Rangatiratanga

Abstract

This thesis is about rangatiratanga. The approach to this topic was one which stood on the belief that rangatiratanga should not be entirely dependent on economic means or Pakeha controlled institutions. It is my contention that Maori people should look to our tribal systems of the past which were reciprocal, obligation, kinship-based systems, for our understanding of rangatiratanga today. This means: 1) Learning from the Maori political system of the past which was based on iwi, hapu and whanau; 2) operating from this basis with important modifications which take into account the present context in which Maori people live and work; 3) decolonising ourselves through understanding what colonisation meant for iwi, hapu and whanau and what it means for Maori women and children today. Rangatiratanga was practiced within the whanau as well as the hapu and iwi and it involved a system of reciprocity. Whanau, hapu, and iwi operated an economy in which wealth and land rights belonged to the group and each person was obligated to fulfil certain expectations to be accorded those rights. Whanau and land could not be portioned out and possessed, as people were connected to each other through kinship just as they were connected to the land through their whakapapa. This is particularly important in terms of the place of women whose mana descends from Papa-Tu-a-Nuku and whose position as life-givers meant that they were viewed as powerful and crucial to the welfare of the whanau, hapu, and iwi. Rangatiratanga depends on an education which encourages the utilisation of a Maori philosophy of rangatiratanga. Our current educational context, which reproduces inequalities discourages the establishment of the necessary epistemological base which would give rise to a rangatiratanga philosophy. Such a philosophy would be built on the strength of whanau, hapu and iwi as the source of knowledge, identity and support. It would maintain links between people and, most importantly, it would respect group and individual mana. The knowledge which we create as a result would be respected, including knowledge of our language and whakapapa as well as the definitions we make of ourselves in the search for truth. I also contend that there is no reason why we cannot work out, from our age old rangatiratanga philosophies: 1. New patterns of interaction between Maori men and women; 2. new political decision-making processes; 3. new forms of economic management; 4. new ways of educating which operate according to the three recommendations above. It is possible to conduct our lives in a way that upholds rangatira principles and it is essential that we begin to do that within our own whanau. Rangatiratanga is both a process we must now engage in as well as a goal to be achieved. Rangatiratanga will have been achieved when we have the power to define for ourselves who we are, where we wish to and how we will get there.