The negation of powerlessness: Maori feminism, a perspective [Paper delivered on 10 August 1993 in the Auckland University Winter Lecture Series.]
1994; Springer International Publishing; Volume: 20; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0311-4198
Autores Tópico(s)New Zealand Economic and Social Studies
ResumoThe Negation of Powerlessness: Maori Feminism, a PerspectiveThere is a void in our conceptual topography as Maori Women. The void has been created by the internalisation of powerlessness as a consequence of emergent power cliques which are a reflection of dominant power relations. In the clamour to fill the void of Mana Whenua, the quintessence of the Maori psyche -- Mana Wairua maintains barely, by virtue of Mana Wahine.He tau pai te tauHe tau orate tauHe tau ngehe te tauHe tau mote wahineRapua he purapura e ora ai te iwi.The year is goodA year of well being A year of peaceA year for womenWe must seek that which will be of greatest benefit for people.Ko tenei whakatauki, no Tawhiao mo tana Tuawahine -- anei nga kupu, anei te timatanga o taku korero.This whakatauki was quoted by Tawhiao in remembrance of the deeds of one of his Tuawahine who had ordered the slaying and skinning of her pet dogs so that the tribe could be fed and kept warm. It was a chivalrous act of a woman who sacrificed her treasures for the greater good. It was an act deserving of honour from no less than a King.The background to preparing this paper has been nearly twenty years of involvement in political activism and Maori development. This paper is part of an ongoing effort to find some explanation for how and why we are responding to what is happening to us as a people. Further it looks at our own context and how we as indigenous people have been forced outward to bond with other indigenous peoples against the closing ranks of the power culture within. The paper analyses events and actions in women's political leadership, Maori economic development and broadcasting. It challenges the gatekeepers of Maori thinking within and outside of Maori society.As a consequence of the debasement of our own culture there has been an erosion of our power and status as a people and as women. A void has been created and a new set of power relations has emerged. The new power relations are dominated by cliques which accommodate to political pragmatism and are largely a revision of Maori ideologies.In this paper I want to look at the linkages between Mana Wahine, Mana Whenua and Mana Wairua.Mana WhenuaIn a submission to the Waitangi Tribunal during the Muriwhenua Claim in 1987 Dame Mira Szaszy provided a thesis on the interrelatedness of women and land.(1) In it she analysed linguistically and literally the reproductive process and its parallels in Maori social groupings and organisation.The reproductive process itself is the means of whakapapa and the foundation of Maori existence and endurance, hence the linkage between individuals -- he tangata, whanau -- the family or extended family and the birthing process, hapu -- the sub-tribe and a state of pregnancy and iwi -- the tribe and one's bones.The critical link between women and tribal sustainability is self-evident and epitomised in the famous whakatauki Wahine, He Whenua -- E Ora ai te Iwi meaning By Women and Land, People are sustained. However, one should not draw the conclusion that it is from the relationship between women and land alone that women derive their mana or status in Maori society. If Mana Whenua is taken as a metaphoric and generic reference to resources, Maori women have inherent fights and status and, as such, an established basis from which to claim benefit.In our early mythology the deeds of the Goddesses Mahuika, Muriranga-whenua, Hine Nui-Te-Po and Hine Ahu-One provide a blueprint for the feminine dimension of the divine. Hine Ahu-One in particular, the first being created was not only human and divine but also a woman. In waka descent stories, the deeds of Nga Tuawahine such as Kahutianui were recognised by virtue of their chiefly status. In her case the continuance of her chiefly line was further recognised by the naming of Ngati Kahu after her.Mana Whenua is therefore the means by which political and inherited rights are underscored through legal recognition and economic development. …
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