Kaihautū/Director
Bachelor Māori & Information Management Degree Programme
Te Wānanga o Raukawa
Ōtaki
New Zealand
Hinureina Mangan will be presenting on The Special Challenges and Value of Records as taonga to the mana and credo of Māori on Monday
From time immemorial human societies have maintained and protected their collective wisdom in all sorts of archival format, from the oral histories stored in the memories of the human repository to recorded histories behind the vast edifices of the ancient and modern worlds.
The arrival of Māori to Aotearoa (New Zealand) saw huge changes in their mātauranga (knowledge) curriculum as they changed from being an ocean-based people to a land base. They facilitated their co-existence with the new environment by naming every part of their new environment, by explaining the behaviour of this environment and by pursuing initiatives to ensure their survival. They recorded, catalogued and archived their assembly of knowledge in their literature, whakapapa (genealogies) and art (1).
These, thereby, became the knowledge repositories of individual iwi (tribe), hapū (sub-tribe) and whānau (family unit). Each had its own kawa (regulations) and tikanga (customs) put in place, ensuring continuity of traditions, histories, knowledge and heritage for succeeding generations. Much value was placed on these traditional methods of recording knowledge.
However, with the arrival of Pakeha (Europeans), many tupuna (ancestors) adapted to and even relished using the new ways of recording, disseminating, preserving and archiving traditional knowledge. But it has not been straightforward. The changes, particularly with today’s rapid advancements in technology, have presented huge challenges to Māori ... challenges to ownership of knowledge, loss of language, decrease in use of cultural practices, breakdown of traditional societal values and traditions, and loss of traditional knowledge.
This paper addresses these, the special challenges and value of records as taonga (treasure) to the mana (power, influence) and credo of Māori.
1. Professor Whatarangi Winiata, Tumuaki (Principal), Te Wānanga o Raukawa. The Crown and the Founding Iwi of Te Wänanga o Raukawa: Expressing the Partnership. Draft Statement; Unpublished paper; January 8 2007.
