Ātea editor Leonie Hayden and Newsroom’s Emma Espiner sat down to talk race-baiting in mainstream media and why they’re not doing the heavy lifting anymore. If there’s a scenario I’m familiar with, it’s being asked to be the voice of te ao Māori/rangatahi Māori/Māori media on panels for mainstream radio, TV and live events. It’s … Read more
Nichole Brown shares her love of te reo Māori and her hope that together, we can turn Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori into a lifelong celebration for our tamariki. This week marks another Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori – Māori Language Week – and as much as we would love a nation united in … Read more
If Don Brash can be invited onto national television to speak about Māori language week, then I can speak about almost anything, argues Madeleine Chapman. First published in September 2018. There are plenty of uninformed takes to be heard on the radio. People call into talkback and air an opinion that isn’t shared by a … Read more
What if there was a way you could show your willingness to kōrero Māori with others in public? Leonie Hayden talks to the brains behind a range of t-shirts, jumpers and badges letting people know the wearer can, or wants to, speak to others in te reo Māori. For Paul Andersen (Ngāti Raukawa) the challenge presented … Read more
After Europeans arrived, moa were used a metaphor for the feared extinction of Māori themselves, write the authors of a new study. Tracing extinctions that happened centuries ago is difficult, but our collaborative analysis of ancestral sayings, or whakataukī, found that early Māori paid attention to their local fauna and environment and recognised the extinction … Read more
Pipi beds die and algae blooms, but iwi are repeatedly told ‘there’s nothing to see here’, writes Graham Cameron. When the Tainui canoe entered Tauranga harbour a millennium ago, it had the misfortune to run aground on a then prominent sandbar called Ruahine that sat below the waterline between Matakana Island and Mauao. The Tainui … Read more
Lifestyle blogger Hana Tapiata uses matauranga Māori to help decode some of modern life’s curliest questions. This week – recognising the need to change and grow. “We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.” – Sheryl Sandberg I don’t know about you but I … Read more
From an erratic flailing of limbs to the psychological powerhouse we know today, little is known about how haka developed into a steadfast tradition in New Zealand sport. Leonie Hayden talks to post-grad student Nikki Timu about how it all started and how Māori can shape its future. Kapa haka has always been important to Nikki … Read more
The second instalment of our regular maramataka column focuses on Mahuru (September). Ayla Hoeta shares insights into the tohu of the whenua, rangi and moana, as well as key dates to add into your calendar for this month. To recap, last month we introduced a maramataka dial which can be aligned to the moon phases to help … Read more
Māori and Pasifika are disproportionately represented in problem gambling figures and it’s time targeted efforts were made to reduce harm. Indira Stewart reports for RNZ. “I can’t stop it myself or control myself. Everytime I go sit there, have a smoke and look at the Sky City – I see the light go ‘bling bling!’,” … Read more
Our landfills are approaching capacity and our country is lacking the necessary infrastructure to support reuse, recycle and composting programmes. Two Māori businesses are helping create waste solutions by championing product stewardship. Whether you are reading this from your computer at your desk, or your phone on-the-go, stop and look around your immediate space. What … Read more
Māori students studying medicine at the University of Otago say they’re fed up with the ignorance they face over the way they’re selected into their second year of study, writes Te Aniwa Hurihanganui for RNZ. There are limited spaces in the second-year program and everyone in their first year has to reach a grade threshold. … Read more
Journalist Aaron Smale went along to the Criminal Justice Summit hosted in Porirua last week, and discovered one crucial missing voice. “All those people are looking at me like I shouldn’t be here.” It was a comment made in a whisper but it spoke volumes. Sam* did stand out in this particular crowd. With full … Read more
US prisoners went on strike last week to protest the exploitation of their labour. And the conditions they’re protesting aren’t that different to those in New Zealand. Starting on August 21st, hundreds of prisoners in dozens of American prisons declared they were going on nationwide strike. Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, an organisation of prisoners’ rights advocates … Read more
With a career that has taken her from Whakatāne to Otago, to the hallowed halls of Harvard, to the front line of Standing Rock, lawyer Natalie Coates has fought for Māori and indigenous rights wherever she’s been needed. She has appeared in the Supreme Court for the Urewera ‘anti-terror’ raids case, and volunteered in ‘war-like’ … Read more
The five finalists of APRA’s Maioha Award for contemporary Māori songwriting were announced today. Miriama Aoake looks at the final five and their place in the future of te reo Māori. This August has been a particularly busy month for Māori music; a celebration of the capabilities and dexterity of a thriving community. Alien Weaponry, a teenage thrash … Read more
Shane Te Pou looks at the Ministry of Education’s plans to close down the current charter school model, and what it means for Māori education. Unleashing the Rogernomics revolution on New Zealand without warning and without care for the short-term consequences was Labour’s greatest shame of the 20th century. More recently Labour shamed itself with the … Read more
Are our plants blooming early, or are we using a redundant system to coordinate our lives? If you look outside right now – go on – what do you see? Depending on where you’re reading this, that answer varies. Obviously. But if you happen to look up from your device anytime soon and appreciate the … Read more
Social enterprise is a global phenomenon but, write Steven Moe and Wayne Tukiri (Tainui, Ngāti Whaawhaakia), New Zealand should be using Māori cultural practices to better understand what social enterprise is – and what it could be. Until recently, not many people knew what a social enterprise even was. But in the last few years there’s … Read more
A new book looking at native plants of the South Island discusses their traditional Māori uses. The stories describe how Māori and Europeans grew and processed the plants, and uncovers some surprising uses. According to Rob Tipa, author of Treasures of Tāne: Plants of Ngāi Tahu, scientists are in many cases just now discovering the … Read more
DiscoveryCamp is inspiring young Māori and Pasifika students to persist with science. Simon Day talks to three graduates about the opportunities the programme has provided. From studying chemistry in the classroom, suddenly Cha’nel Kaa-Luke (Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Porou) was in a real lab, learning about quantum computing, the science of social media, and how to … Read more
Skeletons in the Cupboard, a documentary that includes the claim seven foot tall, red-headed Celts built complex astrological stone monuments before Māori arrived in Aotearoa, has been removed from TVNZ OnDemand, but not before it received thousands of views. Jeremy Rose from RNZ’s Mediawatch reports TVNZ has removed a documentary that claims Celts settled New Zealand thousands … Read more
Curator matauranga Māori at Te Papa, Matariki Williams, introduces the woman that watches over the Ngā Tai Whakarongorua exhibition at Te Papa, known only as Maori girl. Tēnei wahine. When I first met her, she stopped me in my tracks. I was back of house at Te Papa, in the art store room and my colleague, Rebecca … Read more
The Māori electoral option results are in, but for now we have more questions than answers. The results from the latest Māori electoral option process tell us something about how Māoridom views the Māori seats. Unfortunately, they don’t tell us enough about what we really need to know. And given the ongoing political debate around the … Read more
Al Nisbet’s loudest detractor bids farewell to the controversial cartoon slinger. Today dawned like any other. My cat jumped on the bed and started coughing up a hairball. I forgot to get a new towel before jumping in the shower and had to do the hallway streak of shame. I wore odd socks for the … Read more
Māui Street editor Morgan Godfery with an exclusive look at the internal rift threatening the Māori Women’s Welfare League. A remit to expel controversial Māori Women’s Welfare League members will go the League’s AGM this year, National President Prue Kapua confirmed in a statement to Māui Street. The remit is aimed at expelling Pauline Rewiti, a South … Read more
This Sunday, five wāhine Māori are telling stories at Te Papa museum about the women who have inspired and shaped them. Author and researcher Helen Brown (Ngāi Tahu) remembers Mere Harper (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Huirapa) – midwife, porter, wahine toa. Mere Harper was part of the mixed-descent community that burgeoned around the shore- whaling station established … Read more
Introducing our new maramataka column, focusing on the cycles of the Māori lunar calendar. Each month Ayla Hoeta will share insights into the tohu of the whenua, rangi and moana, as well as key dates to add into your calendar. The maramataka is the Māori lunar calendar. These calendars were used by our Māori and … Read more
A celebration of the resurgence of the maramataka. Many indigenous cultures around the world have their own version of the maramataka which aligns with the phases of the moon, rather than the common Gregorian calendar. Māori and our Pasifika cousins are reviving and reconnecting with the maramataka to restore systems and knowledge of agricultural productivity, … Read more