The Problem with the Term Tangata Tiriti<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The phrase Tangata Tiriti \u2014 often translated as \u201cpeople of the Treaty\u201d \u2014 is a term for non-M\u0101ori in New Zealand. It\u2019s been attributed to Sir Eddie Durie and has grown in popularity over recent decades. While I understand its intention, I use the term P\u0101keh\u0101 for myself, and I thought I would give an explanation.
I was raised within M\u0101ori education and embraced by my M\u0101ori community from a young age. That was a privilege \u2014 one my twin (we both grew up this way) and I will always value., I remember the self-loathing inside of me in my younger years at the mere label \u201cP\u0101keh\u0101\u201d, and our common term for racist or offensive P\u0101keh\u0101 \u201cballheads\u201d. I felt so embarrassed since my only parent was an activist and, in my view, didn\u2019t love his P\u0101keh\u0101 culture like he could have. I was known as H\u0113mi mostly at school, which is a translation of James. I reached a point in my life where I wanted a M\u0101ori name, but I have always thought it cringeworthy for P\u0101keh\u0101 to take M\u0101ori names, considering colonization and the fact that many M\u0101ori were not given M\u0101ori names. I made up a joke name with my teacher after beginning to go bald. I took the joke name P\u0101kira, which means bald head but I told my teacher it was a joke for \u201cballhead\u201d and we laughed. This was a sign, perhaps that I was over feeling shame inside for who I was (not that I have ever fully embraced what a \u201cballhead\u201d means, but for being P\u0101keh\u0101 and being able to joke about it).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oftentimes, when I tell people how we grew up, they are filled with positivity and say I was so lucky. We were lucky to grow up in our community. Still, our family circumstances and really the personal isolation I experienced, I would advise something different from our particular circumstances for other P\u0101keh\u0101 families thinking of placing their child in a Kaupapa M\u0101ori setting.
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When I was about eighteen, I began what I now think of as my personal \u201chelp me understand myself\u201d tour \u2014 interviewing older relatives about our family history and visiting M\u0101ori kaum\u0101tua for tea and conversation. These experiences deepened both my understanding of M\u0101ori culture and my appreciation for my P\u0101keh\u0101 culture
Over the years, I\u2019ve suggested to managers working in M\u0101ori education that one powerful way to teach M\u0101ori culture and raise people’s analysis of it, would be to use P\u0101keh\u0101 culture as a comparison. Therefore, when exploring, say a M\u0101ori tikanga or ethic, ask what compares or differs here in the P\u0101keh\u0101 world? And do so in an honest and affirming way that may lead to a more refined understanding of what M\u0101ori tikanga is.
One issue I see in some corners of M\u0101ori activism is the tendency to idealise pre-European M\u0101ori life as if it were solely about \u201cRangatira\u201d (nobility) and ora (wellbeing), while we still have so much to learn from M\u0101ori culture, like any society, traditional M\u0101ori culture was not perfect. Colonisation has undeniably caused deep loss, and for many people, an idealising of M\u0101ori culture can serve as like a self-help group that I find sometimes isn\u2019t based in reality.
Colonisation, in my view, dispossesses everyone in different ways. Many non-M\u0101ori in New Zealand grow up with little knowledge of their own history and culture. For some, the first real encounter with New Zealand\u2019s history comes through M\u0101ori perspectives on colonisation and capitalism. This may lead them to adopt the \u201cTangata Tiriti\u201d label as a way of affirming the Treaty\u2019s importance \u2014 which is understandable, as Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a foundational document that has never been fully honoured.
But for me, my sense of identity includes but reaches beyond Te Tiriti. It includes the stories, values, and ethics of my own family. That\u2019s why I continue to call myself P\u0101keh\u0101. I sometimes see liberal P\u0101keh\u0101 groups struggle with identity \u2014 borrowing from M\u0101ori culture, such as praying in English while invoking Ranginui and Papat\u016b\u0101nuku for example. I find it cringe, but others don\u2019t, and as long as no one is getting hurt or offended, kia kaha to them. I guess my point is, who cares how anyone prays? Each to their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can\u2019t help but wonder if those doing the hybrid of pakeha and M\u0101ori prayers have fully explored their own cultural inheritance before mixing M\u0101ori traditions. It’s something I believe iwould be helpful for our country to do: raise awareness of P\u0101keh\u0101 culture. So many people I work with often have no awareness of what\u2019s right in front of all of us, For its music family history, community, terrible things, local and national stories, values, love, principles and so on. Then we can choose more consciously which of these to maintain, strengthen, or discard. if we P\u0101keh\u0101 saw how everywhere our culture is, then hopefully we can be more humble and careful with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I just speak of this as a nerdy P\u0101keh\u0101 i think its way down the list of important things for our country , like adressing material poverty and rebuilding M\u0101oritanga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Before concluding this blog, which is admittedly limited to my identity as P\u0101keh\u0101 and the term Tangata Tiriti, I want to acknowledge that all ethnicities other than M\u0101ori can fit under this term, and no doubt many would embrace it, Which is awesome. Here is a short k\u014drero on how I think about how P\u0101keh\u0101 fit into the M\u0101ori world in Te Reo M\u0101ori, with a translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ki te marena te P\u0101keh\u0101 ki te iwi M\u0101ori, ka noho hungarei, ki te kore karekau ana ki taku whakaaro \u014dna t\u016branga ki Te Ao M\u0101ori. N\u014dku ka ako ki te t\u016b I te marae ki te mihi k\u014drero, I k\u012ba au me M\u0101ori taku mahi, n\u014d reira ko taku whakaaro me waiho iti I te P\u0101keh\u0101 \u0101na tikanga, t\u014dna reo me ana hanga I te ao M\u0101ori, I k\u012bngia me whakaiti, me manawanui, me tupato . He k\u014drero an\u014d pea kua kite, kua rongo au I ng\u0101 tau, he P\u0101keh\u0101 an\u014d I aroha, i hirinaki te M\u0101ori, he p\u016bmanawa, he korou tangata n\u014dwhea e wareware, pai m\u0101rire The Problem with the Term Tangata Tiriti The phrase Tangata Tiriti \u2014 often translated as \u201cpeople of the Treaty\u201d \u2014 is a term for non-M\u0101ori in New Zealand. It\u2019s been…
if a P\u0101keh\u0101 were to marry within a M\u0101ori community, they would be known as a parent-in-law. Without some type of family marriage, in my view, there is no standing for a P\u0101keh\u0101 in the Ma\u014dri world. When I learnt how to stand and do oratory on the marae, I was told to do such things in the M\u0101ori culture we were raised in. I therefore believe we should carry very humbly our P\u0101keh\u0101 culture into the M\u0101ori world, it is said to be humble to be tolerant and careful. Another thing I have heard in the years is there are P\u0101keh\u0101 that M\u0101ori have loved and relied upon, and these are human virtues, human spirit, that won’t be forgotten. Good Peace.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"