Abstract
This hybrid publications-based thesis explores the concept of rakimārie as a way to sustain and maintain relationships with Papatūānuku and some Indigenous tribes of Aotearoa New Zealand. This thesis focusses on the First Nations People of Waitaha ki Te Waipounamu and my tipuna, Te Maihāroa, a Waitaha prophet. It is motivated by the call to provide Indigenous histories as a counter narrative to the colonial myths that have masked a peaceful history to fit within dominant discourses such as the Māori warrior image.
The thesis comprises three interconnected components presented within three Kete baskets: Kete Tuatahi first is concerned with the thesis introduction, Kete Tuarua second consists of four tuhika pieces of writing, and Kete Tuatoru third connects the thesis together through the discussion and conclusion chapters. The four tuhika introduced in Kete Tuarua consists of three publications and one manuscript: Tuhika I: Kaore Whakaheke Toto, Do Not Shed Blood; Tuhika II: Te Ara ō Rakimārie, The Pathway of Peaceful Living; and Tuhika III: Retracing Ancestral Footsteps. Tuhika IV: Exploring Indigenous Peace Traditions Collaboratively is a manuscript collaboratively written by Te Maihāroa, Devere, Solomon, and Wharehoka. The research uses a theoretical lens of Indigenous epistemology and kaupapa Māori methods, derived from, and grounded within the whenua of Aotearoa. The qualitative research data is based on two kaupapa Māori methods of whakawhanaukataka building relationships and pūrākau. Whakawhanaukataka is both the relational recruitment method of drawing whānau together and also the kinship glue that binds people together throughout the research process (Rewi, 2014). Pūrākau are traditional Māori narratives, incorporated in this thesis three ways: a) as whānau kōrero talk through “oral interviews as chats” (Bishop, 1996), b) whānau journals and c) collective Iwi histories. The author’s position as an emergent Indigenous researcher is traversed within the locale of ‘emic’ insider location, and an ‘etmic’ (insider / outsider) position is adopted for the collaborative manuscript. This study aims to share the Indigenous peace traditions from the people that have been kaitiaki of their tribal peace traditions. It examines these histories through an historical and contemporary lens on the Waitaha people and the regeneration of peacemakers and keepers within the Moriori, Waitaha and Parihaka pā people. This thesis privileges each history as told by a māngai mouth piece of the tribal knowledge keepers, and provides a theme-based analysis of the synergies and discrepancies between the difference struggles and experiences. It discusses the peace legacy that has been forged by these ancestral prophets and how their spirit remains to shine through their descendants, as lights on the pathway of rakimārie, a peaceful way of living.