Recent research focusing on improving educational outcomes for Māori students in mainstream secondary schools in Aotearoa/New Zealand have asserted that building positive student-teacher relationships in the classroom are fundamental (c. f. Bishop, Berryman, & Richardson, 2003; Bishop & Tiakiwai, 2003; Ministry of Education, 2002, 2006). In contrast, attempts to investigate the educational benefits associated with Māori students participating in cultural learning activities, such as kapa haka, and the implications for improving levels of Māori student achievement, remains relatively unexplored. To embark on such an investigation, Māori kapa haka students and teachers from four mainstream secondary schools were invited to take part in an interview process informed by using a Kaupapa Māori theoretical approach. As a result, the study revealed quite emphatically that not only does kapa haka provide Māori students with an appropriate ‘culturally responsive’ learning experience, but that they also feel more confident and optimistic about school and their education. Moreover, kapa haka provides the opportunity for students to celebrate who they are as Māori and as ‘culturally connected’ learners in mainstream schooling contexts. In addition, Māori students through the kapa haka experience learn to ‘protect’, ‘problem-solve’, ‘provide’, and ‘heal’ their inner self-worth, essence and wellbeing as Māori. Similarly, most teachers agreed that kapa haka provides Māori students with a creative, dynamic and powerful way to access their learning potential as cultural human beings. An overwhelming response by both students and teachers is that kapa haka should be timetabled as an academic subject to provide greater access to indigenous and cultural performing art that affirms their identity as Māori, and our uniqueness as New Zealanders. Finally, the research proposes a ‘culturally responsive’ learning strategy to assist what mainstream secondary schools and teachers provide as valid and purposeful learning opportunities for ‘culturally connected’ learners who are Māori.

This thesis investigates the iwi (Māori tribal) organisations established in New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s to manage resources being transferred as a result of Treaty of Waitangi settlements and the devolution of government services. The research has two objectives. Firstly, it aims to document iwi organisations’ establishment and operation from the viewpoint of those working inside the organisations. Secondly, it compares insider perspectives with economic theories concerning the causes, consequences and development of economic institutions. To address the first objective, the research gathers qualitative data for three iwi organisations and uses these to construct case reports. An inductive comparison across cases finds that while the underlying motivation for creating the iwi organisations is a desire to live as Māori, the immediate stimuli are opportunities negotiated with government. Iwi are chosen, in preference to other Māori groups, because of their size and traditional status and organisational success is dependent on meeting the requirements of both members and external parties. To address the second objective, the research examines a number of theories from new institutional economics which assist understanding of the empirical findings. To adequately explain iwi organisations as a whole, however, and to assess the relative explanatory power of the theories, they must be connected into a single explanatory framework. The research constructs a framework using the concept of social capital, understood as the combination of all the socio-economic institutions operating to make collective action possible. The framework proposes that socio-economic institutions can have an influence and value independent of other forms of capital. Viewing new iwi organisations through the constructed theoretical framework casts them as intermediaries, managing relational contracts between tribal members and external parties. The relational contracts with members constitute bonding social capital and are characterised by informal institutions of high intrinsic value, considerable relationship-specific social capital, transferability across tasks but not persons, and a preference for voice over exit. Relational contracts with external parties are primarily instrumental in value and formal institutions play a significant role; they show variability in the importance of informal institutions, relationship-specific social capital, transferability and preference for exit over voice. The thesis presents an insider’s view of new iwi organisations and then translates this view into the concepts of new institutional economics. In doing so, it contributes to two discussions: first, on the appropriate way to understand new iwi organisations; second, on the appropriate way for new institutional economics to understand society’s economic institutions.

Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / The texts of Maori oral tradition preserve special information for communication within Maori society. The forms in which that information is communicated are varied and in named types. Whakataukii are one of those types and they are one means of making public and preserving knowledge about Maori society. The knowledge which is contained in whakataukii, or referred to by them, ranges from simple observations of daily life, to philosophical concepts and records of history. This thesis proposes that whakataukii are a genre of Maori oral tradition. By examination and interpretation of a selection of sayings arranged in two categories, one which relates to Maori society as a whole and the other which relates to individual tribes, it considers the role of these texts in transmitting cultural information. Oral texts are often represented as unsophisticated forms of language, dependant for sophistication on a development to writing. Sayings are generally studied as colloquial texts and are seldom the subject of the serious interpretative study given to written literature. In this thesis the sayings of Maori oral tradition, with their culturally distinct but highly developed use of language, are regarded as comparable in their own sphere to compositions of written literature.

This thesis is a case study that examines the educative activities of two Church Missionary Society (CMS) women, Marianne Coldham Williams and her sister-in-law Jane Nelson Williams, during the period 1823-1835. This study examines the role and status of these two missionary women in the early CMS mission station at Paihia in northern New Zealand. Marianne and Jane Williams were missionary educators whose primary task was to establish schools for local Maori pupils and resident missionary pupils. These first mission schools were established according to a perceived hierarchy of "need." Consequently, the first schools, established in 1823 were for Nga Puhi women and girls followed by a school for the missionary daughters in 1826. A school for Nga Puhi men and boys was not established until 1827 and a school for the missionary sons was delayed until 1828. Through the re-formation of Maori women as Christian women, Maori society was to replicate the "pleasantries" of (Pakeha) "Christian society." The schoolroom, not the pulpit became the central site to instigate changes in Maori society and the CMS initially charged Marianne and Jane Williams with the responsibility for this task. One of the strategies developed by Marianne and Jane Williams to survive in a frontier society was to form a network based on their sister-hood. Through the exchanging of letters between the two women in New Zealand and their "sisters" in England, a reciprocal friendship was created that provided Marianne and Jane with the support they sought. These letters and diaries provide valuable autobiographical accounts of the daily lives and missionary activities of Marianne and Jane. This study, therefore, presents a challenge to prevailing historical narratives that position men at the centre of missionary activities. Missionary policy documents and manuscript material written by early nineteenth century missionary women and men reveal that in New Zealand women played a critical role in the "Christianising" and "civilising" policies and practices. In placing women at the centre of historical inquiry and as historical agents, this study re-presents the historical narrative in a different voice.

This thesis examines modern iwi governance systems and their effect on whakapapa as an organisational framework in Māori societies. The main question addressed was; can whakapapa survive as an organisational process, or will it be stifled, as Māori societies struggle to establish a strong identity in contemporary New Zealand. As an organisational framework for Māori societies, whakapapa works through a series of principles that function through relationships between people, and between people and other elements that make up the world. Contemporary Māori groups continue to claim that they are whakapapa-based societies. This thesis examines that claim by investigating to what extent of "being Māori" today is about adherence to those principles and to whakapapa-based processes and relationships, and how much is it about being shaped by non-Māori constructs that have been formed by state-intervention and legislated changes to Māori social organisation. If being Maori today has as much or more to do with the latter, what place does whakapapa have in contemporary Māori society, and to what level and to what extent can the principles of whakapapa be upheld as the basis for contemporary Māori societies. A series of stories and case studies were used to answer the questions posed in the thesis. The case studies demonstrated the ways in which whakapapa worked in everyday situations, and how the people who take part in whakapapa-based relationships understood them to work. They also demonstrated how state intervention through legislation has challenged the way Māori groups structure themselves when new circumstances have required compromise and change. The institutionalised evolution of Māori societies is examined in more detail using one example of a modern tribal structure, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. The Ngāi Tahu example typifies the implications for Māori if they choose to move from a whakapapa-based organisational model of governance to a centralised legalbureaucratic model of governance. The adoption of the new centralised governance structures, such as Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, will mean that Māori hapū and iwi societies are in danger of disappearing to be replaced by a generic group,shaped by legislation and integrated into the wider nation-state of New Zealand. Whakapapa can only remain at the core of Māori societies, if Māori allow it to, but when Māori adopt centralised "generic" system of governance, hapū and iwi societies, become censored versions of their former selves. / Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

This study investigates the nature of the relationship that the state in New Zealand, the Crown, has established with Māori as a tribally-based people. Despite the efforts of recent New Zealand Governments to address the history of Crown injustice to Māori, the relationship of the Crown with Iwi Māori continues to be fraught with contradictions and tension. It is the argument of the thesis that the tension exists because the Crown has imposed a social, political, and economic order that is inherently contradictory to the social, political, and economic order of the Māori tribal world. Overriding an order where relationships are negotiated and alliances built between autonomous groups, the Crown constituted itself as a government with single, undivided sovereignty, used its unilateral power to introduce policy and legislation that facilitated the dispossession of whānau and hapū of their resources and their authority in the land, and enshrined its own authority and capitalist social relations instead. The thesis is built round a critical reading of five Waitangi Tribunal reports, namely the Muriwhenua Fishing Report, Mangonui Sewerage Report, The Te Roroa Report, Muriwhenua Land Report, and Te Whanau o Waipareira Report.

This thesis examines modern iwi governance systems and their effect on whakapapa as an organisational framework in Māori societies. The main question addressed was; can whakapapa survive as an organisational process, or will it be stifled, as Māori societies struggle to establish a strong identity in contemporary New Zealand. As an organisational framework for Māori societies, whakapapa works through a series of principles that function through relationships between people, and between people and other elements that make up the world. Contemporary Māori groups continue to claim that they are whakapapa-based societies. This thesis examines that claim by investigating to what extent of "being Māori" today is about adherence to those principles and to whakapapa-based processes and relationships, and how much is it about being shaped by non-Māori constructs that have been formed by state-intervention and legislated changes to Māori social organisation. If being Maori today has as much or more to do with the latter, what place does whakapapa have in contemporary Māori society, and to what level and to what extent can the principles of whakapapa be upheld as the basis for contemporary Māori societies. A series of stories and case studies were used to answer the questions posed in the thesis. The case studies demonstrated the ways in which whakapapa worked in everyday situations, and how the people who take part in whakapapa-based relationships understood them to work. They also demonstrated how state intervention through legislation has challenged the way Māori groups structure themselves when new circumstances have required compromise and change. The institutionalised evolution of Māori societies is examined in more detail using one example of a modern tribal structure, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. The Ngāi Tahu example typifies the implications for Māori if they choose to move from a whakapapa-based organisational model of governance to a centralised legalbureaucratic model of governance. The adoption of the new centralised governance structures, such as Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, will mean that Māori hapū and iwi societies are in danger of disappearing to be replaced by a generic group,shaped by legislation and integrated into the wider nation-state of New Zealand. Whakapapa can only remain at the core of Māori societies, if Māori allow it to, but when Māori adopt centralised "generic" system of governance, hapū and iwi societies, become censored versions of their former selves. / Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

This study investigates the nature of the relationship that the state in New Zealand, the Crown, has established with Māori as a tribally-based people. Despite the efforts of recent New Zealand Governments to address the history of Crown injustice to Māori, the relationship of the Crown with Iwi Māori continues to be fraught with contradictions and tension. It is the argument of the thesis that the tension exists because the Crown has imposed a social, political, and economic order that is inherently contradictory to the social, political, and economic order of the Māori tribal world. Overriding an order where relationships are negotiated and alliances built between autonomous groups, the Crown constituted itself as a government with single, undivided sovereignty, used its unilateral power to introduce policy and legislation that facilitated the dispossession of whānau and hapū of their resources and their authority in the land, and enshrined its own authority and capitalist social relations instead. The thesis is built round a critical reading of five Waitangi Tribunal reports, namely the Muriwhenua Fishing Report, Mangonui Sewerage Report, The Te Roroa Report, Muriwhenua Land Report, and Te Whanau o Waipareira Report.

This study investigates the nature of the relationship that the state in New Zealand, the Crown, has established with Māori as a tribally-based people. Despite the efforts of recent New Zealand Governments to address the history of Crown injustice to Māori, the relationship of the Crown with Iwi Māori continues to be fraught with contradictions and tension. It is the argument of the thesis that the tension exists because the Crown has imposed a social, political, and economic order that is inherently contradictory to the social, political, and economic order of the Māori tribal world. Overriding an order where relationships are negotiated and alliances built between autonomous groups, the Crown constituted itself as a government with single, undivided sovereignty, used its unilateral power to introduce policy and legislation that facilitated the dispossession of whānau and hapū of their resources and their authority in the land, and enshrined its own authority and capitalist social relations instead. The thesis is built round a critical reading of five Waitangi Tribunal reports, namely the Muriwhenua Fishing Report, Mangonui Sewerage Report, The Te Roroa Report, Muriwhenua Land Report, and Te Whanau o Waipareira Report.

Abstract/ Whakarāpoto Take The specific aim of this study is to identify critical features of wānanga or the traditional Māori learning institution and how these might inform Māori education today in a University setting. It also examines the responsiveness of the tertiary institution in creating an indigenous infrastructure aimed at Māori educational participation. A number of ‘critical events’ relating to Māori educational development interventions in the 1980’s will be considered with the expectation that they will serve to inform the development of better educational outcomes for access, participation, recruitment, retention and the advancement of Māori in the conventional University setting. For the purpose of this study contemporary Māori academic sites, which include state funded wānanga, as well as other indigenous academic sites will be discussed, including the First Nations House of Learning at the University of British Columbia1. There is thus an international perspective in this study. Whare wānanga were a key institution in traditional Māori society and represented in all regions of Aotearoa/ New Zealand. The ability to travel and share each other’s knowledge attested or benchmarked by others was a key part of the maintenance of the tribal lore. Tōhunga were central to the entire process of controlling the knowledge and selecting to whom it was to be imparted. This raises a question of what a contemporary wānanga, as an intervention and an academic entity would look like at the University of Auckland and would it withstand international scrutiny? As a kaupapa Māori educational intervention, it is a theoretical test in the configurations of conscientization, resistance and transformative praxis. The inclusive approach in using existing material and people resources to maximize the impact of the intervention is to be discussed in this thesis. Specific case studies provide a means for checking the evidence for the processes and the predicted outcomes for kaupapa Māori theory. The recalling of events is central to both case studies. An event such as the rugby match that took place between both countries in 1927, discussed later in this thesis, combined with similar initiatives embarked upon by indigenous leaders from both tertiary communities to create a physical presence for First Nations and Māori, are identities at the core of the case studies. Cultural connection, and a style of operation that is inclusive, enact in part the values raised by Madeleine McIvor: respect, reciprocity, relevance and responsibility. The factors all converge to build this thesis into a series of conversations. The collaboration undertaken over long distances and periods of time has motivated the creation of this record of the stories of both institutions, that can be added to by others in the future. The markers of success for the University of Auckland include the arresting of the decline of Māori student enrolments alongside the growth of Māori participating in post-graduate study and research, therefore providing opportunity to contribute to the bank of knowledge in New Zealand society. While the regeneration of the language in New Zealand has been the driving force behind the wānanga development at the University of Auckland building further on the foundations of kohanga reo, kura kaupapa Māori, whare kura and wānanga, the development of Māori as with First Nations initiatives has been in the area of education. Tertiary institutions offer a context in which kaupapa Māori theory brings together common threads of communication for people. Whether this is through elements of struggle within societies or just survival, the main thing is that people need each other to develop and progress.