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In recent years Maori people have adopted many strategies to protect and advance the well being and visions implicit in the exercise of tino rangatiratanga. Much of that work has been done at home, but an increasing number of Iwi and other Maori organisations are now participating in international affairs that are seen to have some relevance to our lives. They are joining a worldwide movement by Indigenous Peoples to reassert their rights and reclaim their rightful place.

The Māori seats in Parliament / Philip A. Joseph.-book

"In this era of indigenous peoples' rights recognition, states around the globe are faced with reconciling the pre-existing, inherent rights of indigenous peoples with those held and asserted by the state. This fact was brought into sharp focus in New Zealand by the Court of Appeal decision of Ngati Apa." "This collection of essays does not aim to be an exhaustive treatment of the legal issues raised by Ngati Apa and the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 (the FSA). It does, however, address many of the most salient."--BOOK JACKET.

This thesis explores the contemporary political rationality and government mechanisms that develop and impact upon educational policy for Maori. In engaging in a critique of political ideology and operational exposition, this thesis examines and discloses the mechanisms and rationalities of government in New Zealand through state policy theory, gender, race and ethnic writings, critical theory and theories of difference. Of significance to this work is the incorporation of Kaupapa Maori theory, which provides a traditional and contemporary insight into Maori views and praxis of emancipation. In realising the central interest and concern of Maori for real and effective intervention to address the crisis of schooling for Maori, analysis in this thesis examines the historical nature of Maori educational policy and critiques the contemporary educational political frameworks of the New Zealand Labour government. Furthermore, this research also examines government official’s perspectives in discussing the primary contemporary political mechanisms and rationalities that operate in controlling and developing educational policy for Maori. It is argued, that although these contemporary policy frameworks, rationalities and mechanisms may appear to be vastly different from historical colonisation and assimilation practices, they are informed by the same underlying structures and are intersected by similar tendencies and movements. In disclosing the perpetuating ethos of state Pakeha dominant interests and the absence of structural and cultural reform from within political educational policy development for Maori, this thesis argues that state initiatives in the new millennium, under the guise of transformation, commitment and hope still remain ineffective and oppressive for Maori.

"Provides an historical, comparative and contextual analysis of various legal and policy issues affecting indigenous peoples. It focuses on the common law jurisdictions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, as well as relevant international law developments"--Back cover.

Discusses the New Zealand position on the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Describes, from the perspective of the advocates for Maori claimants, the substance of submissions to and process followed by the United Nations committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in determining that the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 discriminates against Maori. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

This study examines how global forces are shaping local indigenous cultures with a particular focus on the relationship between global capitalism, new media technologies, and transnational advertising. Concentrating on Mäori culture and identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand, the authors examine a contemporary political debate related to indigenous culture and intellectual property rights. Specifically, the study explores the politics of identity associated with global sports company Adidas and its use of the traditional New Zealand All Blacks haka as part of a global advertising campaign. A key feature of the analysis is the controversy surrounding a lawsuit filed by a Mäori tribe claiming compensation for the commercial use of its culture. Overall, the study highlights the problem of maintaining and protecting cultural spaces where indigenous identities can be constructed and affirmed.

This paper theorizes how knowledge of indigenous tribal epistemologies was made ‘knowable’ through Enlightenment rationalism in an early colonial context. Specifically, the paper determines how and what knowledge of Mäori tribal physical activities was interpreted and authenticated through early travellers' tales and missionaries’ accounts in New Zealand. The central thesis argues that what was established as authentic and truthful aligned with Enlightenment rationalism, while those Mäori physical practices incomprehensible to Western understandings were deemed inauthentic and, consequently, were obscured and/or discarded. Throughout, the article theorizes the translation of knowledge into meaningful Western discourses and how these translations came to be crystallized in the colonial imagination.

This thesis aims to provide an understanding of the nature of tribes and tribalisation in Maori society that is not readily available from secondary sources. It is an attempt to move out of the fog created by the intense politicisation that surrounds definitions and perceptions of the tribe, which in turn have created a bewildering maze of issues and demands. For example social change and development among Maori - and by implication the tribe - has been characterised variously as renaissance (Durie 1998), neo tribalism (Rata 2000), the reification of culture (Hansen 1989, van Meijl 1996), and political struggle (Walker 1990). These conceptualisations have not taken into account the fact that the tribe as the fundamental social organisation of Maori society and the tribe as the fundamental essence of Maori identity diverged as the twentieth century progressed. This thesis offers an alternative view of social change based on a study of the changing perceptions of the tribe throughout the twentieth century. The underlying premise is that perceptions of the tribe evolved according to a range of endogenous and exogenous social and political influences. This position is juxtaposed against the proposition that the tribe is, and can be understood simply from observation of communities, past and present. Throughout the twentieth century the tribe's status as the primary organising force changed. In the early stages of the century the tribe was the primary, as well as the fundamental, form of Maori social organisation and identity. As the century progressed and Maori became progressively integrated into the wider New Zealand society, alternative forms of association became available to Maori. The tribe remained the fundamental source of identity: it was, however, no longer the primary social grouping for many Maori. That is, the majority of Maori claimed affiliation to a tribe but did not live and work in a tribal context. It is argued in this thesis that existing perceptions of the tribe have taken into account only the former, that the tribe was the fundamental expression of Maori kinship and identity and have ignored the reality that the tribe was no longer the most common and influential organizing force of Maori social organisation. It is also argued that these perceptions have been formed through three sets of interacting agency: Maori, government and scholarship. Maori understandings of the tribe were primarily sourced in life circumstances, in understandings of a society with a range of kinship inter and intra relationships that are encapsulated in traditional forms of association, namely iwi, whanau and hapu. However, what was not widely understood is that the influence of government through its Maori policies and its fostering of academic scholarship through research publications and advocacy, have had formative, descriptive and prescriptive influences on the tribe. This ongoing process has resulted in an interplay of categorical definitions and adjustments and strategic developments. Understanding conceptions and perceptions of the tribe are very pertinent, not only to Maori, but also to New Zealand as a whole. The tribe dominates notions of Maori identity as well as Maori political and social organisation. Since Maori constitute 15% of the total population of New Zealand, any research that assists in understanding the tribe assists in understanding New Zealand society. The tribe is also an integral part of Treaty-centred politics, and, therefore, a key plank of nation-building within New Zealand. The tribe as an autonomous polity had became a contested site in the late twentieth century, to the extent that definitional disputes disrupted and threatened to derail attempts by government and tribal leaders to arrive at Treaty settlements. Understandings and misunderstandings of the tribe therefore have ramifications for race relations, and the Maori quest for self-determination, as well as for republicanism, constitutionalism and democracy as understood and practiced in New Zealand. This thesis argues: 1. That perceptions and conceptions of the tribe were formed through the interlocking agencies of Maori, scholarship and government. 2. That the key to understanding the tribe and tribalisation in Maori society in the twentieth century is the acceptance that the tribe as the basis of identity and the tribe as the basis community organisation diverged as the century progressed. 3. That tribal affiliation remained central to understandings of Maori identity in spite of major societal changes that they experienced during the twentieth century, 4. That in the latter part of the twentieth century that movement to revitalise the tribe developed into an ideology of retribalisation that successfully introduced a prescribed form of tribe, a development that changed the fundamental nature of tribes and tribalisation among Maori.

The complexities involved in articulating an ethnic identity as a person of mixed Maori/Pakeha descent are explored in this study. Issues related to establishing a sense of belonging that ties a person to both ethnic groups are examined based on the life narratives of six people of dual Maori/Pakeha descent. What does it mean to be a person of mixed Maori/Pakeha descent in contemporary Aotearoa/New Zealand and in what ways are identities that reflect our dual heritage constructed? I use the term ‘our’ deliberately, because there is a place in the research for my own story as a ‘half-caste’ Maori/Pakeha. Constructing and articulating ethnicity when there has been historical ethnic inter-marriage, as well as ethnic conflict in New Zealand is complex. Negative and stereotypical images are continually being constructed of Maori in a society that aims to assimilate and promote Maori as a homogenous group. It is not only important that Maori articulate and explore their own experiences and realities, but also significant that Maori/Pakeha, as members of both groups, have an opportunity to explore and control their own definitions beyond the constraints set by the dominant groups. The Maori cultural and political renaissance has involved defining Maori in terms of difference from Pakeha/Europeans, but this study explores the overlap – genetic, cultural, and social – between two ethnic groups and provides new insights into the diversity within the Maori ethnic group. The key question guiding the research was: In what ways do people of mixed Maori/Pakeha descent construct and articulate identities that reflect their dual heritage? This study aims to provide insights and understandings about the challenges, issues and benefits associated with being of mixed Maori/Pakeha descent in Aotearoa New Zealand.