Whakapapa And The State: THE LIVING TRADITION OF WHAKAPAPA

CHAPTER TWO: THE LIVING TRADITION OF WHAKAPAPA

How people perceive the value in something or some activity is best observed in how they maintain relationships. The interactions that occur in relationships are often best observed through stories. In this chapter I will focus on the stories that help to evoke an image of what whakapapa is and how it works. The stories that are told by the members of Ngäi Tahu and other Mäori groups demonstrate how people position themselves within the relationships that link them and the natural and spiritual worlds – how they operate within the three worlds of whakapapa. The actions they carry out demonstrate their understanding of the principles of whakapapa and how they work. Russell Bishop recently stated that stories were ways of representing truth. There is always more than one way to tell a story and this will result in many diverse truths being heard rather than one dominant version.¹ In stories that show whakapapa in action, and stories about what people have said whakapapa is, there are secreted the diverse understandings and complexities of whakapapa in ways that cannot be demonstrated by a single definition. The stories illustrate the workings of the relationships that are depicted in them. The truth of what is happening in the stories depends on the knowledge systems that are in place in the storyteller’s community. Everybody interprets things differently depending on their values and level of knowledge. The stories – explanations – of how certain activities are viewed or interpreted reflect an understanding of the truth. Consequently, we often arrive at more than one truth. This could give us a jumble of explanations except for the fact that a commonality in values and levels of knowledge, such as those adhered to and attained by Mäori hapü groups, allows for a commonality in interpretation of significant events. Therefore, people become like-minded in their understanding of something. The stories from each individual or each hapü group contain common denominators that are easily understood by others within the same corporate group. There is a universal understanding of the common denominators and this understanding helps to support knowledge systems and expectations of how the world works. The one common denominator that underlies Mäori knowledge and values systems is whakapapa. The explanation of whakapapa is expressed through the stories surrounding the origins, values and history of the participant hapü groups. Whakapapa is the key to unlocking this knowledge, and it is the key to the mass of facts we see before us in the stories. The stories that are depicted in this part of the chapter are about how people experience the whakapapa relationships such as whanaungatanga, rangatiratanga and tiakitanga, and ahi kä, and how they understand the spiritual concepts of hau, tapu, noa and mauri. The relationships experienced in the stories are those linking people to the land and to other resources, including people.

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