Maori Sport and Cultural Identity in Australia

Sport is an important aspect of cultural identity for New Zealand Maori migrants living in Australia. Maori sporting endeavours, especially at festivals such as the Taki Toa Tournament in New South Wales, often reveal distinctive Maori features of cultural performance, in the rituals prior to a game, in the spirited manner with which a game is played, and in the whânau (large/extended family) spirit of belonging and celebration that is encouraged after a game. However, notwithstanding the occasional Maori tournament or festival, Maori sporting participation in Australia is not restricted to an ‘ethnic ghetto’. Widespread Maori involvement in sport has provided an important avenue for Maori migrants to mix socially with Aboriginal and other Australians in their local communities, and to gain acceptance, respect and, in some cases, economic advancement. Many first‐generation Maori migrants display a keen sense of a New Zealand rather than an Australian identity when it comes to trans‐Tasman international sport. Transnational links are also important for Australian Maori who visit New Zealand with sporting teams and stay on various marae (tribal meeting places). The experience of ‘Maori culture’ and hospitality offered by their New Zealand kinsfolk may have a significant influence upon the sporting visitors' subsequent development of Maori cultural identity.     

The New Zealand Kumara or sweet potato

The varieties of kumara (sweet potato,Ipomoea batatas (Linn.) Poir.) being grown by the Maoris of the North Island of New Zealand are described and classed as Maori (pre-European) or European introductions. While the number of varieties is small compared with that claimed for the early Maori, it appears from the historical evidence that the variation in pre-European stocks was limited compared with that found elsewhere in the species. The New Zealand varieties have not been induced to flower, but varieties from the Pacific Islands, southeast Asia and South America have flowered in New Zealand, and some Peruvian varieties have set seed. The interaction of climate and variety in the manifestation of sexual reproduction in the species is considered in relation to an alternative explanation for the large number of varieties attributed to the pre-European Maori. Economic characters exhibited in the New Zealand varieties could form a useful basis for a plant improvement programme.     

Multiple identifications and the dialogical self: urban Maori youngsters and the cultural renaissance

The renaissance of Maori culture and tradition has played a significant role in the political campaigns of New Zealand's indigenous population over the past few decades. At the same time, however, it has brought to light that many Maori youngsters are unable to construct a cultural identity in terms of the discourses of culture and tradition that dominate the political arena. This article analyses the experience of urban Maori youngsters in ceremonial settings ( marae ) by examining the question of how they mediate different representations of their cultural identity within the self. It demonstrates that many young Maori people are engaged in a psychological dialogue between, on the one hand, the classic model for a Maori identity that prescribes them to embrace traditional culture and, on the other hand, their personal identification as outcasts in daily practices of New Zealand society.     

Forging a biodiversity ethic in a multicultural context

New Zealand belongs to the Pacific region, a part of the world where human impacts have been both very recent and extreme in their effect. The New Zealand natural environment is rich in endemic taxa, but these are poorly equipped to cope with the effects of invasion by humans and exotic animals and plants. Polynesian immigrants brought to New Zealand a distinctive world view which gave rise to both tribal traditions and living traditions of the Maori. The resultant environmental ethic emphasises guardianship and stewardship, establishment of the right to use a resource, kinship obligations, and a balance between pairs of opposites. Nineteenth-century European colonists were ambivalent in their view of the environment, although a world view which emphasises dominion has tended to dominate. Two recent developments which are important factors in development of a multicultural biodiversity ethic are the enactment of the Resource Management Act 1991 and legal recognition of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. The intersection of these developments provides an opportunity to develop a new approach to environmental ethics especially in conceptualising significance, consultative processes, and developing a holistic and ecocentric use of resources.     

Fish is My Daily Bread: Owning and Transacting in Maori Fisheries

In contemporary Aotearoa/New Zealand, Maori indigenous claims to fisheries have resulted in an uneasy compromise in which private property in fisheries coexists with an important element of common ownership. Individual Transferable Quotas and the bundle of rights encoded in Customary Fisheries Regulations are the expression of this compromise. At the legal level, these reflect the major property paradigms of private and communal. In practice, neither has accommodated Maori concrete relations of owning, and social practices of exchanging, fish.     

Estimating regional population size and annual harvest intensity of the sooty shearwater in New Zealand

Abstract

Recent comprehensive survey data from multiple New Zealand offshore islands were combined with demographic population models to produce the first formal estimate of the total population of sooty shearwaters within New Zealand territory. We estimated the total population over 1994–2005 to be 21.3 (19.0–23.6) million individual birds in the New Zealand region. This population consisted of 12.8 (12.0–13.6) million adults, 2.8 (2.5–3.1) million chicks, and 4.4 (4.2–4.7) million breeding pairs. Breeding sooty shearwaters were concentrated primarily around the southern islands of New Zealand, with 53% breeding in the Titi Islands surrounding Rakiura (Stewart Island). Rakiura Maori muttonbirders were estimated to harvest 360 000 (320 000–400 000) sooty shearwaters per year, equivalent to 18% of the chicks produced in the harvested areas and 13% of chicks in the New Zealand region. Overall, 11% of the chicks within the Titi Islands live on unharvested ground. Systematic and widespread surveys of breeding colonies in South America are needed before a reliable global sooty shearwater population estimate can be calculated.     

The Making of the Maori: Culture Invention and Its Logic

"Traditional culture" is increasingly recognized to be more an invention constructed for contemporary purposes than a stable heritage handed on from the past. Anthropologists often participate in the creative process. Two distinct inventions of New Zealand Maori culture are analyzed, together with the role of anthropologists in each of them. The conclusion explores the logic of culture invention and some of its implications for the practice of anthropology.     

Woven Stories

Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema

Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen, eds. Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema. London: British Film Institute; New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994. 568 pp., biblio., illus., index of films. Rs. 995; $49.95.

Naming the Other

Martin Blythe. Naming the Other: Images of Maori in New Zealand Film and Television. Metuchen, NJ, and London: Scarecrow Press, 1994. 336 pp. Maori glossary, filmography, photo credits, notes, index. $39.50.     

Modeling the prehistoric Maori population

Skeletal and comparative evidence of mortality is combined with fertility estimates for the precontact Maori population of New Zealand to determine the implied rate of precontact population growth. This rate is found to be too low to populate New Zealand within the time constraints of its prehistoric sequence, the probable founding population size, and the probable population size at contact. Rates of growth necessary to populate New Zealand within the accepted time span are calculated. The differences between this minimum necessary rate and the skeletally derived rate are too large to result solely from inadequacies in the primary data. Four alternative explanations of this conundrum are proposed: 1) skeletal evidence of precontact mortality is highly inaccurate; 2) skeletal evidence of fertility is severely underestimating actual levels; 3) there was very rapid population growth in the earliest part of the sequence up to 1150 A.D., from which no skeletal evidence currently is available; or 4) the prehistoric sequence of New Zealand may have been longer than the generally accepted 1,000-1,200 years. These alternatives are examined, and a combination of the last two is found to be the most probable. The implications of this model for New Zealand prehistory and Oceanic paleodemography are discussed.     

Aboriginal mortality in Canada, the United States and New Zealand

Indigenous populations in New World nations share the common experience of culture contact with outsiders and a prolonged history of prejudice and discrimination. This historical reality continues to have profound effects on their well-being, as demonstrated by their relative disadvantages in socioeconomic status on the one hand, and in their delayed demographic and epidemiological transitions on the other. In this study one aspect of aboriginals' epidemiological situation is examined: their mortality experience between the early 1980s and early 1990s. The groups studied are the Canadian Indians, the American Indians and the New Zealand Maori (data for Australian Aboriginals could not be obtained). Cause-specific death rates of these three minority groups are compared with those of their respective non-indigenous populations using multivariate log-linear competing risks models. The empirical results are consistent with the proposition that the contemporary mortality conditions of these three minorities reflect, in varying degrees, problems associated with poverty, marginalization and social disorganization. Of the three minority groups, the Canadian Indians appear to suffer more from these types of conditions, and the Maori the least.     

Community and justice: the challenges of bicultural partnership to policy on assisted reproductive technology

Listening to other cultures offers challenges to our fundamental assumptions and world views. In New Zealand public policy on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) is being worked out in a society committed to the development of bicultural partnership honouring the Treaty of Waitangi, a treaty with the indigenous people.
Strong claims to the cultural significance of genetic heritage by Maori have made apparent to non-Maori (Pakeha) their own assumptions. These claims also resist reductive understandings of genetics.
In this paper I review, as a Pakeha ethicist, initiatives taken in New Zealand, and the impact of bicultural development on public policy on ART. I also discuss some of the issues this raises for western bioethics as it relates to non-western approaches and include reference to the significance of genetic heritage as it is affecting guidelines for donor insemination and surrogacy.     

Development of a Tool to Facilitate Participation of Maori in the Management of Stream and River Health

A cultural health index (CHI) for streams was developed in a program of collaborative research involving members of Ngai Tahu (an iwi [tribe] within the South Island of New Zealand) and ecologists at Otago University. The aim was to provide a tool for effective participation of Maori in resource management decisions. Five cultural values are of central importance to the nature of the CHI: mauri (spiritual life force), mahinga kai (traditional resource harvesting), kaitiakitanga (guardianship obligation), ki uta ki tai (mountains-to-the-sea holistic philosophy), and wai taonga waters that are treasured). The CHI has three components. Forty-six stream sites in two culturally important river catchments were first classified according to whether there is a traditional association with Maori. The second component assessed the historical and contemporary mahinga kai status of the site, including questions of legal and physical access. The third component was a Cultural Stream Health Measure (CSHM) that encapsulates indicators of catchment, riparian, and instream condition in a manner that is consistent with Maori values. The CSHM was found to be significantly correlated with western measures of stream health commonly used in New Zealand (Macroinvertebrate Community Index, Stream Health Monitoring and Assessment Kit), and performed at least as well in encapsulating the relationship between land development and stream health. We describe a multistep process by which other indigenous people can develop a cultural ecosystem health measure, and then use the tool to ensure a substantial role in decision making with the agency in charge.     

Inference of population subdivision from the VNTR distributions of New Zealanders

A population sample from people of diverse ethnic origins living in New Zealand serves as a database to test methods for inference of population subdivision. The initial null hypothesis, that the population sample is homogeneous across ethnic groups, is easily rejected by likelihood ratio tests. Beyond this, methods for quantifying subdivision can be based on the probability of drawing alleles identical by descent (F _ST ), probabilities of matching multiple locus genotypes, and occurrence of unique alleles. Population genetic theory makes quantitative predictions about the relation betweenF _ST , population sizes, and rates of migration and mutation. Some VNTR loci have mutation rates of 10^–2 per generation, but, contrary to theory, we find no consistent association between the degree of population subdivision and mutation rate. Quantification of population substructure also allows us to relate the magnitudes of genetic distances between ethnic groups in New Zealand to the colonization history of the country. The data suggests that the closest relatives to the Maori are Polynesians, and that no severe genetic bottleneck occurred when the Maori colonized New Zealand. One of the central points of contention regarding the application of VNTR loci in forensics is the appropriate means for estimating match probabilities. Simulations were performed to test the merits of the product rule in the face of subpopulation heterogeneity. Population heterogeneity results in large differences in estimates of multilocus genotype frequencies depending on which subpopulation is used for reference allele frequencies, but, of greater importance for forensic purposes, no five locus genotype had an expected frequency greater than 10^–6. Although this implies that a match with an innocent individual is unlikely, in a large urban area such chance matches are going to occur.Editor's commentsA side-benefit of the collection of DNA data from human populations is the light it may shed on human evolution. The authors discuss the colonization history of New Zealand in the light of such data. From a forensic viewpoint, too much should not be made of the differences between the major ethnic groups within New Zealand, as the forensic community in that country maintains separate databases for Caucasian, Maori and Pacific Islander (Buckletonet al., 1987). It will be of interest in the future to examine subdivision within these groups, as opposed to within the country as a whole. The authors' comments on testing for independence will need to read along with the findings of Zaykinet al. and Maiste and Weir in this volume. The authors had not seen the Budowleet al. (1994) rebuttal to the paper of Kraneet al. (1992).     

Observations on the settlement of the brachiolaria larvae of Stichaster australis (Verill) and Coscinasterias calamaria (Gray) (Echinodermata: Asteroidea) in the laboratory and on the shore

The settling behaviour is described and substratum preferences of advances brachiolaria larvae of Stichaster australis (Verrill) and Coscinasterias calamaria (Gray) were determined with larvae reared in the laboratory and the results correlated with field observations of habitat preferences of juvenile starfish at Maori Bay on the west coast of Auckland, New Zealand.C. calamaria larvae settled on almost any hard substratum provided it was coated with a ‘primary’ film. Recently metamorphosed C. calamaria could not be found at Maori Bay and it is inferred that there is low recruitment from the plankton to the Maori Bay population.S. australis larvae would only settle, metamorphose, and feed on the encrusting coralline alga Mesophyllum insigne (Foslie) Adey. Nursery areas of offshore boulders covered with this alga are present at Maori Bay and these were found to support populations of juvenile starfish. M. insigne appears to provide a stable and abundant food source for juvenile S. australis.     

Haka Fracas? The Dialectics of Identity in Discussions of a Contemporary Maori Dance1

This paper analyses discussions of the haka (popularly translated as ‘the war dance of the Maori’) in three performative sites in Aotearoa/New Zealand: a national Maori dance competition, touristic ‘cultural experience’ programs in Rotorua, and a secondary school in Wellington. The discussions demonstrate that this dance has come to represent a variety of ‘identifications’ for the speakers. However, while the haka elicits multiple, related and sometimes conflicting identificatory possibilities for Maori‐identified discussants (albeit within a limited range of positions), this is not the case for a group of non‐Maori men reminiscing about their boyhood performances at school sporting events. Through the comparison of discussions of these three performance sites, this paper argues that haka conversations reveal dynamic creativity in discourses of identifications (intra‐indigenous, collective indigenous, and nationalist) of some speakers but not of others.     

Whakapapa, genealogy and genetics

This paper provides part of an analysis of the use of the Maori term whakapapa in a study designed to test the compatibility and commensurability of views of members of the indigenous culture of New Zealand with other views of genetic technologies extant in the country. It is concerned with the narrow sense of whakapapa as denoting biological ancestry, leaving the wider sense of whakapapa as denoting cultural identity for discussion elsewhere. The phenomenon of genetic curiosity is employed to facilitate this comparison. Four levels of curiosity are identified, in the Maori data, which penetrate more or less deeply into the psyche of individuals, affecting their health and wellbeing. These phenomena are compared with non-Maori experiences and considerable commonalities are discovered together with a point of marked difference. The results raise important questions for the ethical application of genetic technologies.     

Risk factors in the prevalence of anencephalus and spina bifida in New Zealand

This paper presents results from an epidemiological study on the 51 anencephalus and 53 spina bifida cases in the 1978 New Zealand birth cohort. Multiple sources were used in the ascertainment, and the prevalence rates were 0.98 and 1.02 per 1,000 total births, respectively. No association was found with the traditional indicators of the effect of environmental factors: maternal age, social class, nuptiality, month of birth, or estimated month of conception. Males comprised 41% of anencephalus and 36% of spina bifida cases; the prevalence was higher in the non-Maori than in the Maori population. New Zealand-born mothers appear to have a much lower risk of spina bifida, but not anencephaly, than those born in England/Scotland. The rate for the latter population was within the range of a number of UK-based studies. As the bloodstock of New Zealand whites has been predominantly derived from the UK population, and as New Zealand is a low prevalence area, this suggests that the higher risk for these women is likely to be attributable to factors present in their birthplace but absent in New Zealand. These findings provide further evidence that the epidemiologic patterns of anencephalus and spina bifida in low-prevalence areas are at variance with those in high-prevalence areas, such as the United Kingdom. They also support the hypothesis that the contrast in rates between high- and low-prevalence areas is a reflection of the impact of environmental factors in high-prevalence areas on the "background" or baseline frequency of anencephalus and spina bifida found in low-prevalence areas.     

BOTANICAL BRIEFING Fire, Forest Regeneration and Links with Early Human Habitation: Evidence from New Zealand

New Zealand forests burn less frequently than tussock grasslands,heath or shrublands. Species composition, past disturbance andstand condition determine inflammability and fuel load, andconsequent fire intensity and spatial extent. Before peoplearrived, fires were ignited by lightning during drought yearson the eastern sides of both islands. Volcanism occurring every300–600 years was associated with fires in the centralNorth Island. A review of radiocarbon-dated charcoal from theeastern South Island, and of evidence for fire in pollen profilesfrom the North Island, provide the basis for an assessment offire frequency. Forest fires have occurred on both New Zealand'sislands throughout the Holocene at least every few centuries,until the last millennium when frequency increased. The ‘returntime’ of fire at any one place in the forested landscapewas probably one or two millennia. Burned areas usually succeededto forest again before the next inflagration. Consequently fireadaptation is infrequent in the New Zealand flora, and Polynesianforest clearance was rapid and largely permanent. There is anindication of an increase in fire frequency in the late Holocene,and a clear signal associated with people approx. 700 yearsBP. Separating the earliest anthropogenic fires from the backgroundlevel of natural burning will be difficult without additionalevidence.Copyright 1998 Annals of Botany Comapny Fire history, New Zealand, palynology, Maori, climate, volcanism.     

New Zealand island restoration: seabirds, predators, and the importance of history

New Zealand?s offshore and outlying islands have long been a focus of conservation biology as sites of local endemism and as last refuges for many species. During the c. 730 years since New Zealand has been settled by people, mammalian predators have invaded many islands and caused local and global extinctions. New Zealand has led international efforts in island restoration. By the late 1980s, translocations of threatened birds to predator-free islands were well under way to safeguard against extinction. Non-native herbivores and predators, such as goats and cats, had been eradicated from some islands. A significant development in island restoration in the mid-1980s was the eradication of rats from small forested islands. This eradication technology has been refined and currently at least 65 islands, including large and remote Campbell (11 216 ha) and Raoul (2938 ha) Islands, have been successfully cleared of rats. Many of New Zealand?s offshore islands, especially those without predatory mammals, are home to large numbers of breeding seabirds. Seabirds influence ecosystem processes on islands by enhancing soil fertility and through soil disturbance by burrowing. Predators, especially rats, alter ecosystem processes and cause population reductions or extinctions of native animals and plants. Islands have been promoted as touchstones of a primaeval New Zealand, but we are now increasingly aware that most islands have been substantially modified since human settlement of New Zealand. Archaeological and palaeoecological investigations, together with the acknowledgement that many islands have been important mahinga kai (sources of food) for Maori, have all led to a better understanding of how people have modified these islands. Restoration technology may have vaulted ahead of our ability to predict the ecosystem consequences of its application on islands. However, research is now being directed to help make better decisions about restoration and management of islands, decisions that take account of island history and key drivers of island ecosystem functioning.     

Maori Customary Use of Native Birds, Plants and Other Traditional Materials

Submission to the New Zealand Conservation Authority on their discussion paper on Maori customary use.[Selected paragraph...]This submission is in three parts. The first has comments on the discussion paper itself, often of a clarifying nature. The second addresses the issues of harvesting. It emphasises ecological aspects relevant to proposals for the joint management of natural resources. It was felt more useful to offer members' expertise on these matters, rather than advocate one specific management option. At the outset, however, it is important to caution on the critically-stressed nature of many of New Zealand's species and ecosystems; and also to point out the immense scientific, as well as heritage value of the off-shore island reserves, and the international concern for the continued maintenance of the largely pristine condition of some of the sub-Antarctic islands. These considerations imply that a very cautious approach be taken to any proposal to harvest species or further modify ecosystems. The final part of the submission is individual commentaries on the final draft, invited from two members of the Society who are Maori. These commentaries have been modified and are included in this issue as an article (Wright, Nugent and Parata, 1995).