Nā te kōti i tatari: The inconsistent treatment of tikanga taurima (whāngai) in Ngāti Mutunga (1820 – 2019)

Abstract

This thesis argues that taurima (customary kin adoptive relationships) have been inconsistently treated in Ngāti Mutunga iwi (tribe) since 1820, and disproportionately so since the advent of the Native Land Court in 1862. These inconsistencies include customary observances by Ngāti Mutunga, external legislative influences, public resourcing, and social impacts that affect adults and children involved in taurima relationships.

Previously uncollated case studies of Ngāti Mutunga rangatira who died between 1885 and 1901 (Naera Pōmare, Apitia Punga and Hāmuera Koteriki), demonstrate how for Ngāti Mutunga legislation and public agency impacted their own personal taurima relationships (as taurima children themselves and also as fathers of taurima children) in the nineteenth century.

Subsequently, internalised effects on Ngāti Mutunga taurima relationships have been perpetuated into contemporary Ngāti Mutunga thinking evidenced by lived experiences of Ngāti Mutunga people interviewed for this study.

The research concludes that enduring social impacts exist for taurima children in the twenty first century endorsing an inequitable experience for the children, and families who engage the taurima custom. These inconsistencies also serve to distance the tikanga (custom) from its Polynesian roots as a socially enhancing custom.

Taurima is the dialectal preference for the whāngai custom amongst Ngāti Mutunga.