View source for Social:Māori identity

{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2019}}
'''Māori identity''' is the objective or subjective state of [[Social:Identity (social science)|perceiving oneself]] as a Māori person and as relating to being Māori (Māoriness). The most commonly cited central pillar of Māori identity is [[Social:Whakapapa|whakapapa]] (genealogy),<ref>{{cite book|title=Women's Studies Journal |edition=Volumes 20–21|date=2009|publisher=[[Organization:University of Michigan Press|University of Michigan Press]]|quote=Knowledge of one's whakapapa and ancestral links is at the root of Maori identity and heritage}}</ref> which in its most literal sense requires blood-ancestry to Māori people.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Joanna Kidman|title=Engaging with Maori communities: an exploration of some tensions in the mediation of social sciences research|date=2007|publisher=[[Organization:University of Michigan Press|University of Michigan Press]]|isbn=978-0958261067|quote=However, whakapapa is the basis for Maori identity, and whakapapa in its strictest genealogical sense, requires a blood-link to a Maori ancestor.}}</ref>

==Overview==
Witi Ihimaera, the first published Maori novelist, has described its connection as follows: "For many Maori, the key to their cultural or ethnic identity as Maori lies in whakapapa, that mystical element that forever links Maori, through their tipuna, to this land".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Witi Ihimaera|title=Growing up Maori|date=1998|publisher=Tandem Press|isbn=978-1877178160}}</ref> Alternatively, Peeni Henare has criticised blood quantum factors in relation to Māori identity, suggesting it is an attack on the identity of urban Māori and non-Māori-speakers.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/05/15/585542/room-for-kumara-and-potato-at-table-of-identity# |title=Room for kumara and potato at table of identity |author=Rawiri Taonui|date=15 May 2019|work=Newsroom}}</ref>

Colloquially, Taha Māori (the Māori perspective) is used closely in association with the identity of Māori people.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/4263106-135/hospital-weekly-waiata-like-having-our |title=Hospital weekly waiata 'like having our own marae' |author=Maika Akroyd |date=12 September 2019|work=Gisborne Herald}}</ref> Māori identity can be defined independently of [[Religion:Religious identity|religious identity]]; Māori are a diverse group in terms of religious affiliations, including Māori Christians and Māori Muslims, as well as followers of the traditional Māori belief system. In [[Religion:Māori mythology|Māori mythology]], the indigenous faith carried largely unchanged to Aotearoa from the tropical Eastern Polynesian homeland [[Unsolved:Hawaiki|Hawaiki Nui]]. Tangihanga (mourning ceremonies) or native funeral rituals,<ref>{{cite book|editor1=Jocelyn Linnekin|editor2=Lin Poyer|author=Karen P. Sinclair|title=Cultural Identity and Ethnicity in the Pacific|date=1990|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0824812089|page=219|quote=In contemporary New Zealand, Maori funeral rituals, known as ''tangihanga'' 'mourning ceremonies', have become an important constituent of Maori identity.}}</ref> as well as tangata whenua (people of the land) are both strongly linked with the concept of Māori identity.<ref>{{cite book|editor1=Andrew Dawson|editor2=Jenny Hockey|editor3=Allison James|title=After Writing Culture: Epistemology and Praxis in Contemporary Anthropology|date=1997|publisher=[[Company:Routledge|Routledge]]|isbn=978-0415150064|page=[https://archive.org/details/afterwritingcult0000unse/page/211 211]|quote=Self-identification with the land is crucial to Maori identity - tangata whenua means 'people of the land' - but the state intervened early in indigenous land rights.|url=https://archive.org/details/afterwritingcult0000unse/page/211}}</ref>

Local government in the Auckland Region actively promotes its growth, stating that "Using Māori names for roads, buildings and other public places is an opportunity to publicly demonstrate Māori identity".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/articles/news/2019/08/new-maori-and-indian-street-names-in-puketapapa/ |title=New Māori and Indian street names in Puketāpapa |quote=Using Māori names for roads, buildings and other public places is an opportunity to publicly demonstrate Māori identity. This is encouraged in the Auckland Plan too as Māori identity is Auckland’s point of difference in the world.|date=7 August 2019|publisher=Auckland Council}}</ref> Auckland Council have also stated that both kaumātua and kuia (male and female tribal elders) are crucial to the "matauranga and tikanga that underpins Māori identity".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/articles/news/2019/06/marae-projects-get-funding-boost/ |title=Marae projects get funding boost |date=24 June 2019|publisher=Auckland Council}}</ref>

==Categories==
Māori identity can be described as consisting of interconnected parts, some or all of which may constitute an individual's self-identification:

#Māori peoplehood,<ref>{{cite book|title=Waikato Law Review|date=1993|publisher=[[Organization:University of Waikato|University of Waikato]]|edition=Volume 1|page=62|quote=The assertion of Maori peoplehood through their Treaty-guaranteed kaitiakitanga (guardianship) of the land and other treasures, as Maori understand and value these, is thus the key discourse in the construction of Maori identity}}</ref>  a Polynesian indigenous ethnic identity, identified most readily via whakapapa
#Māori religion, the observance or recognition of the Māori belief system
#Māori  culture, celebration of Māoritanga and traditions

==Academic research==
Academic research examining Māori cultural and racial identity has been conducted since the 1990s.<ref>{{cite book|editor1=James H. Liu|editor2=Tim McCreanor|editor3=Tracey McIntosh|editor4=Teresia Teaiwa|author=Belinda Borrell|title=New Zealand Identities: Departures and Destinations|date=2006|publisher=Victoria University Press|isbn=978-0864735171|quote=Establishing a 'secure' Maori identity based solely on particular criteria of Maori culture (i.e., te reo Maori, tikanga, knowledge of marae and whakapapa) continues to be problematic for some Maori ... Although there is a growing body of research that looks at conventional markers of Maori identity (Broughton, 1993; Fitzgeraldn et al, 1997; Shepheard, 2002; Stevenson, 2004)}}</ref> The 1994 study by Mason Durie (''Te Hoe Nuku Roa Framework: A Maori Identity Measure''), [[Organization:Massey University|Massey University]]'s 2004 study of ''Maori cultural identity'', and 2010's Multi-dimensional model of Maori identity and cultural engagement by Chris Sibley and Carla Houkamau have explored the concept in various ways.<ref>{{cite book|author1=John Nauright|author2=Tony Collins|title=The Rugby World in the Professional Era|date=2017|publisher=[[Company:Routledge|Routledge]]|isbn=978-1138665446|quote=Parameters of Maori cultural identity, adapted from the Te Hoe Nuku Roa project (Durie et al., 1995; Stevenson, 2004) and markers of Maori identity developed and tested more recently by Houkamau and Sibley (2010).}}</ref> 2015's ''Perspectives towards Māori identity by Māori heritage language learners'', conducted at [[Organization:Victoria University of Wellington|Victoria University of Wellington]], acknowledges that "Māori  identities  continue  to  evolve  and  adapt  as  a  result  of  social  and environmental  changes  Māori  experience".<ref>{{citation|author=Awanui Te Huia|title=Perspectives towards Māori identity by Māori heritage language learners|date=2015|publisher=[[Organization:Victoria University of Wellington|Victoria University of Wellington]]|location=|isbn=|page=|quote=Māori identity has been studied in detail. McIntosh explains that Māori choose to identify as Māori, the individual is engaging in the act of “claims making” (2005).}}</ref> In 2019, the [[Organization:University of Auckland|University of Auckland]] conducted the ''Māori Identity and Financial Attitudes Study2''.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://business.scoop.co.nz/2019/09/04/whats-maori-for-growth-fund-a-te-reo-kiwisaver-guide/ |title=What's Māori for Growth Fund? A Te Reo Kiwisaver guide |date=4 September 2019|work=Scoop}}</ref>

==Community work and investment==
Community work in New Zealand has identified males struggling with their Māori identity, often also living by Māori lunar calendar, as a significant suicide risk.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/4152346-135/rangatahi-tackle-some-tough-subjects-in |title=Rangatahi tackle some tough subjects in Nga Manu Korero|date=20 June 2019|work=Gisborne Herald}}</ref> In 2015, ''The Guardian'' covered a crisis of Māori incarceration and identity in relation to the New Zealand prison system. Toby Manhire reported:
<blockquote>While those who identify as Māori make up about 15% of the New Zealand population, the corresponding figure behind bars is more than 50%. Among women, for whom there is no Te Tirohanga option, it is higher still, at 60%.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/15/regaining-maori-identity-and-keeping-them-out-of-new-zealands-jails |title=Unlocking Maori identity: keeping New Zealand's indigenous people out of jail  |author=Toby Manhire |date=August 15, 2015|work={{wipe|The Guardian}}}}</ref></blockquote>

In 2019, ''The Northland Age'' reported on the merits of a noho-marae style of counselling to incarcerated Māori, utilising tikanga (traditional rules for conducting life) in a "course that uses Māori philosophy, values, knowledge and practices to foster the regeneration of Māori identity".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northland-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503402&objectid=12268258 |title=Award for Ngawha prison programme leader |author=Peter Jackson |date=20 June 2019|work=The Northland Age}}</ref> In 2019, in a Radio New Zealand budget summary, the announcement of an NZ$80 million investment in Whānau Ora, including a Māori suicide prevention initiative, "as well as eight programmes to strengthen Māori identity".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/390898/budget-2019-for-maori-whanau-ora-to-receive-80m-over-four-years |title=Budget 2019 for Māori: Whānau Ora to receive $80m over four years |author=Leigh-Marama McLachlan |date=15 August 2015|publisher=Radio New Zealand}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=18em|
*[[Social:Cultural identity|Cultural identity]]
*[[Social:Ethnic identity development|Ethnic identity development]]
*[[Social:Ethnogenesis|Ethnogenesis]]
*Group identity
*[[Social:Identity (social science)|Identity (social science)]]
*[[Philosophy:Identity formation|Identity formation]]
*[[Philosophy:Identity politics|Identity politics]]
*Māori electorates
*Māori nationalism
*Māori renaissance
*[[Social:National identity|National identity]]
*[[Philosophy:Self-concept|Self-concept]]
*Social identity
}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Maori}}
[[Category:Identity politics]]

{{Sourceattribution|Māori identity}}