How Traditional Māori Ethics and Values Have Been Applied in Contemporary Māori Land Development
Tihē mauriora
The breath, the energy of life
Ki te whaiao, ki Te Ao Mārama
To the dawnlight, to the world of light
My understanding of the question is that I am to demonstrate my view of Mātauranga, (traditional Māori knowledge) and Kaupapa Māori (traditional Māori ethics and values) and how they are incorporated into today’s world. I will be relating my interpretation specifically to sustainable land development and the principle of Kaitiakitanga, that is, the guardianship of land and the environment in current times. To accomplish this I shall first present my understanding of Māori World View, define ethics and values and describe Mātauranga and Kaupapa Māori with reference to sustainable development of Māori land, in today’s world. (The Encyclodedia of New Zealand, 2014)
World View
World view is the way in which we view the world, it is our perspective of what is seen and experienced as we walk through life. For people and cultures a world view is developed from Whanau, Whakapapa and Iwi, as well as external factors. Māori World view is holistic and is founded in their philosophy of creation. The belief is that all things are viewed as the progeny of Papatuanuku (Maternal earth) and Ranginui (Paternal sky). (The Encylopedia of New Zealand, 2014)
'Toitū te Ao' depicts what Māori World view is all about, the whakairoiro on the coverpage is taken from the “Education for Sustainability” website. The raranga whāriki represents how the people and the environment are connected and dependent on each other as a whole. (Ministry of Education, 2014)
Māori World View is reflected through four dimensions:
• Te taha Wairua (spiritual)
...
... middle of paper ...
...ect of Mātauranga Māori, in regards to development of Māori land, is the collective approach to decision making. While there are detractors of this approach - particularly in regard to the complexities (and delays) associated with consulting with many owners - much can be gained from this approach. The traditional westernised, patriarchal approach to land development has often resulted in decisions being made by a prominent male, or small groups of prominent males. This has resulted in a tendency to focus on short-term financial gains and self interest rather than the wider impact of the decision making. In contrast, a collective approach to decision making has the benefit of serving the wider good, including the socioeconomic impacts on the wider community and the long-term environmental sustainability (Dr. Jacqui Aimers, personal communication, 14 May 2014).
An issue facing society is whether the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), is sufficient in balancing the rights of Indigenous Australians and the rights of current land owners. To determine whether legislation is sufficient and fair, an investigation into the current societal view points needs to be considered by legislators, with an evaluation into the ways in which other societies cater to the needs of Indigenous land owners should be made. This information then allows recommendations and changes to be debated, to therefore to ensure more equitable legislation on land rights within Australia.
“Conservation and Globalization” written by Jim Igoe looks at issues brought upon by westerners such as not only enclosing lands belonging to the Maasai, but also installing their beliefs of economics and cultural construction brought on by private conservative companies in East Africa, more specifically Tanzania. Issues that are explained is the regulation of land that Maasai call home. Westerners did so by creating national parks, Maasai Mara, Amboseli Reserve, and Tarangire National Park. Igoe explains in the first chapter in his book of how the Maasai lived. Before colonialism, conservation, and regulation, the Maasai were pastoralist and had herds of cattle. Now the Maasai are struggling to keep their herding traditions and are forced into subsistence farming (Igoe 2004: 5). The Maasai believe that when God created Earth, they were entitled to all cattle on Earth. This leads to the Maasai to take cattle by force from other ethnic groups surrounding them. Conservation and Globalization are mentioned throughout the book. Westerners use these ideas to run the Maasai out of their homeland and lock them out of their grazing lands. The idea of these indigenous people couldn’t appreciate this land and didn’t know how to fully use their resources are heavily racist.
In 1992, the doctrine of terra nullius was overruled by the High Court in the case Mabo v Queensland (No.2) [1992] HCA 23. After recognising that the Meriam people of Murray Island in the Torres Straits were native title landholders of their traditional land, the court also held that native title existed for all the Indigenous people in Australia prior to European contact. To make the legal position of landholders and the processes that must be followed in claiming native title clear, the federal government passed the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). The Native Title, which was drafted in 1993, attempted to provide a fair and just method of dealing with land in the future. However one of the fundamental flaws of the native title system is that the concept of native title was based on the prejudiced principle that the Crown had the power to extinguish traditional indigenous ownership of the land. Although the government could have been able to amend the flaws of the Native Title Act following the High Court’s decision in relation to the Wik Case, which laid the rules for co-existence and reconciliation of shared interests in the land, they failed to do so. Amendments to the Native Title Act in 1998 undermined any benefits the Indigenous people could have received, and provided the already-powerful non-Indige...
Australia’s Indigenous people are thought to have reached the continent between 60 000 and 80 000 years ago. Over the thousands of years since then, a complex customary legal system have developed, strongly linked to the notion of kinship and based on oral tradition. The indigenous people were not seen as have a political culture or system for law. They were denied the access to basic human right e.g., the right to land ownership. Their cultural values of indigenous people became lost. They lost their traditional lifestyle and became disconnected socially. This means that they were unable to pass down their heritage and also were disconnected from the new occupants of the land.
Butcher, M. (August 2003). “Who is Maori? Who is Pakeha?” In North &South Magazine. New Zealand.
It is important to recognize Indigenous people’s right to self-determination and self-governance because it involves the state’s obligation to protect the rights of all its people. The government has a legal obligation to consult with Aboriginal groups when it involves activities that interfere with their treaty rights. Academic critics of Aboriginal rights and Indigenous self-government, such as Tom Flanageans, have argued that Europeans used individual title to property as a method to “dismantle indigenous communities” by separating the land from collective ownership to individual property (Coates, 2008, p.12). The depth of concern on these issues should not be underestimated since it involves fundamental concepts of fairness and equality within the justice
Te Whᾱriki is the New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum, which was developed in 1996. Compared with Reggio Emilia Approach, they have similarities as focus on children’s interests; develop children’s learning though interacting in relationship with others, emphasise the importance of environment and adults’ active responding. They also differ in many ways, such as teacher’s role, culture background and documentation and Assessment.
"New Zealand Culture - Maori." New Zealand Travel and New Zealand Business. Tourism New Zealand, 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. .
The reliability on land and territory for cultural purposes is crucial for the Aborigines, but what benefit is there to support governmental interference to pursue better conditions for the indigenous? Different cultures provide knowledge and practices beneficial to agricultural production because the variety of crops can provide alternatives suitable for harsh climates, providing best food sources for economic, environmental, and personal use—why settle for less? Public support for the indigenous equally benefits the people and the indigenous, and is a crucial variable in the attempt to fix the latter’s socio-economic difficulties. The pressure placed upon them by the modernized regions is stressful and often times result in further disadvantages for the indigenous. An example of pressure exerted on aboriginal cultures can be seen in Taiwan: the nation, notably consists of multiple different indigenous tribes; although recently Taiwan has grown closely with China, and the latter has influenced economic progression majorly as to affect the position of the Aborigines located in Taiwan. The progressing modernization of Taiwan has left the indigenous incapable to adapt; moreover, the decreasing social
On the one hand, participatory approach to land use planning can provide openings for the decentralized administration of land management and enhance legal protection of local land rights through contributing to formal recognition of existing land tenure systems. According to Chigbu et al, (2015) four functions of land use planning that directly links to tenure security. (1) Its capacity to identify or determine land areas, parcels and uses and users. (2) Its propensity to enable documentation of land areas, parcels, rights, restrictions and responsibilities. (3) The opportunities it provides for stakeholder involvement, compensation of claims and community participation. (4) Its impact on land value, land markets and credit opportunities. On the other hand, land use planning, promoting sustainable natural resource use and environmental management are generally part of the mandate of local governments. And these prerogatives often tend to be weakly developed, both legally and with respect to capacity building and methodology (Hilhorst 2010). Unclear property rights and tenure insecurity are the major constraints to the potential of successful land use planning. According to UN-Habitat (2008, p. 17), poor land use planning associated with insecurity of tenure and incompletely specified land rights leads to problems of air and water-borne pollution from agricultural and industrial land use. Though there is a
Legislation aimed at protecting New Zealand’s environment and natural resources has been through countless reforms to better tailor it to the various discourses that surround environmental management. In Simin Davoudi’s (2012) reading “Climate Risk and Security: New Meanings of “the Environment” in the English Planning System”, Davoudi discusses that environment can be seen in various different ways, as local amenity, heritage ,landscape ,nature reserve, as a store house of resources, as a tradable commodity, as a problem, as sustainability and as a risk (Davoudi, 2012). Although, Davoudi’s typology relates to aspects of New Zealand’s environmental management paradigms, it fails to include some important aspects such as indigenous and community inclusion. Davoudi’s (2012) typology can provide for future guidance in the discourse surrounding environment as risk.
The World View is a global concept. It defines our standard of how things are or should be in the world we live in. It makes up our rules of how we and others should act and our values and morals to behave in the world. For most of the people, the world view is a vague set of rules that we have unconsciously adopted from the society. Generally our family, religious groups and society seldom allow us for making creating our own. Through our intellect, we can create aspects of our world view. In short the World View is a filter through which we make judgments of others and ourselves.
of the land was one of the many reasons that led to the New Zealand
Aotearoa is the home to Te reo Maori where is should be promoted and encouraged. In fact, Te Whāriki and New Zealand Early Childhood curriculum acknowledge Te reo Maori by encouraging the teachers to promote and implement it in early childhood settings allowing all children the opportunity to understand and develop an understanding of Maori heritages; Te reo, and partnership to Te Tiriti of Waitangi(Ministry of Education [M...
The Treaty of Waitangi is a very important document to New Zealand. It is an agreement that was drawn up by representatives of the British Crown and Maori Hapu and Iwi. It was first signed at the Bay of Islands on February 6th, 1840. There has been a lot of debate over the years about the translation of words between the English and Te Reo Maori versions of the text and the differences in the word meaning over the who languages. In this assignment I am going to cover the rights and responsibilities that the treaty contains and an explanation of the differences in wordings and I am also going to contextualise my understanding of the differences of wording against the Maori Worldview and the Declaration of Independence.