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Finding MÄori philosophy
Chapter outline
Defining MÄori philosophy
MÄori philosophy and World Philosophies: Writing this book
My right to write about MÄori philosophy
Sources and links to social and intellectual history
Te reo MÄori: The MÄori language in this book
The slippery path between imperialism and romanticism
Synopsis of chapters
Questions for discussion or research
The term âMÄori philosophyâ provokes the meaning of âphilosophyâ just as the phrase âMÄori scienceâ â regarded by scientists as a âcontradiction in termsâ â problematises the definition of âscienceâ. I began to think about the potential of MÄori philosophy during my doctoral studies of MÄori science curriculum (Stewart, 2007), since many accounts of âIndigenous scienceâ (also known as, for example, native science) seemed better suited to being described as philosophy, rather than science: frequently they exhibited apparent confusion between the âfactsâ of science and the âvaluesâ of Indigenous knowledge. I became interested in the idea that every form of knowledge, whether science, Indigenous knowledge, education, or whatever, has a theoretical base serving as its âphilosophy of knowledgeâ or epistemology, and the implications of this idea for investigating MÄori knowledge. Almost every comparison between science and Indigenous or MÄori knowledge I read seemed to miss this point: I found models with intersecting circle (Venn) diagrams and/or two-column lists of attributes, but very few comparisons between the philosophy of science and the philosophy of Indigenous knowledge. Attributes are surface features, but philosophy concerns the essence or nature of a body or form of knowledge â it is the ground on which that knowledge is built. To seek to understand the philosophy of any form of knowledge is to explore the boundaries between different forms of knowledge. This book contains an account of what I have found out by investigating these questions in relation to MÄori philosophy, in and for education, broadly conceived.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a brief introduction to the ideas that are central to this book. The section below gives a high-level conceptual definition of MÄori philosophy. The following sections of the chapter explain aspects of the approach used in writing this book: its position in a book series on World Philosophies; the links between MÄori philosophy and other intellectual traditions and fields of practice; a personal introduction focusing on my position in relation to MÄori philosophy; the importance of te reo MÄori (the MÄori language) in this work; and a discussion of what I call the âslippery pathâ between imperialism and romanticism. The chapter ends with a brief precis of the remaining six chapters.
Defining MÄori philosophy
MÄori philosophy is found in MÄori discourses about the relationships between people, things, the environment and the world. Takirirangi Smith (2000) re-phrases the term âMÄori philosophyâ as âtangata whenua philosophyâ and clarifies that by âMÄoriâ he means someone who can identify as tangata whenua through âwhakapapa kĆreroâ. MÄori philosophy is therefore a central plank of identity for MÄori people. Writing and reading about MÄori philosophy are therefore politically significant activities. According to Smith, tangata whenua philosophy is made up of âwhakapapa kĆreroâ which are
âą important narratives of identity;
âą a knowledge base for the survival and welfare of the group;
âą linked to major tribal artworks such as meeting houses;
âą philosophical narratives invoked on important occasions to uphold the mana of the group; and
âą discourses that rationalise existence through interconnectedness and identification of relationships between things that exist. (T. Smith, 2000)
MÄori philosophy belongs to a different spatial and temporal reality from that of European philosophy. Time and space in MÄori philosophy are unified: in the MÄori language, separate words for space and time do not exist. Therefore, past events do not lose their significance, and ancestors can collapse the space-time continuum to be co-present with their descendants. The texts of pre-colonial MÄori philosophy were found in the natural phenomena of âplaceâ as in ancestral localities of tribal occupation, interpreted through the senses, and recorded in human-made artefacts and taonga. Knowledge in MÄori terms is not restricted to the physical senses, but includes knowledge obtained through intuition and dreams (C. W. Smith, 2000). This âotherâ MÄori reality has been marginalised and attenuated over time, but has never been fully stamped out. Being tangata whenua has meaning for a MÄori person today, and one way of expressing that meaning is through MÄori philosophy, as I will attempt to show through the chapters of this book.
MÄori philosophy and World Philosophies: Writing this book
I understand âWorld philosophiesâ as a descriptor or umbrella term for ways of thinking that arise from the cultures of the worldâs many Indigenous peoples, including MÄori philosophy as a theorisation of MÄori language and culture. World philosophies are inherently diverse; unified mainly by differentiation from global philosophy, which I understand as a term for the hegemonic Euro-American, or Western, modern, scientific underpinnings of knowledge. The tendency for terminology to keep changing makes it important to clearly define the meaning of these two important terms, and the difference between them, as I will be using them in this book. Particular care is needed to differentiate these terms for speakers of languages other than English (including the MÄori language), in which the important nuances between the English pair âworldâ and âglobalâ and between âphilosophyâ and âphilosophiesâ may not carry over.
Global philosophy is singular, and the word âglobalâ is most strongly identified with globalisation, which is an inherently imperialist concept. The content of that which is described as âWesternâ â whether in relation to philosophy, technology, culture or language â owes much of its meaning to the development of modern science, beginning in the era of the Enlightenment in Western Europe, whence the adjective âWesternâ derives. In the twentieth century the centre of gravity of âWesternâ culture shifted to the United States; today, in the twenty-first century, the power of wealth resides in multinational corporations, privately owned by uber-wealthy individuals. These individuals could be called âglobal ownersâ with interests in all parts of the globe, including Aotearoa New Zealand, which has achieved some popularity in those elite echelons as a safe bolthole in the event of calamity in world centres. So the term âWesternâ is no longer an accurate descriptor, and âEuro-Americanâ also has problems. The alternative modifier âglobalâ is more accurate; less tied to origins. The term âglobal philosophyâ then refers to ways of thinking that underpin contemporary âglobal cultureâ. Nevertheless, the term âWesternâ is widely used as the binary opposite of âIndigenousâ in relation to thinking, values, cultural preferences and so on, and this practice will be followed below, while remaining aware of the inherent limitations of the term. In my context, I usually refer to PÄkehÄ-MÄori relationships, but below I adopt the more general terms in referring to Western-Indigenous relationships, while cognisant that this term describes a reified binary, rather than a natural or scientific set of categories.
World philosophies is a plural term, and the word âworldâ, which is linguistically related to âwholeâ and âholismâ, has allusions of ecology and harmony with nature, which align well with Indigenous ways of thinking. The word âworldâ draws our attention to the natural world, as against âglobalâ that calls to mind ideas such as âthe global economyâ. Thinking about âthe worldâ is more likely to make us think of the image of planet Earth from space, with its marbled blue-and-white surface. One example of an international initiative using âworldâ in this way is the World Indigenous Peoples Conference: Education (WIPCE) that has been held every three years since 1987, in venues rotating between the CANZUS countries (Canada, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the United States), with the exception of the 2011 conference, held in Peru.
Since the 1950s, the development of MÄori studies as a local form of anthropology in Aotearoa New Zealand brought MÄori knowledge into the university curriculum, but in truncated form. In this process âMÄori language and knowledge were re-framed as knowledge knowable from Western epistemologiesâ (C. W. Smith, 2000, p. 45). In the history of MÄori studies, MÄori philosophy has almost always been woven into the curriculum, rather than being seen as an identified topic. The MÄori Renaissance, the recent emergence of Kaupapa MÄori, and the growth of acceptance of MÄori language and culture as part of general society, are aspects of an ongoing process of reviving and re-describing MÄori knowledge, including the articulation of MÄori philosophy. MÄori philosophy research seeks to counter the MÄori experience of colonization through history, which âhas involved a continual experience of decontextualisng and recontextualising the discourses of tangata whenuaâ (T. Smith, 2000, p. 54). This central technology of colonization is also described as âre-inscribingâ tangata whenua discourse into Western knowledge.
Few MÄori people have studied academic philosophy (I know of only two MÄori with PhDs in Philosophy), and despite the strength of Kaupapa MÄori education, very few MÄori scholars have participated in the local sub-field of philosophy of education (C. W. Smith, 2000, p. 43). Despite the voluminous literature on all manner of MÄori topics, no previous book with âMÄori philosophyâ in the title was found at the time of writing (2020). This book stakes a claim for MÄori philosophy in the emerging field of World philosophies, and provides an opportunity to re-frame and synthesise my body of work, sometimes pursued under other banners including MÄori science education, Kaupapa MÄori philosophical research and MÄori education more generally. Understood in this way, a series on World Philosophies provides a convenient category and milieu for an introductory text on MÄori philosophy.
I find it useful to regard Kaupapa MÄori theory as a form of philosophy of education (Stewart, 2017b): a theoretical framework suitable for underpinning my practice as a critical MÄori philosophical researcher. The researcherâs identity is a matter of interest in any MÄori research, including this attempt to provide an exposition of MÄori philosophy. Some biographical detail about what brings me to this work is therefore warranted.
My right to write about MÄori philosophy
I grew up in a bicultural MÄori-PÄkehÄ family in 1960â70s Auckland and received an excellent education in the state schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. With my family background of both my mother and her mother being teachers and avid readers, as well as poets, from an early age I enjoyed generous access to books, and reading was my first and abiding favourite activity or âpassionâ, as we would say today. So, teaching was âin my bloodâ, but it was not my first career choice, which was to help save the TakahÄ from extinction, after reading Two in the Bush by Gerald Durrell. When I left secondary school in 1978 that impulse saw me enrol in a bachelor of science degree at Auckland University, resulting in a first class MSc in organic chemistry in 1981. Following that I worked first as a research technician in the Cancer Research Laboratory in the Auckland Medical School, and later in sales and customer support of chemical analysis equipment.
At the end of 1988, I left my job and went north to live at Matauri Bay in an effort to reconnect with âmy MÄori sideâ. From there I went further north to live with Mangu Awarau in Waimanoni, near Kaitaia, where I heard about Kura Kaupapa MÄori, and extended my limited earlier knowledge of te reo me ngÄ tikanga (MÄori language and customs). In 1991 I returned to Auckland and completed secondary teacher training at Auckland College of Education. After a year teaching te reo MÄori at Onehunga High School, in 1993 I became the inaugural teacher of PĆ«taiao (Science) and PÄngarau (Mathematics) at Te Wharekura o Hoani Waititi Marae in Oratia, Waitakere City, until wanting to live in Te Taitokerau (Northland) drew me to take up the Head of MÄori position at Tikipunga High School in Whangarei in 1996.
My teaching and involvement with various national curriculum projects in MÄori-medium education spurred me on to enrol part-time in doctoral studies in 2001 for a chance to investigate the MÄori science curriculum. After graduating in 2007 I held short-term research positions before being appointed in 2010 as Lecturer in Education, University of Auckland, based at the Tai Tokerau campus in Whangarei. In mid-2016 I moved to my current academic position at AUT, Auckland, as an Associate Professor in the School of Education.
This book is an opportunity to re-frame and synthesise a set of ideas I have been thinking about since I began my doctoral thesis, almost two decades ago. Indeed, I seem to have been thinking about MÄori philosophy for most of my life! I was an early observer when my wise old aunts and uncles made basic babyish mistakes in conversational English, such as saying âhimâ instead of âherâ. Listening to conversations in MÄori from under the hood of whatever car my dad and his mate were fixing made it seem natural to get up early to listen to the weekly Bruce Biggs MÄori language lessons on the family radio in the sitting room. Likewise, the weekly Listener column by Ranginui Walker was household reading for years in my childhood home.
My focus in this book moves beyond the school curriculum to consider in more general terms how identifying as MÄori and working with MÄori knowledge influence oneâs everyday thinking and inform oneâs views on social matters of all kinds. In this book I present synoptic narrative accounts of central concepts and debates in MÄori philosophy in the form of a series of close readings of selected key texts and authors, interspersed with examples and vignettes from personal experience. The key texts and authors I call on are located across a range of fields: MÄori education brings in MÄori studies and anthropology, as well as sociolinguistics and some in other fields such as legal studies. I use Kaupapa MÄori principles to guide a process of critically reading through and past the chauvinism of Eurocentrism and patriarchy found in most published work on MÄori. I think of this approach as ârehabilitatingâ older scholarship about MÄori philosophy, for Indigenous purposes, under the wider umbrella of the Kaupapa MÄori intellectual project.
Sources and links to social and intellectual history
One early way that MÄori philosophy was inscribed in Western thinking was as religion, during the nineteenth-century European mission to convert ânative heathensâ to Christianity â Anglican, Catholic, Wesleyan and so on. Hence MÄori legal scholar Moana Jackson (19...