Abstract
Whakapapa, an indigenous form of genealogy of the Maori people of Aotearoa New
Zealand, is a powerful tool for understanding social phenomena. In this paper, the environmental
histories of Aotearoa New Zealand are converted to whakapapa/genealogical sequences and korero
tuku iho/narratives derived from whakapapa, to demonstrate this explanatory power. It is argued
that whakapapa is much more than a method for mapping kinship relationships. Whakapapa
enables vast amounts of information to be collated and analysed, to reveal a multitude of narratives.
It also facilitates a critique of indigenous rights issues, revealing Maori agendas for environmental
management. Therefore, the whakapapa sequences and narratives created as part of this paper
provide an understanding that is not restricted to the grand narrative or the past as whakapapa is
never-ending, dynamic, fluid and future-focused.
Citation
Genealogy, 2019, 42, 3 (3), pp. 1 - 14
Date
2019-07-19
Rights
The Author(s) CC BY 4.0
Published source must be acknowledged