Ināianei, i Mua, ā Muri Ake – Now, then, next: A whakapapa analysis of engagement approaches to tangata, whenua and wai: A community case study in Te Tai Tokerau (Northland)

Abstract

Through case study research located in Tautoro, Northland, Aotearoa New Zealand, this thesis investigates the challenges hapū (kin-community groups) and their marae (ancestral centers of tribal identity, meeting houses) face in their traditional role as kaitiaki (guardians) of land and water.

Harnessing connection and whakapapa (genealogy) to gather ancestral narratives while living and working within the community at the center of the case study, coupled with examinations of legal documents, historical land transfers and western scientific studies, the past and present relationship between hapū, Pākehā (New Zealand Europeans) and the local environment is explored.

Ināianei, i Mua, ā Muri Ake – Now, Then, Next: A Whakapapa Analysis of Engagement Approaches to Tangata, Whenua and Wai: A Case Study in Te Tai Tokerau (Northland) finds that for the hapū of Tautoro, water and land are viewed in a contrasting way to Eurocentric capitalist models. It establishes clearly that ancestral rights exist, and that consultation with hapū over proposed sale and development of land and related water take has historically been performed poorly, resulting in harm to local environments and thus harm to the people of the land.

We see through the case study how a kanohi-ki-te-kanohi (face-to-face), marae-based negotiation with hapū, acknowledging water as a taonga (treasure) with its own inherent mauri (life force) and the kaitiaki role of local hapū, can result in improved outcomes for all parties, and for the local environment.

The purpose of this thesis is to gather narratives for future descendants of the hapū of Tautoro, inform policy at local and central government level in relation to collaboration with hapū, and provide a template for capitalist enterprises whose activities on the land threaten the kaitiakitanga (guardianship) of local hapū. In a climate-change environment, this is important not only to Aotearoa New Zealand’s hapū groups, but also to indigenous communities elsewhere in the world facing similar crises.