conclusion But if it’s not your problem don’t sit there and criticize those fighting for a solution Be aware that history is the reason why our ancestors have birthed us into this fight Where every day we are pushing to break past the negative stereotypes To bring back what was lost to the land our ancestors once roamed Instil mana back into the whenua where the Māori call home.

Anei mātou, e noho ana ki Matariki i Te Herenga Waka. He kohinga tauira e whakawhitiwhiti whakaaro ana mō Te Ao Marama e whakatata mai ana. Ko te wahanga kua riro mai ki au hei tuhi ko te Mana Wahine, rikarika katoa ana ahau i te noho tahi ki ngā tauira i tēnei tēpū.

hoki kei tōu ao.” Ka rere ngā whakaaro. Mana wahine… he wahine whai mana… ko au? E mea ana koe ko au kei te whakawhiwhia ki tēnei mana nui? Nā, ko te mana wahine e kōrerohia nei e au ko te mana ō ngā atua kei roto, kāore rānei i roto i ētahi wāhine. Wāhine whai mana. Kei te mōhio ahau he tino whakahīhī tēnei, engari ka titiro ake au ki ngā wāhine Māori e noho tahi mai ana i tēnei rūma ka whakaaro au ki au anō, “Kāore e kore he wāhine whai mana katoa rātou.” He wāhine e tuhituhi ana, he wāhine e tohatoha ana, he wāhine e kōrero ana i ō rātou kōrero. Ka whakaaro au ki ngā pou mātauranga me ō rātou whakaaro ka whakaputaina e au; Ko Leonie Pihama, Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, Aroha Yates, Ngahuia Murphy, me rātou nō roto mai

He tauira ki tēnei taha, he tauira ki tērā taha. Anipā katoa ana ahau, ka whiua ōku whakaaro mō te wahanga Mana Wahine ki te rōpū. Koia tōku āhua i mua i te tangata, he horokukū. I taua wā, kāore i pēnei rawa taku kōrero engari ka hoki aku mahara, ka āhua pēnei te kawe... “Kāore anō au kia āta whakaarohia… me pēnei rānei.. me pērā rānei… he kohinga whakaaro rānei ō ngā tino wahine i te ao mātauranga…?” Nō konā ka hau mai te ētita, ka mea mai. “Ka tāea e koe te tuhi mōu ake. Me ngā wāhine

KO TE MANA WAHINE... KO AU? NĀ ATARIA RANGIPIKITIA, NGĀPUHI, TAPUIKA WHAKAMĀORI NĀ TEAONUI MCKENZIE

Here we are, sitting in the Matariki room at Te Herenga Waka. A group of Māori students sharing our ideas for the upcoming issue of Te Ao Marama. I’m writing a feature piece on Mana Wahine and feel warmed inside to be sharing the room with all of the tauira who surround the table alongside me.

you could do it on yourself? And even the women you know around you?”

Tauira to the right, tauira to the left.

Now when I refer to mana wahine, I am in this instance referring to women who may or may not be accessing the mana of the ātua. Wāhine with mana. I know this might be judgemental, but I take a good long look at the Māori women sitting in the room with me and I think to myself, “of course THEY are wāhine with mana.”

My mind starts to whirr. Mana wahine... a woman with mana… me? Are you saying that I might be accessing the power of mana wahine?

Awkwardly, I share the ideas I had for the a Mana Wahine piece with the group. I always get a bit nervous speaking in front of people. At the time I didn’t say it exactly like this - but now when I rehash it in my head it kind of sounds like… “I haven’t really thought about it yet... I could do this... or I could do that... maybe a compilation of the thoughts of prominent Mana Wahine academics...?” To which the editor interrupts me and says “you know you could do it on yourself? And even the women

Wāhine who are writing, wāhine who are sharing, wāhine who are speaking their truth. And I think about the academics whose 41

i a mātou o te whānau ō Te Herenga Waka; Rawinia Higgins, Maria Bargh, Ocean Mercier, Karena Kelly, Awanui Te Huia, te mea, te mea.

tohorā a Tutunui (Mehemea kāore anō koe kia rongo i te kōrero nei, tirohia te tuhinga ā Tākuta Aroha Yates e pā ana ki ngā Atua Wāhine.)

Ka tau anō mai te whakaaro ki a au, “ko rātou tonu he wāhine whai mana.” Hikaka pai ana au.

Ka mutu, miharo katoa ana ahau. Koinei te ia o te mana wahine. Ka maumahara ahau ki tōku kuia ko Rangipikitia hoki tōna ingoa. I a ia e keri ana i tōna māra i te wā e hapū ana ia, ka rongo ia i te pēpi e tata mai ana te whānau, nāna anō i whakawhānau me tana kotahi, ka horōia, ka tākaihia, ā, ka haere tonu me ana mahi keri māra.

Ēnei wāhine, he kuia, he māma, e mahi rangahau ana, kei ētahi poari whakamiharo hoki te ingoa, e whakaako ana, kei ō rātou hapū, ō rātou iwi me ō rātou hāpori e mahi ana… haere tonu, haere tonu te rārangi āke āke.

He aha kē atu tētahi āhua whakamiharo i tua i te whānau pēpi ka hoki tika atu ki ngā mahi i tāua wā tonu.

Ka huri taku aro ki ngā atua wāhine ka whakaaro ake, “wehi nā, kātahi te whakatīnanatanga o te wāhine whai mana.” Kāore i tua atu. Ko Papatūānuku te whenua e takahi nei ngā tāngata KATOA, ko Hinetītama te tangata tuatahi o te ao! I te huringa ki Hine-nui-te-Pō ka patua e ia te tupua a Māui (Ahakoa ka kore te tangata e ora mo ake tonu atu, kikino hoki te kuia nei, haramai tētahi āhua) Arā hoki a Hineteiwaiwa i ngaki i te mate o te

Ka titiro ahau ki ahau anō e mahi ana hei kaituhi, e mahi ana i taku tohu paerua, ka horokukū ahau ka whakaaro noa. Wahine toa? He wahine whai mana? Ko au tēnā? Ka paku whakamā ahau i te whakaaro. Ū ā, ka tino whakamā.

you know around you?”

DEFINITELY wāhine with mana.” Insert excited emoticons x 10.

My mind starts to whirr. Mana wahine... a woman with mana… me? Are you saying that I might be accessing the power of mana wahine?

These women are grandmothers, mothers, doing important research, on heaps of Māori related boards with cool names, educating and teaching, involved with their hapū, iwi and their communities... the list goes on literally pretty much forever.

Then my mind crosses to the wāhine ātua and I’m like “omg these wāhine are the epitome of wāhine with mana.” The be all and the end all. I mean Papatūānuku is the ENTIRE EARTH and Hinetītama she was the first human fucking being who then became Hine-nui-te-Pō and crushed the demi-god Māui (which sometimes people think was bad for humanity and stuff because now we mortal, but really I think it’s a bit badass because seriously he went there without asking for permission first). Then there’s Hineteiwaiwa who with her fellow wāhine avenged the death of Tutunui the whale (if you don’t quite know that one read Dr Aroha Yates PhD thesis on the Ātua Wāhine).And so I’m like MINDBLOWN. This is what mana wahine is about.

Wāhine who are writing, wāhine who are sharing, wāhine who are speaking their truth. And I think about the academics whose views I was going to share; Leonie Pihama, Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, Aroha Yates, Ngahuia Murphy and those even closer to home as a student here at Vic; Rawinia Higgins, Maria Bargh, Ocean Mercier, Karena Kelly, Awanui Te Huia among countless others. Again, in my mind I’m like “THEY are 42

Me kī, e rua ngā mata o te kapa. I tētahi taha he kaha rawa taku whakaae. Engari i tērā atu taha, kei te rongo ahau i tētahi wairua e mea ana “e kao, ehara i a au.”

ko te mana tōpū, me te mana ō tō tātou whakapapa hei kawe i te marea, hei kawe i ia tāngata. Nōreira, mehemea kāore au i te hia kōrero ko ngā atua wāhine katoa me ngā wāhine nō mua mai i ahau - hoki atu ana ki te korekore, ki te tīmatanga o te ao - kāore ō rātou mana, me mātua whakapono ahau ki ahau anō.

Nōreira me pātai au ki a au anō. He aha au e kaha whakanui ana i te mana o wāhine kē atu engari anō tōku ake mana? Tērā pea he kaha nō te mana o te whakatauki nei, Kāore te kūmara e kōrero ana mō tōna ake reka.

He wahine whai mana ahau. Ko au, ko te MANA WAHINE

Heoi, ka whakaarohia te whakapapa, āe he uri au nā Hine-ahu-one, a Hinetītama, i konā ka kīia hoki au he uri nā Papatūanuku, nā Tāne hoki. Kei roto katoa rātou i ahau. Kātahi ahau ka hoki ki ōku tūpuna kuia a Rangipikitia, a Herapia, me a Kanarahi (e kīia nei e tōku whānau he tino taniwha engari e whakapae ana ahau he wahine rangatira ia.) Kei roto katoa rātou i ahau. E whakapono ana au kei muri katoa ērā Atua wāhine i au, me ōku kuia, me rātou katoa. Kua mārama i a au ināianei. Ko tō rātou mana,

Then I remember my great-nanny Rangipikitia of whom I’m named after. She went into labour while gardening, delivered her own baby, cleaned the baby off, wrapped it up and then kept gardening. Now if delivering your own baby and then continuing on with the gardening isn’t just straight badass then I don’t know what is.

Hine-ahu-one and Hinetītama, meaning I’m also a descendent of Papatūānuku and Tāne. They are a part of me. Then I remember my great-nanny Rangipikitia, my nanny Herapia and great-great nanny Kanarahi (who my whānau today says was a dragon but I’m sure she was just total mana wahine). They are a part of me. I imagine all of those ātua wāhine standing behind me, and my great-great nanny, great-nanny, nanny standing behind me and everyone else as well.

But when it comes to me, and the mahi I’m doing as a writer and a Master’s student at Victoria I hesitate. Wahine toa? A wāhine with mana? Me? Just the thought of it and I shrink inside just a little bit. Actually maybe a lot. There’s two sides to the coin that sits inside of me. On one side I’m like yea “duh, of course I am.” Yet on the other side a little voice inside says to me “no you aren’t.” So I have to ask myself. Why I am happy to acknowledge and celebrate the mana in other wāhine and yet in myself... I’m clearly not? Maybe it has something to do with this whakatauki, Kāore te kumara e kōrero ana mo tōna ake reka.

I remember now. Their mana, the mana of the collective and the mana of our whakapapa uplifts all and every single one of us. So unless I’m prepared to say that all the ātua wāhine and wāhine that ever went before me - right back into the beginning of space and time - didn’t have mana then I better get straight with myself.

On the other hand, I think about whakapapa and I remember that I’m a descendant of

I am a women with mana. I am MANA WAHINE. 43

Poūkahangatus

AROTAKE PUKAPUKA NĀ LATESHIA MARIE MCFARLANE, NGĀTI POROU I. First of all the name of this pukapuka, “Poūkahangatus”, is a hybridized word! Mixing Māori and the name of iconic Disney princess “Pocahontas”. How relevant right!? We love indigenous relevance, especially when it comes to wāhine Māori, feminism and empowerment. Which is exactly what this collection of poems vibrate, compelling you deep into the mind of creative writer Tayi Tibble. Born in 1995, Tibble has completed her Masters in Creative Writing and was the recipient of the Adam Foundation Prize. She has now blessed us with a collection of organic intelligence -Okay sis. Is she a bit of a Queen? Am I breaking the rules of being a good critic and overpraising her? Yes.

bursts of old nannies and gummy smiles, willowy electronic folk bands, the Waikato wars and biblical references with an attitude and smugness. Hear the wails of karanga in the King Country, ride on a horse bareback and shirtless and mark time from the arrival of James Cook through to season seven of Game of Thrones. This collection will have you blushing, and cold and everything drizzling in between. There is a fine balance in trusting each word that is beautiful and other words that are too bleak to appreciate, at least willingly, and still be mesmerised of the whole deal. As you read, disturbance and uncomfort will be felt as these poems speak of marginalised women, vulnerable women, oppression and the infamous white culture which is creatively constructed and deconstructed. These poems confront an issue of identity that is split between a Māori world and a Pakehā world. Tibble has chosen each word at the expense of her own discomfort, whakamā, distress, pleasure and amusement of both worlds –blaming, feeling guilty, feeling free, empowered but with an overarching hurt for a culture that carries loss and damage from the roots of colonisation.

Everything about these poems speak into a reality in which, as wāhine Māori, we can relate to, because this is Aotearoa and Shakespeare is overrated. Freshly released in July 2018, “Poūkahangatus” brings a deep understanding of the world from the heart of a young, beautiful wāhine Māori from Wellington. Highlighting indigenous knowledge and experiences of contemporary Māori issues in a creative and captivating manner. Ruminative and introspective, our lady of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Ngāti Porou descent shares the thoughts of her old soul in pure poetic fashion.

III. My reaction to “Poūkahangatus” was borderline fangirly before I even read it. I already knew what the title was phonetically mimicking, and I live for powerful and inspiring wāhine such as Tibble. I’m scheming for the perfect opportunity to gram it now. Hashtag woke.

II. Each poem delivers various tastes of beauty, femininity, indigeneity, politics and activism with love for the mundane, a conundrum of emotions, powerful sexuality and bitter sweet darkness. They tell you of a kuia aching with beauty, a crush on Hone Harawira, a pāua shell astray, wāhine from the ocean and Wellington boys, each in a tone of whimsical sassiness and contemporary reflection. They talk about colonization that plunges through several generations, through love, language deprivation, physique and the 1960’s influx of Māori woman to Tinakori road. There are no rules amidst this collection, with language so harsh yet so delicate, sensually enticing, sexy and powerful. The imagery

Furthermore, this ensemble of mahi is a beautiful product of a young woman which is something that is usually undermined in mainstream literature, let alone being Māori too. This collection is unique, inspiring, it is empowering and comes from a writer who is confident and brave. Let us, no longer spiel literature that derives from English men but let us kōrero about this and all the beauty that comes with it.

Ngāti Maniapoto, Āti-Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Porou

Takatāpui NĀ ARIEL MCLEAN-ROBINSON, TE AITANGA A MAHAKI

Takatāpui is generally defined by most sources as a way of putting Māori identity first, while still acknowledging and celebrating your queerness. There is a lot of pressure in this title, especially for those of us for whom Māori identity is uneasy, or difficult to access. Takatāpui, despite being a title I identify with, is not one I identify as. I am still in many ways uncomfortable with where I sit as a Māori person; I look white, and while my dad cut most of his ties with our iwi after a dispute over land shares, I lost access to the few left I had left when I in turn cut ties with him due to him being a massive dickhead. As I process how to place my identity as a Māori person, I don’t want to claim takatāpui out of fear; if somebody were to question my right to call myself takatāpui they would be not only pulling my Māori identity out of my hands but also my much more comfortable queer one.

like strawberry daquiri’s on the floor of a gay bar. Or maybe something less detailed and in depth than that, but the same white twink that most people associate with gay people. It was still a ridiculous thing to say - one of the few people he still talks to from our iwi is his cousin who is a lesbian! But it was the lack of normalisation of gay people who fit anything other than that twink that let his misgivings go so unquestioned. I see takatāpui qualified a lot by its historical, precolonial roots, and of course it’s good to know that there has been a time in Māori history where we were accepted and unquestioned, that queerness isn’t some colonial import as some might claim, and that it is in fact possible to be both Māori and queer. But should it really matter? Don’t we have an inherent right to exist as takatāpui, as Māori and queer? Why should we have to justify our existence with historical anecdotes, more so than white queer folx? These historical ties feel more like something we should aim to revitalise and renew in the present than something we should be using to persuade people that we have a right to exist, and takatāpui at times straddles that line. But hearing and knowing the word is the first step to finding your own way to embody it.

It seems a bit ridiculous then for someone like me to be out here telling you about takatāpui. But despite my misgivings with takatāpui as a personal identity, the importance of it is not lost on me. And even if I can’t help spread knowledge of takatāpui by claiming it as mine, I can still talk about it. I’m damn good at talking. I grew up hearing the phrase “Māori can’t be gay” way too much. My parents weren’t explicitly homophobic - in fact they claimed acceptance, and apart from the regular societal slips they were mostly fine. But my father was always flabbergasted at the concept that somebody could be Māori and gay. We fought about it several times, the last of which lead to my unintended and tearful coming out to my mother. I realised eventually that all the examples he was so shocked about were of men, and that it was the hypermasculine expectations placed on Māori men that was the root of his struggle to understand it. The idea of what a gay person looked like in his head was someone who couldn’t possibly match it - the campy white boy in rainbow garb spilling lispy “yasss girl”’s

Certainly there are bigger fights than simple representation. But sometimes we don’t realise the effects that the passive things have, how they can fuel non-passive ideas. That’s why I’m not going to shut up about takatāpui, even if I’m not choosing to use it for myself yet. I cried when I saw Māori at my first pride, tīwhanawhana walking in the parade. I cried twice more when they led the pōwhiri into Out in The Park and later when they sang waiata up on stage. Sometimes Māori and queer is enough, regardless of if we bring takatāpui into it. But it sure would make things easier if it was as common place a word as queer is.

Looking back to the past, in order to sustain our future… NĀ REREAHU HETET, NGĀTI MANIAPOTO, WAIKATO-TAINUI, NGĀI TAHU

Over 1000 years ago, Māori arrived on the shores of Aotearoa on great big waka hourua or double-hulled sailing canoes. They voyaged across Te Moananui-a-Kiwa, guided by the stars, swells, birds and moon. They came from the homeland as we know as Hawaiki, Havaiki, Avaiki, and Sava’i interpreted by many others of our relatives around the Pacific Islands. Before and after the arrival, Māori have been well in tuned with the environment. They lived harmoniously alongside the environment to sustain the culture and their way of life without over-exploitation of our natural environment. There were no human induced threats or issues to the environment, which reinforced the health and well-being of our whenua to prosper for the next generation.

developed (over time, and continues to do so as it adapts to our ever changing world) from island to island, our ancestors adapted to their environment quickly and through trial and error they developed values such as kaitiakitanga for our natural environment, to not only survive but to thrive. What is kaitiakitanga you may ask? Kaitiakitanga, or stewardship was and is at that core of methods in preserving our natural world. We as Māori, see ourselves as guardians of the environment, looking after the best interest of either the river or forest or the mountain and isolating induced damage physically and spiritually. Māori interpret every aspect of nature into personified beings, known as atua Māori. Giving non-human things mauri or life-force, which ensures reciprocity, (i.e if we take care and nourish that river and protect it of pollution, then the mauri is ignited). These atua represent a natural state or aspect of the environment, for example Ranginui and Papatuānuku are seen as the parents of all atua or of all natural things. They had 70 children, and two of those children known to many are; Tāne Māhuta who is the god of the birds forest. Tangaroa, he is the god of the ocean and all sea creatures. By giving mauri to something that is non-human, you give that life meaning, meaning to be alive and meaning for humans to live on here, on Earth in balance and in harmony with your world around you.

Communal living was such an integral way of living for Māori. Mahinga kai and harvesting were some practices exercised daily as a hapū or pā. The māramataka or the lunar calendar which literally means ‘the turning of the moon’ was an approach used by Māori and shared within their own hapū to determine suitable times to do things according to various phases of the moon which affected the rhythms of nature. This ensured that there was plenty food to flourish in the following seasons and the value of manaakitanga of the land was respected. It was used to determine correct times to gather kaimoana or seafood, as well as harvesting and planting gardens. Every rohe, iwi and hapū had their own versions, as every environment is diverse. For example, according to the Ahipara Māramataka in the far north, Whiro is phase of the moon that is not visible, other iwi believe it can be the first sight of the new moon. Whiro is not a good day for planting, as well as fishing, but the evening is a good time to gather tuna. Whereas Rakaunui, the full moon phase, a time with plentiful food, great for fishing but not eeling. Māori have always had a holistic and interconnected relationship with the environment, with the knowledge system of Mātauranga Māori (or Indigenous Knowledge) being the foundation of all practices. It was

Times have definitely changed since 1000 years ago. The 21st century brings us an array of different resources, issues, opportunities and priorities as well as many threats to our environment from single-use plastics, polluted waterways and over-fishing (and many more). In today’s day in age, we have lost touch with nature, and the reliance of nature forecasting our every move. The close connection with our surroundings have been replaced by modern gidgets and gadgets and our intuition to conserve and protect nature have been challenged an put at the back of the pile. Our atua continue to surround us wherever we 48

may be in the world, we no longer put the environment at the forefront of our decisions. We no longer need to rely on the moon to inform us when the right time is to plant kai, when to go fishing, or when to put your hīnaki out to catch tuna . We rely on our latest Smartphones to navigate us out of bed and ready for early morning Monday lectures, and the nearest dairy and Maki Mono to feed our bellies is only a hop, skip and a jump away. We have adapted to the life of the western world, at times challenging in many ways (also beneficial in many ways) especially when your a broke student, trying to survive because your ankle deep in assignments and you’re constantly micro-managing every cent you get from Studylink, so you can afford to buy food, and pay your rent for the week. With many of us students in these similar circumstances, trying to make a difference in protecting the environment can be complicated and confronting.

answered, “The biggest challenge is avoiding plastic products i.e. stationary, packaged food thats is already is plastic at shops. If there’s an alternative sometimes they have an added cost.” “I think the biggest problems for students are cost and convenience. The things that come in plastic are cheaper than stuff that don’t come in plastic. Students on a budget are going to go with the cheaper and more convenient options where the work is already done for them.” Another response “We rely on plastic so much that the challenge is to try move towards something sustainable and affordable for students.” “I think it’s the availability of plastics all around us. In our everyday lives, there are plastic objects that are hard to avoid. If you turn up to uni, exhausted but have a busy day ahead, the first thing do is grab a coffee. Sometimes after a long night of studying and you forgot your reusable cup, so you have to use a takeaway cup that contains plastics. Energy is low but your not feeling like a coffee, juice, fizzy or milkshake is the next option, however this can be served with a plastic straw. Also, the lack of awareness within student groups is very minimal and promoting this can be hard. Being influenced by your peers is one way to steer you off the the track. Staying true is difficult, especially when plastic surrounds us. The second question posed was, “do you have any tips, hints or links to share with other students to help them look after Papatūānuku? And the last question is “If there’s one thing you could do to make Papatuānuku healthier, what would that be?” The responses received of the two combined questions were “There are awesome inspirational videos on YouTube and Facebook which share positive lifestyle tips for being clean & green.” “One tip I think is to change your lifestyle choices one thing at a time so that it doesn’t become overwhelming

As a student, I found that it has become a bit more of a challenge when balancing studies, work and social life whilst trying to do my part in protecting Papatūānuku. Our tūpuna unconsciously practicing conservation and sustainability whilst other priorities were interwoven with one another. With plastic at the center of all problems in my opinion, it’s very hard to stray away from single use plastics when literally everything is made out of it. The things that aren’t packaged in plastic, cost an arm and a leg, so which option as a student would you go for? Yup the plastic option! I posed three questions to some of my peers who are very driven to protecting Papatūānuku, asking their thoughts as a student on the plastic problem. The first question is “What’s the biggest challenge as a student to become plastic free or reduce plastic consumption?” they

and when you have made one part of your life environmentally friendly, it’s easier to move on to other things in your life.” “We as students can be better educated (experts and professionals) on how to manage and reuse plastic. For the meantime I think tauira should be mindful of the stuff they buy and use (this can be a starting point). At least try your best to avoid plastic option if possible.” “For me it’s reducing single use plastics! You don’t need a straw with everything you drink you buy and no one needs to buy plastic bottles everyday. In fact, no one needs plastic bottles, there are too many alternatives to keep buying plastic. Plastic bags are another one of worst my worst nightmares. There are many reusable bags available and if your too pōhara to buy them, then make some out of old clothes or old fabric lying around, get creative” “Going to wholesale places like Bin Inn and Moore Wilsons is also another trick to minimising plastic intake. If you go to these places, you are able to get your kai in your own containers you have brought from home.”

Here are 6 easy tips as a to help reduce your plastic consumption to help do our part in allowing our environment to flourish again; 1. Consumption – Reducing plastic can be hard. Look for alternatives like Beeswax wraps, instead of cling wrap, if your like me and buy soda water to create your own flavoured fizz-I suggest when you have save a little extra cash, invest in a Soda Stream (I am yet to purchase one). 2. Bring your own reusable bag – You can buy reusable bags from all supermarkets and online stores who sell (Links below). Otherwise, get creative e te whānau and get your sew own. 3. Bring your own reusable bottle – If you buy glass bottles you can reuse them, or they are reasonably cheap bottles from Kmart (I know you students are obsessed with that place). 4. Shop in bulk – By buying bulk you already reduce your plastic intake and places like Bin Inn allow you to take your own containers to fill up what you need. 5. Shop at Fruit and Veg markets – There are many markets on a Saturday scattered around Wellington, Porirua etc and you can take your own reusable bags. There is one on the main waterfront and another next to Cumberland House on Willis Street. Go test your online research skills. 6. Buy second hand – try buying your clothes and items from op shops, social media pages like ‘Vic deals’, ‘Buy and Sell’....or even the big tip shop in Wellington (one of my favourites). On my hunt at a few options in the region, I found four 1.5 litre glass bottles for just $8 bux which replaced all my plastic bottles in the fridge (they are way healthier to drink out of too).

I think we can all agree that the biggest challenge as a student is the cost, but with a few sacrifices here and there and taking one step at a time, I think protecting our environment will become easier, therefore allowing Papatūānuku to flourish once again like time our ancestors once lived. Personally I’ve had many conversations with myself, deliberating whether to spend a little extra money to reduce plastic, or re-do by budgeting, by sacrificing a little extra cash going on alcohol, smokes, or unnecessary shops at Kmart, in order to reduce my plastic consumption. Instead of thinking of my own feelings attached to the environment, alternatively I put Papatuānuku at the centre. Thankfully it’s never too late to make a change e te whānau. Despite our circumstances, as said by the ‘Plastic-free Māori’ blogger, herty advocate for the environment and a beautiful Ngāti Porou wahine toa I know Tina Ngata , she says “reducing plastic is a journey” and we should not feel guilty when we forget to bring our reusable bags to the supermarket, or buy that plastic covered chocolate bar that you cannot wait to indulge in, or that takeaway coffee cup because you left your keepcup at home. ‘Repetition is the key to mastery’.

Here are also some useful links to stores, sites and awesome people within our community that are involved in some pretty cool kaupapa promoting environmental awareness, that you and your flatties/friends may find helpful in starting or needed extra motivation to stick to it; https://www.smartass.co.nz https://www.healthpost.co.nz https://misprint.co https://www.bininn.co.nz https://moorewilsons.co.nz https://thenonplasticmaori.wordpress.com https://www.facebook.com/parakore

This journey can all be very overwhelming at the start. Surround yourself with like minded people who are keen to jump on the waka to do their part in protecting Papatūānuku, and I can assure you that this journey will become less and less of a chore. The benefits are endless! 50

Whenua is important because it represents more than just land. Many generations ago, this great whenua was the space that our mighty tipuna discovered and explored. They explored far and wide and settled in different areas across the country. Because of their explorations, whenua now holds our history. We must look after our whenua, as it has looked after us. Whenua is important because it represents our past. It also represents our future and all it could entail. Our tipuna migrated across TeMoana-Nui-a-Kiwa in hope of new adventures, peace and community. The whenua was the entity that drew our people here. It gave them nourishment and fulfilment and a new place to make their home. The whenua is the entity that maintains our settlement and because of their establishment, the Māori people are still here today. We must look after our whenua as it has looked after us. We as Māori are the kaitiaki of this whenua. We are the caregivers, the protectors and the guardians of our land. The responsibility of being the kaitiaki means we must uphold the mana of all those that have gone before. We must keep Papatūānuku as beautiful as she was created to be, as she is the mother of all things. As well as caring for Papatūānuku, there are other tipuna, and Atua that are represented in different landmarks throughout Aotearoa. We must maintain this care of our whenua, so our future descendents look back as we did to our tipuna to see how they cared for the whenua. We must look after our whenua as it has looked after us. Rongokako is a tipuna that many people living in the Hawkes Bay are descendants of. As with many oral histories, there are numerous versions of the story of Rongokako, with each marae around the rohe of Kahungunu having their own story. I will talk of my story and what I was taught growing up - He lays as a maunga that separates different hapū, but connects them in a way of whakapapa. His land is rough, stoney, strong, intense, deep, heavy and spiritual. The whenua stands high as it holds Ranginui and Papatūānuku apart. The maunga that is respected as the great tipuna of Rongokako is a land of many emotions. It holds rich history, stories from our past and kōrero that speak to the people of generations that have gone before us. Rongokako was strong, he was fierce, fearless and proud and he represented whakapapa that stretches across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. Rongokako was the son of the captain of the Takitimu waka, Tamatea Arikinui.

TŌPŪ KI TE KŌPŪ NĀ POUNAMU TIPIWAI CHAMBERS NGĀTI KAHUNGUNU, KAI TAHU, WHANAU APANUI, NGATI HINEURU

Rongokako is a tipuna that is now represented by our whenua. As the kaitiaki of this land we must uphold everything to do with Rongokako. The large maunga is special to us, it represents who we are as a people and our strong connection to the whenua. It holds wahi tapu and significant sites of our history that as kaitiaki, it is our job to protect. Going off the idea of kaitiakitanga, not all people living in this country believe that this is important. Like many other iwi, Kahungunu have been faced with a rather large challenge. It is like many other stories that involve land, iwi and Pākehā. Kahungunu were not consulted about alterations that have been made to the great tipuna Rongokako. A great scar of a track has now cut through the body of our tipuna and has passed by wāhi tapū. These Pākeha believe that Rongokako is simply a large heap of dirt that is there to be used, altered and abused. A sharp, blunt, narrow and ugly zigzag scar has cut through our tipuna. A rich pākeha, owned and operated winery, secretly teamed up with the local council and established this disgusting and insensitive route. They believe that land should be individually owned by a person that has no connection to the whenua. It has hurt all of the tāngata whenua as we have felt the raging pain of our tipuna. We are the kaitiaki of this whenua and are trying to maintain these responsibilities. It is happening far too much, in a place where we are the indigenous people. Pākehā both of the past and new arrivals do not have the same understanding, connection, or relationship to the whenua. They are invading our taonga and in 2018 are still not listening to our voices as we do not give consent. They are disrespecting the very land that has looked after us and them for many, many years and going against everything that we believe in. Kaitiakitanga is the basis for our responsibility over the whenua. The whenua is important to us. The whenua represents us. It sustains and it maintains everything that we do so we must uphold this responsibility. We must look after the whenua as it has looked after us. Whenua is life.

Māori Environmentalism NĀ MEIKURA WILLIAMS, NGĀI TŪHOE, NGĀTI WHAKAUE, NGĀTI HAUITI, TE ĀTIAWA, TE ATIHAUNUI-A-PĀPĀRANGI, TE AITANGA A MAHAKI

bag. When home, instead of throwing out my old produce to replace with my new ones, I boiled them to create a veggie stock. I felt a responsibility and relationship to this kai. Without plastic I could feel the dirt on the potato, the vulnerable skin of the tomato and minuteness of the chilli. I have always been a Māori minimalist (thanks Dad), a Māori who grew up learning that if the five siblings before you didn’t get it, or your parents didn’t get it at your age, you certainly aren’t getting it - that money is for bills. So off I went, 13 years old a kitchen hand slave because if you’re Māori and want anything material (do the movies count?) you gotta get a job. This early introduction to work not only taught me that I love working but still have no savings, but that there are alternatives to waste everywhere. In the past 10 years, I have shopped in more second-hand stores, found preloved trash on the side of the road and taken on copious amounts of “expired food” than I have ever had to ask my parents for money. Fast-fashion, reproduction of items and food waste are the greatest contributors to the world’s waste. Second hand clothing, footpath treasures and “expired food” have become a part of my identity. E hoa mā, find something that is zero waste and came a part of your identity too.

For me, my zero waste journey began long before I had realised. It began before I moved to Wellington. After having lived in a suburban home in Tauranga that had piggie buckets, compost bins, veggie gardens, fruit trees and home kill at our disposal. It began before our mother knit almost every piece of clothing we had as kids and before our father taught us how to be Maori minimalists. It began even before I was born, with my mother descending from a farming whānau of Te Atiawa and Te Atihau and It began before any of you reading this were born. I am Tūhoe. My Father is Tūhoe, his Father is Tūhoe, his Father is Tūhoe, and even… our tupuna as Ngai Tūhoe are the ngahere - Te Urewera. I was born from the forest giving me the intrinsic desire to protect my tupuna in whichever ways I can. I consciously started this journey in 2016 when I ordered my first ever online Countdown shop that came in twenty or more plastic bags. I was horrified. I made a decision that day that I would never shop online again and invest in reusable bags. Little did I know, this small change was to have a flow on to my life today and for those around me.

My top 3 tips to being zero waste. 1) Start small, this will lead to big changes. I started by not using plastic bags at the supermarket, now I take my own containers to the deli, don’t buy any products on plastic and I hope to start using a Bin Inn eventually. 2) Don’t be whakamā. Take that container to the sushi shop! Be that green freak that rinses their recycling for the work bin! Wear that natural deodorant even if you “smell”! 3) Teach others. I have learnt the positive affect I can have on others by the changes I have made. My sister one year ago had a container full of plastic bags that I suggested she got a reusable bag for instead, one year later she messages me constantly about..

One thing I have learnt through this journey is that Māori feel stories through sound and touch, we don’t ever really read or write them. At the marae we spend hours listening to the stories of our koroua and kuia i muri ki rā, we are enveloped by stories of our tupuna through our tukutuku, and we sing these stories of mamae, loss, revitalisation and love through our waiata as iwi, hapū and whānau.. This way of storytelling has given me the mana to voice my story passed on to me from my kuia, koroua, tupuna and whānau. This is my why. A thought I go back to during all of this is how plastic has removed the relationship Māori have with their whenua. I first thought of this when making one of my first conscious zero-waste decisions - I vowed to stop buying produce in plastic or put them into plastic bags. I immediately noticed two things. Tuatahi: there is far too much produce in plastic (why do we need apples in a tennis ball shoot?). And tuarua: I protected my kai as if it were still living. I started by placing my produce into one section of the trolley so my other kai didn’t squash it. I put it all up on the conveyor belt at the end so I could pack them into my veggie

A karakia performed by our koroua to us before we go for a hunt, collect kai from the forest or go for a walk: Ko te amorangi ki mua Ko te hapai o ki muri Ki roto i wā tatou nei haerena Ki roto ki te waonui Ā Tāne You must put all godly things Before manly things

NGĀ RANGAHAUTIRA

MĀORI LAW STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

MĀORI MOOTING COMPETITION Kia ora koutou! Ngā Rangahautira is the Māori Law Student’s Society at Victoria University. Our roopu was founded in 1986 by the only two Māori students at law school, Moana Jackson and Sir Eddie Durie. We now have over 80 current members with a singular aim: to escalate, accentuate and celebrate the success of Māori students within the law school. We are a whanau away from home, here to support all Māori tauira braving the law degree. We run a number of events through the year, including our Māori Mooting competition. This is an annual event where our tauira face each other in a moot (a legal debate) on an important Māori issue in different areas of the law. Previous issues have included family law, property law and Māori land law. This is moot is a unique experience in that contestants are not only judged on their legal arguments, but on their ability to discuss and argue tikanga Māori. Written and oral submissions can be made in either Te Reo Māori or English and the best contestant is selected to represent Victoria University at the National Māori Mooting Competition. This is a unique experience at University and we would encourage and welcome anyone who is interested in attending to come along! The moot will be held at Te Herenga Waka Marae on the evening of the 13th of September. If you’re interested in attending or want to learn more about Ngā Rangahautira, then feel free to follow us on Instagram (nga_rangahautira) or Facebook (Ngā Rangahautira Māori Law Students Association VUW).

NGĀ TAURA UMANGA MĀORI COMMERCE STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

KŌMITI WHAKAHAERE 2018: Nga Taura Umanga are your local Māori Commerce Students Association, created for and by Māori students. Some of our core kaupapa involve providing career opportunities for more Māori in the workforce, and also allow a safe space for Māori students away from home. We’re here to help you with anything from meeting professionals, getting a summer internship, scholarships or even arranging study workshops. *plug alert* NTU host Te Reo workshops facilitated by our very own tikanga officer Rikipōtiki down at Pipitea Campus, every even numbered week on a Tuesday 4.30pm. Look out for posters up in Pipitea and Kelburn Campus. We also have our main event coming up next month, Tatai Hono! This won’t be a night to miss, with several inspiring speakers and a free kai and drinks. If you have any pātai about these upcoming event or anything involving NTU you’re always more than welcome to get in touch with any of the team. In our kōmiti we have: CHRISTINA GRINDROD Tumuaki Wahine (Female President)

PAUL TUKUKINO Tumuaki Tane (Male President)

BROOKE SINCLAIR Kaituhi (Secretary)

ROB CAIRNS Kaitautoko Pūtea (Treasurer)

PECHEZ PERENARA Kaiwhakahaere Whakapā (Communications)

RĀHIRI NICHOLSON Kaiwhakahaere Whakangahau (Events)

RIKIPŌTIKI MANUÉL Kaiwhakahaere Tikanga (Māori Customs)

POIPOIA TE TAONGA POA Kōmiti Whakahaere (Executive Member)

GABRIELLE PO-CHING Kōmiti Whakahaere (Executive Member)

TAKIRI TE ATA Kōmiti Whakahaere (Executive Member)

ERIN KENNEDY Kōmiti Whakahaere (Executive Member)

Nau mai, haere mai e te iti, e te rahi; karapinepine mai whakarauika Kia tauwhiro, Kia awhina rānei Kia tū hei mema mo te komiti whakahaere mo ngā taura umanga ! Īmera mai: ngatauraumanga@gmail.com Whai mai mā te Pukamata (Facebook) rānei: Ngā Taura Umanga

PRESENTS

T H E MINIS

M/themin

EL.CO BURGERFU

WIN! $20K+ OF OF WIN!! $20K+

*Promotion ends Sunday 14 October 2018

AND AND BURGERFUEL BURGERFUEL PRIZES... PRIZES...

FREE THICKSHAKE

WITH ANY LUNCHTIME

BURGER & SPUD FRIES PURCHASE Oﬀer available with the purchase of any large or mini burger at any BurgerFuel in New Zealand. Not available with any other oﬀer. Not available with online ordering. One voucher per person per visit. Expires 5/11/18

NGĀ MIHI NUI KI TE WHĀNAU O TE HERENGA WAKA