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The English Laws Act, passed in 1858, declared the Laws of England applicable in New Zealand and cemented the hitherto alien ideology of land as property. Part of this ideology was the separation of tangata from whenua along with the separation of ownership of land from ownership of water. Māori, as tangata whenua – people of the land, made no such distinctions. Ownership affects how people ‘manage’ whenua (land), make decisions and account to the legal system. Under English law, financial considerations are at the forefront. In contrast, Māori kaitiakitanga values are concerned with the interests of land, understanding that the best interests of people will follow. Despite stark contrasts between the ideology of land as property and the ethics of kaitiakitanga – obligation, sustainability and nurture – Māori engage with mainstream agencies and lead by example in efforts to promote the wellbeing of people and environments in a unified approach. This paper outlines competing paradigms, changing relationships and challenges faced by communities who seek to nurture and respect whenua in the face of colonization. Interview data from Māori involved in community land-based initiatives illustrates past and present struggles and what some possibilities might be for the future.
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‘There is a need for a mindset shift away from the pervasive assumption that the Crown is Pākehā, English-speaking, and distinct from Māori’, wrote the permanent commission of inquiry investigating breaches of New Zealand’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi. ‘Increasingly, in the twenty-first century, the Crown is also Māori.’ This paper argues that ‘the Crown in right of New Zealand’ is in need of redefining. In the 19th and parts of the 20th century Māori leaders and institutions were often understood as separate from the Crown. But that understanding is shifting, and this paper argues the shift is leading to a new understanding of the Crown in right of New Zealand.
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Belonging and being are inextricably linked. From a Māori perspective, belonging and being can be viewed through a number of interconnected historical and contemporary frames. One frame is derived from Māori perceptions of the creation of the universe and genealogical relationships to the universe and everything in it. Another frame of belonging and being stresses increasingly diverse and complex positionings that require negotiation of radically different terrains of assumptions, behaviours, values and beliefs. This article explores two interrelated aspects of being and belonging from a Māori perspective: whakapapa (genealogical connections) and whanaungatanga (family relationships). It discusses how each aspect has changed over time as a result of colonisation, urbanisation and western education, and identifies how the reflection of each has been transformed.
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Historical trauma is an important and growing area of research that provides crucial insights into the antecedents of current-day inequities in health and social wellbeing experienced by Indigenous people in colonial settler societies. What is not so readily examined is the flip side of historical trauma experienced by settlers and their descendants, what might be termed 'historical privilege'. These historic acts of privilege for settlers, particularly those emigrating from Britain, provide the antecedents for the current-day realities for their descendants and the structural, institutional and interpersonal levels of advantage that are also a key feature of inequities between Indigenous and settler. This article theorises an explicit link between historical trauma and historical privilege and explores how the latter may be examined with particular reference to Aotearoa New Zealand. Three core elements of historical trauma are posited as a useful framework to apply to historical privilege.