Nepe, Tapunga Jeremiah2023-12-042023-12-042023https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/69252Kaitiekitanga and taonga Māori held in museums are often decontextualised from source communities, and colonised alongside related concepts such as manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and rangatiratanga, which have become bicultural hegemonic tick-the-box slogans. The holistic nature of kaitiekitanga and all its encompassing significance concerning taonga Māori is inextricably linked to tūrangawaewae. In the context of museums, it requires a form of reconciliation for it to be a living practice. This dissertation argues that ‘mana taonga’ represents a kin-based kaitiekitanga obligation and serves as a manifestation and affirmation of mauri whenua, mauri tangata, and mauri kōrero—reconnecting taonga with place, people, and knowledge. This all-encompassing approach preserves cultural identity and mātauranga Māori, empowering whānau, hapū, and iwi self-realisation and asserting self-determination. There is a growing body of pertinent literature addressing kaitiekitanga within the museum context. What remains silent is a Rongowhakaata iwi-centric focused study. At the heart of this qualitative research is an examination of kaitiekitanga with respect to taonga through the concept of mauri as a fundamental means of sustaining cultural identity from a Rongowhakaata perspective. This perspective is explored through three key case studies - Te Hau ki Tūranga; the Rongowhakaata iwi exhibition series (2016-2022), and Rongowhakaata taonga held abroad in UK museum collections. With a Kaupapa Māori methodology at the forefront, this research also includes documentary research, semi structured in-depth interviews, fieldwork, auto-ethnography, and participant observation methods. This research asserts the importance of intergenerational, kin-based kaitiekitanga, expressed through the holistic takapau, inextricably linked to tūrangawaewae, interweaving taonga with place, people, and knowledge. Thus, kaitiekitanga is manifested through the involvement of source communities, where the authority, management, and control of taonga rest with whānau, hapū, and iwi. The research reveals that reconnecting taonga in this way also means restoring kaitiekitanga. Thus, the role of museums should not be a means to an end but rather a conduit for whānau, hapū, and iwi, empowering them as active agents and shapers of their own destiny. Kaitiekitanga remains relevant today as a pā tūwatawata of identity, clearing a pathway forward through enculturation, adaptation, and innovation: a seed for regenerative transformation, an eternal thread of rangatiratanga.enThe AuthorMāori Masters ThesisThesis450708 Ngā mātai kaitiaki, pūranga me ngā whare tongarewa o te Māori (Māori curatorial, archives and museum studies)