Maori tribalism and post-settler nationhood in New Zealand.

Maori tribalism and post-settler nationhood in New Zealand. INTRODUCTION The great-unfinished project of post-settler nationhood is toconvert illegitimate possession into legitimate belonging. It is areversal of earlier colonial or settler projects that convertedlegitimate indigenous possession into illegitimate indigenous belonging.In creating a more secure place for post-settler identities, however,post-settler nations have done little or nothing to acknowledge urban or'relocated' indigenous identities. On the contrary,post-settler belonging absolutely requires the perpetuation of anindigeneity through which new relationships to the land may benegotiated. Central to the project of post-settler belonging in NewZealand New Zealand(zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. is the idea of the treaty nation. Within this imagined politicalcommunity settlers belong by virtue of a relationship between the Crown,which represents them, and Maori tribal leaders who represent tangatawhenua tangata whenuaNoun, plNZ1. the original Polynesian settlers in New Zealand2. descendents of the original Polynesian settlers [Maori: people of the land] (people of the land). By 'relocated indigenous identities' I mean, in the NewZealand context, Maori who choose to be non-tribal, who typically livein urban areas and who may or may not speak Maori. Some actively rejectan identity that links them to particular ancestral lands and tribaltraditions. I am thinking, for example, of people like John Tamihere John Tamihere was a New Zealand politician until the 2005 election. Until 3 November 2004 he served as a Cabinet minister, in the governing Labour Party, . Tamihere has become one of the more high-profile Māori politicians currently active in New Zealand politics. , aLabour MP and former head of a large urban Maori authority providingwelfare and other services to Maori in Auckland. As a Catholic he sayshe does not feel the need to go to Rome, nor, as a member of the NgatiPorou tribe does he feel the need to return to his tribal land on therural east coast of the North Island. The future of Maori society lies,he claims, in new urban groupings that can take advantage of newopportunities offered by the global economy. Maaka agrees, arguing thatthe idea of the 'tribe-cum-nation' is an aspect of eliteideology that is not meaningful to most Maori. He insists that nothingless than a radical redefinition of 'tribe' is required (Maaka1994:329). In his maiden speech the first speech made by a person, esp. by a new member in a public body.See also: Maiden to Parliament, Tamihere threw down achallenge: We cannot move forward unless our own backyard has been cleared and the impostors who continue to chant and make much ado over the whanau, hapu and iwi mantra as a song in itself so that few can feast in the name of the many, they also will be exposed. Let's get real. 44% of Maori households are solo-parent driven. There is no exclusive Maori way forward. Te Whanau o Waipereira and Manukau Urban Maori Authority are as legitimate in the hearts minds and souls of young urban Maori as any iwi (Tamihere 2000). Tamihere and the urban Maori he represents are currently engaged ina struggle on two fronts: on the one hand, with other Maori who maintainthat Maori society is essentially tribal and that power anddecision-making should remain centred on rural marae maraeNounNZ1. an enclosed space in front of a Maori meeting house2. a Maori meeting house and its buildings [Maori] (ceremonial meetingplaces with meeting houses and dining halls); on the other hand, withthe imagination of New Zealand as both a bicultural bi��cul��tur��al?adj.Of or relating to two distinct cultures in one nation or geographic region: bicultural education.bi��cul nation, in whichMaori belong as cultured individuals, and a treaty nation within whichtribes are accorded fundamental importance by the Government and itsagencies. This is a struggle against mutually reinforcing definitions ofMaori society and the New Zealand nation that have been in the makingfor more than a century. A recent manifestation of the struggle was a series of courtbattles over the allocation of fishing assets to Maori. Leaders of largeurban Maori organisations argued that they were contemporary'tribes' and therefore should be fully included as parties toany settlement. In this article I begin with a brief history of thisfisheries dispute. I then attempt to shed some light on its ideologicalgrounding in the simultaneous individualisation Noun 1. individualisation - discriminating the individual from the generic group or speciesindividualization, individuationdiscrimination, secernment - the cognitive process whereby two or more stimuli are distinguished and tribalisation ofMaori society since the late 19th century. I argue that twocontradictory conceptions of the post-settler nation--biculturalnationhood and treaty nationhood--have evolved to address the place ofindividualised and tribal Maori respectively. However, because bothforms of nationhood imagine an essential binary community neither have asecure place for relocated indigeneity. I argue that the failure toreach a just solution to the fisheries dispute is a reflection of thedominance of treaty nationhood and, more generally, of the limits of thebinary nation. FISHY fish��y?adj. fish��i��er, fish��i��est1. Resembling or suggestive of fish, as in taste or odor.2. Cold or expressionless: a fishy stare.3. BUSINESS In 1986, the New Zealand Government passed the Fisheries AmendmentAct, creating for itself a property-right in the form of transferablefish quotas. The Act gave the Government the power to set and allocatethese quotas in the interests of marine conservation and allowedrecipients to sell or lease all or part of their allocation. A Maorilegal challenge to the Act the following year asserted that itconstituted a significant breach of Maori treaty rights--the Treaty ofWaitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (Māori: Tiriti o Waitangi) is a treaty signed on February 6, 1840 by representatives of the British Crown, and Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand. had promised them 'full, exclusive and undisturbedpossession' of their fisheries for as long as they wished to retainthem. The Act had wrongly assumed the Maori fisheries were of a purelynon-commercial, recreational nature and had explicitly excluded thesefrom the quota system Quota System can refer to: Quota System (Royal Navy), a system in place from 1795 to 1815 for manning British naval ships Reservations in India Quota Borda system (Durie 1998:150). In upholding the challenge and ordering the Government to negotiatewith Maori, the High Court opened the way for a relatively small groupof 'tribal' representatives to gain, on behalf of theirpeople, a significant stake in the New Zealand fishing industry--currentproposals envisage a Maori-owned company that would account for almost39% of the 1.5 billion annual earnings of the fishing industry (NBR NBR NumberNBR Nightly Business Report (PBS show)NBR National Business Review (New Zealand weekly business newspaper)NBR National Bureau of Asian ResearchNBR National Board of Review August 23, 2002, p.6). The High Court decision and subsequentnegotiations also set the scene for a significant economic and politicalempowerment of these tribal leaders at the expense of urban, non-tribalMaori leaders and their constituencies. At each successive stage in theacrimonious litigious litigiousadj. referring to a person who constantly brings or prolongs legal actions, particularly when the legal maneuvers are unnecessary or unfounded. Such persons often enjoy legal battles, controversy, the courtroom, the spotlight, use the courts to punish and political struggle that ensued the paramountlegitimacy of 'traditional' tribes (iwi) and theirrepresentatives was affirmed and strengthened. Only four tribal leaders, representatives of groups that hadmounted the initial legal challenge to the Fisheries Amendment Act,undertook the initial negotiations with the Government. Rightlyconcerned that they would be unable to act on behalf of all Maori, theysought a stronger mandate through a single hui (meeting) of tribalrepresentatives in June 1988. Durie writes that as a result of this hui'the Maori negotiators were able to return to the bargaining tablewith a clearer mandate and definite brief [a target of 50% quota forMaori]' (Durie 1998:154). However, it is equally clear that thosewho attended the hui could by no means claim to represent Maori as awhole. Following these initial negotiations, the Maori Fisheries Act1989 allocated a small amount of quota to Maori (10%) and established aMaori Fisheries Commission to which, without further consultation, theGovernment appointed the original four 'tribally-mandated'negotiators (ibid.: 155). The Government and the Maori Fisheries Commissioners continuednegotiations and, in 1992, came up with an additional deal in which theGovernment would assist Maori to buy a half-share in a large fishingcompany (Sealord Products) and provide iwi with some extra quota. Inreturn, Maori would forfeit all rights to further fisheries claims underthe Treaty of Waitangi (Moon 1998:162-165). The process through whichthis deal was ratified revealed a high level of collusion between theCommissioners and the Government, not only with regard to the details ofthe deal, but, more broadly, in their understanding of Maori society asbeing essentially composed of 'traditional' tribes. For boththe Commission and the Government, dealing with Maori meant dealing withiwi, and dealing with iwi meant gaining the consent of a limited numberof men who had actively maintained ancestral links with rural kin.Following a series of 23 hui on local (mainly rural) marae (meetingplaces) and two national hui at which a wide range of views, both forand against the deal, were expressed, representatives from 17 (out ofmore than 50) tribes were brought to the Capital for an extraordinarysigning ceremony A signing ceremony is a ceremony in which a bill passed by a legislature is signed (approved) by an executive, thus becoming a law.Modern-day signing ceremonies are derived from ceremonies that occurred when the British monarch gave Royal Assent to acts of Parliament. that purported to ratify the agreement (Durie 1998:156-157). While the Government hailed the deal as an historic agreement (oneGovernment Minister broke down in tears) others with drier eyes, such asMaori activist lawyer Annette Sykes, saw it as a sham (Pihama 1994).Reflecting on the ceremony two years later, a Ngati Porou representativewrote; ... the Deed of Settlement was distributed and all those present were given one and a half hours to study the document before the actual signing. This was deafly a ploy instrumented by the Crown to have this deal done on their terms as there was a suggestion that if Maoridom didn't sign the Crown would proceed and produce legislation anyway ... Mr. Mahuika refused to sign on behalf of Te Runanga o Ngati Porou and all its beneficiaries and walked away (personal letter quoted by Moon 1998: 163). It is not, in fact, at all clear who signed the document--there isno record of at least one representative who insists he signed and atleast three people thought that they had signed attendance records (theyhad been handed blank sheets of paper). And it was not at all clear tomany Maori who these signatories represented--did they represent alltribes? Some tribes (and what, then, was the position of tribes notrepresented)? All Maori, including those not affiliated with tribes?Such concerns were, however, never officially addressed, and indeed theHigh Court ruled that they were of no material significance--the judgeconsidered that the signatories were 'responsiblerepresentatives' (Moon 1998:165-6, 170-171; Durie 1998: 156). The new Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission (Te Ohu Kai Moanaor TOKM) that was appointed by the Government in 1993 further entrenched en��trench? also in��trenchv. en��trenched, en��trench��ing, en��trench��esv.tr.1. To provide with a trench, especially for the purpose of fortifying or defending.2. tribal interests and the tribal definition of Maori society. None of the12 members represented urban, non-tribal organisations or individuals.The Chairman of the Commission, Sir Tipene O'Regan, held the viewthat fishing assets were tribal property rights and should not become asource of general welfare support for Maori as a whole. In an interviewwith Hineani Melbourne he said; Tribe is essentially about kin groups and commonly owned assets whereas race is essentially the handmaiden of welfare and a useful device used by the state to distinguish us from Pakeha. It is only Pakeha and the Crown identifying us all as Maori which makes us Maori (Melbourne 1995: 154-5). Despite growing pressure from Urban Maori organisations, theCommission under O'Regan's chairmanship, did not considerurban and non-tribally affiliated Maori to be part of its brief (Durie1998: 165). In 1996 a legal challenge to the tribal allocation of quotaby Urban Maori Authorities (Te Whanau o Waipareira and the Manukau UrbanMaori Authority) was upheld in the Court of Appeal. However, this wassubsequently overturned by the Privy Council Privy CouncilHistorically, the British sovereign's private council. Once powerful, the Privy Council has long ceased to be an active body, having lost most of its judicial and political functions since the middle of the 17th century. in London and sent back tothe New Zealand High Court. The Commissioners and the Governmentexpressed public relief at the Privy Council decision despite the factthat it did not make any definite ruling on the allocation issue.Stronger support for their tribal definition of Maori society was tocome, however, from the ensuing High Court decision in 1998. JudgePaterson ruled that the 1992 Fisheries Act had intended quota to go to'traditional' tribes--not urban groups, irrespective of irrespective ofprep.Without consideration of; regardless of.irrespective ofpreposition despitewhether or not they could be described as iwi--'iwi can mean a'people' or a 'tribe' (NZLR NZLR New Zealand Law Reports 2000, 1: 285). Urban groups, who, with the strong support of a leadinganthropologist, had argued that the term 'iwi' should not berestricted to describing descent groups made up of hapu, were surprisedat this decision but have by no means given up the struggle. In 1997 theWellington District Maori Council gave its support to other urban groupswho mounted a further legal challenge (the Ryder Case), led byhigh-profile Maori lawyer, Donna Hall. This litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute.When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. is still ongoing.In an effort to appease urban interests the Commission's mostrecent proposals for the allocation of quota include a $20 million fundfor Maori who live in cities or outside their tribal areas Tribal Areas can refer to: Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan Provincially Administered Tribal Areas also in Pakistan Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council in India See alsoList of U.S. state and tribal wilderness areas . This isessentially an education fund 'aimed at increasing the range ofskilled and qualified Maori able to participate at all levels in theseafood industry' (NBR 23 August 2002). Since more than 80% ofMaori live in cities or outside their tribal areas this fund will needto be spread very thinly indeed. It is not clear whether the 26% ofMaori who do not affiliate with tribes (1996 census) will receive anyspecifically targeted assistance. This long-running dispute can be viewed as much more than apolitical and legal struggle over the allocation of fishing assets. Alsoat stake has been the relative legitimacy of tribal and non-tribal Maoriidentities and their place within a multi-cultural, post-settler nation.During the course of this conflict Urban Maori Authorities and thepeople they represent have been constructed as belonging to a liminal liminal/lim��i��nal/ (lim��i-n'l) barely perceptible; pertaining to a threshold. lim��i��naladj.Relating to a threshold.liminalbarely perceptible; pertaining to a threshold. oranomalous category, neither as fully individual as Pakeha nor as fullytribal as the Fisheries Commissioners and the people they represent. Asmembers of an anomalous category, the leaders of urban organisationshave been treated by the Government as less representative of'Maori' than officially recognised tribal leaders. In thedelivery of health and social welfare services officially recognised iwihave more direct access to targeted funding than urban organisations. This contradiction between Maori individualism and Maori tribalism,which is central to the fisheries dispute, has its origins in theindividualisation of land titles by Native Land Court in the nineteenthcentury and the subsequent promotion of an idealised Adj. 1. idealised - exalted to an ideal perfection or excellenceidealizedperfect - being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish; "a perfect circle"; "a perfect reproduction"; "perfect happiness"; "perfect manners"; "a perfect specimen"; "a tribalism byApirana Ngata Sir Apirana Turupa Ngata (3 July 1874 - 14 July 1950) was a prominent New Zealand politician and lawyer. He has often been described as the foremost Māori politician to have ever served in Parliament, and is also known for his work in promoting and protecting Māori when he was Minister of Native Affairs in the 1920s and1930s. Or better, to adopt/adapt Foucauldian language, thiscontradiction has a genealogy genealogy(jē'nēŏl`əjē, –ăl`–, jĕ–), the study of family lineage. Genealogies have existed since ancient times. which can be traced back to these eventsand beyond. Post-settler nationhood also has a genealogy which linksunsuccessful settler projects of assimilation and tribal development tocurrent contradictory imaginings imaginingsNoun, plspeculative thoughts about what might be the case or what might happen; fantasies: lurid imaginingsof the place of Maori within thenation. On the one hand, New Zealand is imagined to be a bicultural andmulticultural nation within which Maori, as individuals, have officiallyrecognised cultural identities. On the other hand, New Zealand isimagined to be a treaty-based nation that is built upon a binaryrelationship between iwi (collectively) and Pakeha as a group. In theremainder of this paper I unravel these inter-connected genealogies inan attempt to shed some light on how the Sealord agreement, essentiallya backroom back��room?n. or back room1. A room located at the rear.2. The meeting place used by an inconspicuous controlling group.adj.1. deal between the Government and tribal leaders who clearlydid not represent Maori as a whole, can be widely viewed as legitimate. INDIVIDUALISATION AND THE NATIVE LAND COURT The individualisation and tribalisation of Maori society proceededin the second half of the nineteenth century via the disempowerment ofhapu leaders (leaders of landholding land��hold��er?n.One that owns land.landholding n. kin groups whose members tracedescent from a common ancestor through male and female links). A majormechanism for this disempowerment was the Native Land Court. Whereasformerly, access to land was mediated by allegiance to hapu and theirleaders, the Native Land Court, in creating lists of owners for legallysurveyed blocks, rendered such allegiance less necessary. The NativeLand Court was established by the Native Land Act 1862 and fully formedand activated by the 1865 Native Lands Act (Gilling 1994:123). Itsprimary objective was to replace collective ownership with titlesderived from the Crown thus enabling the Government or privateindividuals to bypass hapu leaders and deal directly with individualowners when acquiring land. This basic objective was fully recognised and supported by Courtjudges and officials and would not be significantly altered during thenineteenth century. In 1891, T.W. Lewis, Under-secretary of the NativeDepartment was clear that 'the whole object' of the Court wasto 'enable alienation for settlement'. He added, Unless this object is attained the Court serves no good purpose, and the Natives would be better without it, as, in my opinion, fairer Native occupation would be had under the Maoris' own customs and usages without any intervention whatever from outside (AJHR 1891 G-1:145). The setting up of a court designed to sever relationships betweenhapu leaders and their land without establishing alternative forms ofcollective governance was clearly in breach of the Treaty of Waitangi inthat it did not respect the rangatiratanga (self-determination) of theMaori People' (Waitangi Tribunal The Waitangi Tribunal (Māori: Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti) is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established by an Act of Parliament in 1975. 2001:144). Hapu were neversubsequently recognised as legitimate bodies for the administration oflands. Instead, after hapu control had been effectively undermined, newstructures were created in the Twentieth Century that accorded officialrecognition to representatives of larger, 'tribal' groupings. The creation of Crown-derived titles through the mechanism of theNative Land Court was termed 'individualisation' but, as Wardnotes, it was in fact 'pseudo-individualisation'; Every Maori owner's signature became a marketable commodity, but very few Maori owners got individual farms, surveyed and marked on the ground (Ward 1997: 250). During its early years of operation between 1865 and 1873 LandCourt policy was to name only 10 (usually chiefly) owners on thecertificate of title to blocks of land, regardless of their size.However, following an enquiry into the operation of the Court, the 1873Native Land Act required judges to list the names of all individualsfound to be owners on a Memorial of Ownership. This greatly facilitatedthe acquisition of land from individuals from whom shares could bebought (sometimes secretly) without chiefly consent. Once a prospectivepurchaser had accumulated sufficient shares he or she would then applyto the Court to have their interests partitioned out. In the process,non-sellers were often left with small, fragmented and uneconomicsegments (Gilling 1994:131). The prior purchasing of shares from individuals with a view topartition created divisions within and between communities, putting hapuleaders under enormous stress. Decades of bitter feuding betweenfactions often ensued with large sums of money (or the clearance of muchdebt) at stake. This was, as Ward has noted, 'a winner-take-allsituation, quite the opposite of one that encouraged Maori to respecteach other's interests in a spirit of aroha' (Ward 1997: 235). Hapu leadership was also weakened by the Land Court'ssuccession rules, which allowed all children to inherit equally fromboth parents. These rules virtually ensured that the number of ownersfor any one piece of land would increase significantly over time. Whilethis increase was not in itself damaging, when combined with the abilityof individual owners to have their abstract shareholdings transformedinto surveyed sub-divisions on the ground it produced 'a rapidfractionation fractionation/frac��tion��a��tion/ (frak?shun-a��shun)1. in radiology, division of the total dose of radiation into small doses administered at intervals.2. of title' (ibid.: 222). Moreover, successiondecisions of the Court took no account of whether successors were absentfrom or resident on the land. In the absence of any provision forgreater managerial control for inheritors who lived on or near the land,ownership of land became increasingly divorced from any practicalengagement with it. During the first decades of the Twentieth Century, therefore, therelationship between Maori people and their land became an increasinglysymbolic one, tied to idealised kinship and memory. A small number ofMaori, particularly in the North Island, became dairy-farmers ascommunities transformed their land from communally used spaces intovalleys of fenced paddocks. But most people had been left with smallfragments of little economic value, which they either sold or leased. OFFICIAL TRIBALISMS The fragmentation of Maori land and the associated disempowermentof hapu leaders went hand in hand with the development of an official,hierarchical model In a hierarchical data model, data are organized into a tree-like structure. The structure allows repeating information using parent/child relationships: each parent can have many children but each child only has one parent. that neatly divided Maori society into iwi (tribes),hapu (sub-tribes) and whanau (extended families), Iwi came to beregarded in the late nineteenth century as the major political unitwithin which a number of hapu were related via descent from a commontribal ancestor. Such a model could only gain widespread credence afterthe destruction of hapu via the Native Land Court. Maori in theeighteenth and early nineteenth centuries identified most strongly withhapu, not iwi. In her detailed account of the official tribalisation ofMaori society, Ballara depicts 18th century Maori society as a dynamicmosaic or kaleidoscope kaleidoscope(kəlī`dəskōp), optical instrument that uses mirrors to produce changing symmetrical patterns. Invented by the Scottish physicist Sir David Brewster in 1816, the device is usually a hand-held tube, a few inches to as much of hundreds of hapu which were forming,disappearing, dividing and forging numerous alliances with each other.Iwi (now translated as 'tribes') were, at this time, idealisedcategories of related hapu that almost never acted as corporate groups.Ballara likens these iwi to ethnic groups in that their members shared acommon set of beliefs and values including beliefs in common origins(Ballara 1998:127-30). Official tribalisation in the late nineteenth century not onlyimposed a hierarchical model upon Maori society; it also progressivelyreduced the number of groups able to be accorded the status of tribes.Ballara points out that official listings of tribes became progressivelyshorter from 1874 onwards. In Kaipara, North of Auckland, for example,the eight 'tribes' listed in 1870 are reduced to two by 1881.Thus six tribes were officially made to disappear (ibid.: 78). Alsoaccompanying the imposition of the hierarchical model was an elevationof 'friendly' hapu leaders to the status of 'tribalchiefs'--inevitably denigrating and insulting other leaders whooften had claims to land and mana that were equal or greater than thoseofficially recognised. Individualised dispossession The wrongful, nonconsensual ouster or removal of a person from his or her property by trick, compulsion, or misuse of the law, whereby the violator obtains actual occupation of the land. Dispossession encompasses intrusion, disseisin, or deforcement. and official tribalism were mostdramatically and poignantly displayed for the first time at Rotorua in1901 during the Royal Tour of the Duke and Duchess For the real-world peerages, see Duke.The Duke and Duchess of Boxford are people featured in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends TV Series. of Cornwall and York.Here, over three wet winter days in June, more than 6000 representativesfrom 'all the major tribes' gathered to put on a show oftraditional oratory oratory,the art of swaying an audience by eloquent speech. In ancient Greece and Rome oratory was included under the term rhetoric, which meant the art of composing as well as delivering a speech. , dance and song. And if tribes and tribalism were ondisplay for Royalty, they were also, as Balme has noted, equally ondisplay to each other (Balme 1998: 51). Tribalism was objectified inperformance--tribal mana was said to be at stake--but it was perhapsmost clearly visible in the physical layout of the camp, which wasdivided along tribal lines. In a remarkably detailed description of the event, written byRobert Loughan but drawing heavily on an account by future NativeMinister, Apirana Ngata, the tribalised performers are described asrelics of the ancient past; Once more the Maori lived in the past. For a brief space the edge of the heavy curtain that screened it was raised, old memories revived, old chords were touched anew, and hearts thrilled and vibrated to the weird music of dead ages (quoted by Balme 1998: 53). Yet beneath the feather cloaks and behind the scenes alternativeidentities could be glimpsed; There was a curious mingling of the old and new. Deeply tattooed warriors, some of who had witnessed a cannibal feast, rubbed noses with young men who rode bicycles and pounded the big drum in the brass band. In the dresses an effective compromise was effected. Over a creaseless frock coat fresh from the hands of the pakeha tailor a Maori mat was thrown, and a belltopper surmounted the combination (ibid.: 53). Thirty years later, Ngata, as Minister of Native Affairs, wouldrearrange re��ar��range?tr.v. re��ar��ranged, re��ar��rang��ing, re��ar��rang��esTo change the arrangement of.re this image, describing Pakeha clothing and individualism asveneers beneath which invisible tribal characteristics stronglypersisted. In keeping with this reassembled image, Ngata would alsotransform official tribalism from a nostalgic and idealisedrepresentation of Maori society into an equally idealised but optimistic op��ti��mist?n.1. One who usually expects a favorable outcome.2. A believer in philosophical optimism.op one. Ngata developed his official tribalism in the late 1920s as analternative to dominant assumptions of assimilation--he saw thedevelopment of tribal consciousness as a necessary complement to hiseconomic policies of individualisation (Sissons 2000). Both policiesdrew upon and reinforced a growing optimism over the future of Maorisociety. By the early 1920s it was becoming clear to both Maori andPakeha that the Maori were not a 'dying race' destined des��tine?tr.v. des��tined, des��tin��ing, des��tines1. To determine beforehand; preordain: a foolish scheme destined to fail; a film destined to become a classic.2. to fallby the wayside way��side?n.The side or edge of a road, way, path, or highway.adj.Situated at or near the side of a road, way, path, or highway: a wayside inn. of evolutionary progress Three billion years ago, life on Earth consisted of single-celled organisms, but now there is a tremendous variety of complex multi-celled creatures. It may seem obvious that there is progress in evolution, but the topic has inspired much controversy. . Instead, the populationincreased from an estimated low point of 42,113 in 1896 to 56,987 in1921. Life expectancy Life Expectancy1. The age until which a person is expected to live.2. The remaining number of years an individual is expected to live, based on IRS issued life expectancy tables. increased from less than 25 years in 1890 to 46years in 1925, due largely to growing immunity to introduced diseases(King 1981:280-81). However, the work of the Native Land Court hadshifted a large amount of productive land out of Maori ownership andfragmented that which remained. Difficulties in gaining loans forcollectively-owned blocks of land meant that the individual Maorifarmers and the communities to which they belonged struggled to make aliving from their land. Following his appointment as Minister of Maori Affairs in 1928,Ngata initiated Maori land-development schemes aimed at assisting Maoriinto farming. Up to three-fifths of the value of their'individualised' blocks could be allocated to individualfarmers through local land boards, to be repaid from subsequentagricultural production. But while this economic development programmeassumed the destruction of communal land Communal land: The term communal land in Zimbabwe refers to certain rural areas within Zimbabwe. Communal lands were formerly called Tribal Trust Lands (TTL's). Subsistence farming and small scale commercial farming are the principal economic activities in communal lands, tenure, Ngata now argued thattribal leadership and organisation persisted as 'invisiblefactors' hidden beneath a veneer of Pakeha individualism. In aletter written in 1931 to his friend, Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck) atthe Bishop Museum, Ngata noted: You formerly produced canoes, or runanga [council] houses, or crops for some tribal undertaking using such elements. We argue we can produce butter-fat in bulk but designed as to quantities to individual members of the community, tallied in a Pakeha way, recorded and paid for in a Pakeha way (Sorrenson 1988 vol.2:225) In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently , what appeared as individual Pakeha butterfat butterfatglobules in the milk of all species. It can be separated to make butter. The nutritional value and the price of milk are judged on, among other things, the butterfat content of the milk. production was in reality 'bulk' tribal production, driven bypersistent, yet invisible, tribal factors. Two years later, again in aletter to Te Rangi Hiroa, he described tribal life as a core aroundwhich economic success would be woven: Land development will help recover the self-respect of the race, besides providing what modern society requires for a decent existence. But it must, to satisfy those of us who have put our hearts and souls into the business of regeneration and maintenance of treasured elements in the native culture and the individuality of this branch of the Polynesians, be spread and woven around a living and vital embodiment of that culture in the marae and tribal life. And to see the dream being realised in this generation among one's own people and so rooted in their lives and thoughts that its existence for yet another half century is assured is sufficient reward for many years of strenuous labour. And the movement is spreading to other parts of the country (Sorrenson 1988 vol.3: 86). Ngata was here describing the beginnings of what he was convincedwould be a Maori cultural renaissance. Indeed, Ngata was remarkablysuccessful in encouraging a revival of dance, carving, weaving, oratoryand other aspects of traditional knowledge. Central to this project wasthe building of carved meeting houses, consciously directed towardsincreasing tribal pride. Praising the success of this project in 1940,Te Rangi Hiroa commented; I have the firm conviction that the renaissance in building carved tribal houses and the creation of sustained interest in their social importance will help perpetuate loyalty to tribal organisation for years to come (Buck 1940: 9). He was right. The contrast between Ngata's official tribalism and theofficial tribalism of the 19th century is strikingly apparent in thedifference between the descriptions of the 1901 tribal display atRotorua and that of a similar-sized event held in 1934. In 1934, underNgata's direction, 6000 tribal representatives were once againbrought together to perform haka (dances) and waiata (songs), this timein commemoration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Thirty-threetribes are listed as having performed on the occasion (Sorrenson 1988vol.3:136). In contrast to Ngata's (via Loughan) account of the1901 Rotorua spectacle, which emphasised the ancient age of theperformers--tattooed warriors from another time--Ngata's 1934account emphasised their youthfulness; As a demonstration of the renaissance in song, haka of all kinds and peruperu [dance accompanied by song] the Waitangi celebrations eclipsed anything since 1901. You would have been proud of the fact that of the twelve or thirteen hundred performers three-fourths were under 30 years of age (Sorrenson 1988 vol.3:133-34). Ngata's new official tribalism was evident, not only in theperformances but also in a ceremony, intended as a precedent, for thelaying of a foundation stone for a new building at Waitangi; ... the ceremony, by contrast with the kaleidoscopic activity of the performing parties on the previous day, was set as at the marae of a tribal centre with all tribal representatives--seated speakers--in position and parties ready to take up any cue they might give (ibid.: 135). INDIVIDUALISM, TRIBALISM AND SETTLER NATIONHOOD. Ngata saw in the Waitangi spectacle the possibility for thedevelopment of a new sense of nationhood based on the recognition oftribes. Its greatest service to New Zealand was, he wrote, 'thestock-taking of ideas of relationships between tribes and between Maoripeople and the Pakeha, the partners in the agreement of 1840 [the Treatyof Waitangi]' (ibid.: 136). Others too, including some among thePakeha establishment, saw possibilities for a new relationship between aMaori inter-tribal collective and the state. Ngata noted that after theWaitangi celebrations the Governor General, Lord Bledisloe, 'waskeen to capitalise [on] its results and suggested the creation of aninter-tribal council to harvest and store them' (ibid.: 137).However, Ngata convinced him of the wisdom of leaving things alone forfear of throwing Maoridom into a series of 'undesirabledebates' which would 'wreck his purpose'. It would not beuntil 1990 that Maori society would achieve a collective tribal voice Tribal Voice is also the name of a company that made one of the first Internet instant message and chat programs for Windows named Pow Wow in the mid 1990s. Tribal Voice is also the name of the official newsletter of Redskins Touch Club. through the formation of the National Maori Congress. The dominant official view of the relationship between Maori andPakeha within the settler nation remained one of the assimilation ofindividual Maori into Pakeha 'civilisation'. Indeed, Ngatahimself had only recently begun to question this view which, up until1927, he had vigorously promoted (Sissons 2000). In 1927, for example,he praised the 'remarkable' progress made by Maori individualsin participating in Pakeha society--progress most evident in thepopularity of tennis among Maori, in their 'deportment on thetennis lawn' and in the way in which 'the ideal of the Pakehahome was being realised in Maori villages'. The 'communalMaori had become 'an individualist', he declared. (AJHR AJHR Australian Journal of Human Rights 1927G-8: 1-2). One way in which Ngata sought to resolve the contradiction betweenhis ideals of tribalism and individualism was, as noted above, to regardindividualism as a mere surface phenomenon. A later attempt atresolution was to regard tribalism and individualism as two coexistingforms of life that corresponded to two classes of Maori; in a reversalof current assumptions, tribalism served a welfare function for lesssuccessful Maori labourers while individualism was appropriate forsuccessful Maori farmers (Ngata 1940: 152). The contradiction inNgata's thinking between tribalism and individualism was mirroredmore widely in the imagination of the nation. While officials and LordBledilsoe could celebrate Maori tribalism at Waitangi in 1934, in thesame year a commission of enquiry into Ngata's farm-developmentschemes criticised his tribalism (termed communalism com��mu��nal��ism?n.1. Belief in or practice of communal ownership, as of goods and property.2. Strong devotion to the interests of one's own minority or ethnic group rather than those of society as a whole. ) as a barrier toindividualisation. The enquiry had sought assurances from Ngata that hisschemes would not be used to promote a 'communal bias' andconcluded that the qualities needed for Maori progress were; ... individual ability, initiative, energy and persistence combined with a willingness to learn from the farm supervisor; a proper thrift; and a freedom from the need of observing tribal customs of hospitality and the like ... (AJHR 1934 G-11: 46-47). The commission's view, no doubt widely shared, was that theprogress of the nation depended on the assimilation of Maori to Pakehacivilisation and that tribalism constituted a barrier to this. Accused,in addition, of reckless overspending and favouritism towards his owntribe, Ngata was forced to resign as Minister of Native Affairsfollowing the publication of the commission's report (AJHR 1934G-10: 46). Yet, while the dominant view of the nation was that of aprogressive society in which Maori individuals were increasinglyparticipating, the dispossession of Maori land, which was the foundationsettler nationhood, continued to be officially addressed as a tribalmatter. In negotiating land claims, the Government insisted on dealingwith single groups of tribal representatives rather than several groupsof hapu leaders. For example, the members of first Ngai Tahu TrustBoard, appointed in 1928, were a small group of tribal negotiatorspreviously appointed to assist the Land Court in defining tribalboundaries and membership. In subsequent negotiations with Ngai Tahu,the Government would only deal with three tribal representatives(Ballara 1998: 315-16). This practice of forcing large numbers of Maorihapu into a single tribal body represented by a small group ofnegotiators was to be repeated elsewhere (Ballara discusses examplesfrom Waikato, Taranaki, Northland north��landalso North��land ?n.A region in the north of a country or an area.northland and the central North Island) astribal trust boards were created to deal with land claims. Withreference to the Tuwharetoa Trust Board, whose members were firstappointed by the Government in 1925, Ballara notes; The various hapu expected to make their own decisions, and only acceded, as far as they did, to the Government's pressure for one formal representative body when it became clear that the Government would tolerate no other options. No mechanisms of tribal control existed until they were put in place by setting up the Tuwharetoa Trust Board with centralised control over the expenditure of Tuwharetoa's income (ibid.: 325). While there were variations in structures of pseudo-representation,the Tuwharetoa experience was widely repeated from 1945 onwards. Thustribalism was given an enduring institutional presence alongsideassimilation as Maori began moving in large numbers into the cities. Inan ironic reversal of Ngata's expectations in 1940, therefore, itwas the dispossessed Maori labourer who was subjected most strongly tothe forces of individualisation while the rural Maori farmer cultivatedthe symbols and maintained the structures of the newly institutionalised Adj. 1. institutionalised - officially placed in or committed to a specialized institution; "had hopes of rehabilitating the institutionalized juvenile delinquents"institutionalized2. tribal identities. INDIVIDUALISM, TRIBALISM AND POST-SETTLER NATIONHOOD Nineteenth and 20th century Maori individualism and Maori tribalismwere both constructions of settler society, pursued and resisted indifferent ways by Maori and the New Zealand state. Settler nationhoodimagined New Zealand as a progressive nation within which Maori triballife was being dissolved into a generalised and individualised'European civilisation'. Tribalism was of the past, althoughit would continue to have some limited administrative value in thepresent, and assimilation was the future. Ngata promoted an alternative,post-assimilationist, vision in which an ongoing relationship betweenMaori and Pakeha would characterise the nation's identity well intothe foreseeable future. However, he came up against 'the Pakehaestablishment' which, through the commission of enquiry,'brought him down' (Sorrenson 1988 vol.3: 257). Ngata'sdemise also meant the further marginalisation Noun 1. marginalisation - the social process of becoming or being made marginal (especially as a group within the larger society); "the marginalization of the underclass"; "the marginalization of literature"marginalization of his alternativenational vision. Post-settler nationhood is neither settler nationhood norNgata's alternative. Instead, a new official tribalism is broughttogether with a form of bicultural individualism. Tribalism was accordeda renewed official recognition through the Runanga Iwi Act in 1989.Under this Act provision was made for officially recognised tribes tobecome vehicles for the delivery of government welfare services toMaori. Although the Act was repealed in 1990, following a change ofGovernment and widespread confusion as to the definition of iwi, manyrunanga iwi (tribal councils) that were formed around this time continueto deliver welfare services. In addition to this welfare tribalism therehas been a significant growth in corporate tribalism encouraged by theTreaty claims process. Tribal leaders, including those of Ngai Tahu inthe South Island and Waikato, now manage investments amounting tohundreds of millions of dollars derived largely from Treaty settlements. Like Ngata's assimilationism as��sim��i��la��tion��ism?n.A policy of furthering cultural or racial assimilation.as��simi��la , contemporary biculturalism A policy of biculturalism is typically adopted in nations that have emerged from a history of national or ethnic conflict in which neither side has gained complete victory. This condition usually arises as a consequence of colonial settlement. assumes a nation of cultured (or inadequately cultured) individualsliving alongside and complementing official tribalism. Post-settlernationhood is, therefore, an uneasy juxtaposition of two imaginedcommunities The imagined community is a concept coined by Benedict Anderson which states that a nation is a community socially constructed and ultimately imagined by the people who perceive themselves as part of that group. : a Treaty nation, in which tribes have a quasi-legalrelationship with the Crown as the representative of settler interests;and a bicultural nation in which individuals share--albeitunequally--two cultures. The Treaty nation is most fundamentally aterritory owned by iwi and the Crown. For Pakeha who seek their identitywithin this nation, the Treaty claims settlement process is more than amatter of law and economics. By exposing and acknowledging (with Crownapologies, ministerial tears and money) the dispossession at the heartof settler nationhood the process affirms a new post-settler nation inwhich post-settlers (i.e. these Pakeha) may now claim to legitimatelybelong. Of course there are other Pakeha, still wedded to settlernationhood, for whom the exposure of dispossession is understood as anongoing challenge to their legitimate belonging. Pakeha belonging within a Treaty nation absolutely requires theperpetuation of official, territorial tribalism. Not so for Pakehabelonging within a bicultural nation; biculturalism confers upon themcultural rather than territorial legitimacy. Within a bicultural nation,Maori and Pakeha are individuals attributed with different cultures,each of which is accorded equal legitimacy. But, paradoxically, it isMaori belonging that is at issue within such a nation--and here thecontinuities with assimilationism are most insidious. Just as settlernationhood sought the inclusion of Maori as cultured individuals, so toodoes post-settler nationhood; the only difference being the culture thatis required. Whereas settler nationhood required Maori to become Pakeha,post-settler nationhood requires Maori to become Maori. In other words,biculturalism requires Maori to visibly inhabit a distinctive culturewith traditional roots, with tribal roots. CONCLUSION As I noted at the beginning of this paper, the great unfinishedproject of post-settler nationhood is to translate illegitimatepossession into legitimate belonging. Treaty nationhood is thepredominant imaginary field within which this has been most recentlypursued in New Zealand. I have sought to trace a genealogy of this formof national imagination through a sequence of different officialtribalisms that have been developed alongside projects ofindividualisation: the undermining of hapu leadership; farm development;and proletarianisation. Bicultural nationhood has now largely displacedassimilation as the national field within which relations between Maoriand Pakeha, as cultured individuals, are defined and transformed. The fisheries dispute exposes, in a particularly litigious way, theweaknesses of both Treaty and Bicultural nationhood in New Zealand;neither have a place for relocated, non-tribally affiliated Maori. Thefailure to include Urban Maori Authorities and those they represent inthe Sealord deal is not, therefore, simply a matter of political will orlegal rights. Also at issue is the inclusiveness of the imaginarynational field within which this will and these rights are formed. Whenthis field is a binary one, constituted around Treaty relationships withtribes or bicultural relations then voices from a third space havedifficulty in articulating an authoritative position. Their thirdposition appears awkward and unnatural, no matter how just or wellfounded it is. Urban Maori Authorities have therefore been forced tochallenge the fisheries deal by claiming that they too are iwi (tribes),the legitimacy of Treaty-nationhood itself being beyond question. The relationship between tribal and other Maori identities hasbecome a troubling issue for those seeking greater recognition for aMaori nation. The Maori Congress, a tribally-based national tribal bodyestablished in 1990, has, since 1995, been struggling to reconcile adesire for greater tribal self-determination with the desire for astronger collective Maori voice that transcends tribalism (Durie 1998:228). While it has concluded that 'the two need not becompatible' the creation of formal structures that recognise bothwithin a Maori nation has yet to be achieved. However, Urban MaoriAuthorities and those they represent seek neither a collective Maorivoice nor a tribal one. Instead, they seek recognition as a legitimatenew Maori voice questioning current understandings of post-settlernationhood. Issues surrounding tribal and indigenous authenticity are, ofcourse, by no means confined to New Zealand. They are a concern for allindigenous peoples within post-settler states. At the same time thatauthentic tribal belonging is being required in New Zealand in order togain access to fish, authentic traditional belonging has become a legalprecondition for the recognition of Aboriginal land rights in Australia.A key provision of the Native Title Act, which followed the Mabodecision, is that claimants must be able to demonstrate a continuoustraditional connection to the land being claimed. As might have beenexpected, the definition of 'traditional connection' has sincebecome an extremely contentious issue in Australia with one of theconsequences being increasing tensions between rural and urban peopleover rights to land. There are, therefore, clear parallels betweenconflicts that have arisen between urban and rural groups over landrights in Australia and disputes over fish quota in New Zealand. In Canada, also, urban Aboriginal people are considered lesssocially authentic than those on reserves, and have less access tosocial services social servicesNoun, plwelfare services provided by local authorities or a state agency for people with particular social needssocial servicesnpl → servicios mpl socialesthan reserve Indians. Despite the fact that almost halfof all Aboriginal people in Canada live Canada Live is a Canadian radio program, which debuted on March 19, 2007 on CBC Radio Two. Hosted by Matt Galloway weekdays and Patti Schmidt on weekends, the program airs concert performances in a variety of musical genres from locations across Canada. in cities and towns, a RoyalCommission on Aboriginal People reported in 1999 that 'littlethought had been given to improving their circumstances' (RoyalCommission on Aboriginal Peoples The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) was a royal commission established in 1991 to address many issues of Aboriginal status that had come to light with recent events such as the Oka Crisis and the Meech Lake Accord. 1996: 3). In the United States United States,officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , theIndian Arts and Crafts arts and crafts,term for that general field of applied design in which hand fabrication is dominant. The term was coined in England in the late 19th cent. as a label for the then-current movement directed toward the revivifying of the decorative arts. Act, signed into US law in 1990, makes it acriminal offence for non-Indians to claim Indian origins for theircreative work. Its intention is to protect Native Americans engaged inthe art and crafts market, but there is a catch--the Act requires thesepeople to be members of federally recognised tribes or to be certifiedby one of these tribes. Many have been unable to meet the varyingblood-quantum and descent requirements of tribes and so have beenexcluded from participation, as Indians, in the art market. At issue in each case is an official recognition that kin-basedidentities are changing and the limited extent to which tribalstructures are able to represent these new identities. Tribalism, whenwielded by governments, can so easily become an oppressive authenticity,and this has been particularly so in the New Zealand context where ithas been reinforced by treaty nationhood. The struggle for legitimacy byurban Maori leaders promises to be a long and difficult one, even withdemography demography(dĭmŏg`rəfē), science of human population. Demography represents a fundamental approach to the understanding of human society. apparently on their side. Treaty nationhood and Maoritribalism need each other and, as we have seen, they have been livingtogether for quite a long time now. REFERENCES Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR):1891, G-1; 1927, G-8; 1934, G-11 BALLARA, A. 1998. Iwi: The Dynamics of Maori Tribal Organisationfrom c.1769 to c.1945, Wellington, Victoria University Press. BALME, C. 1998. 'Hula and Haka: Performance, Metonymy metonymy(mĭtŏn`əmē), figure of speech in which an attribute of a thing or something closely related to it is substituted for the thing itself. Thus, "sweat" can mean "hard labor," and "Capitol Hill" represents the U.S. Congress. andIdentity Formation in Colonial Hawaii and New Zealand', HumanitiesResearch 3:41-58. BUCK, P. (Te Rangi Hiroa) 1940. 'Forward' in I.Sutherland (ed.), The Maori People Today: A General Survey, Wellington,Institute for International Affairs Noun 1. international affairs - affairs between nations; "you can't really keep up with world affairs by watching television"world affairsaffairs - transactions of professional or public interest; "news of current affairs"; "great affairs of state" & NZCER NZCER New Zealand Council for Educational Research , pp. 1-18. DURIE, M. 1998. Te Mana, Te Kawanatanga: The Politics of MaoriSelf-Determination, Auckland, Oxford University Press. GILLING, B. 1994. 'Engine of Destruction? An Introduction tothe History of the Maori Land Court', Victoria University ofWellington Law Review, 24(2) 115-139. KING, M. 1981. 'Between Two Worlds', in The OxfordHistory of New Zealand The history of New Zealand dates back at least seven hundred years to when it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture centred on kinship links and land. , edited by W.H. Oliver with B.R. Williams,Wellington, Oxford University Press, pp. 279-301. MAAKA, R. 1994. 'The New Tribe: Conflicts and Continuities inthe Social Organisation Noun 1. social organisation - the people in a society considered as a system organized by a characteristic pattern of relationships; "the social organization of England and America is very different"; "sociologists have studied the changing structure of the family" of Urban Maori', The Contemporary Pacific,6(2):311-336. MELBOURNE, H. 1995. Maori Sovereignty: The Maori Perspective,Auckland, Hodder Moa Beckett. MOON, P. 1998. 'The Creation of the' Sealord Deal",Journal of the Polynesian Society The Polynesian Society is a non-profit organization based at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, dedicated to the scholarly study of the history, ethnography, and mythology of Oceania. , 107(2): 145-174. National BusinessReview (NBR), Aug 23, 2002. New Zealand Law Report (NZLR), 2000, 1 'Te Waka Hi Ika o TeArawa :For the canoe from Māori tradition, see Arawa (canoe).Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) based in the Rotorua and Bay of Plenty areas of New Zealand, with a population of around 40,000. v Trty Waitangi Fisheries Comm', p.285. NGATA, A. 1940. 'Tribes Today' in I. Sutherland (ed.),The Maori People Today: A General Survey, Wellington, Institute forInternational Affairs & NZCER pp. 149-174. PIHAMA, L. 1994. The Fiscal Envelope: The Generation Cap.Videorecording, Auckland, Moko For the form of Māori tattooing, see .For the bronze drum found in Indonesia, see .For the smart phone project, see .In the mythology of Mangaia in the Cook Islands, Moko is a wily character and grandfather of the heroic Ngaru. (Gill 1876:234). Productions. ROYAL COMMISSION ON ABORIGINAL PEOPLES. 1996. People to People,Nation to Nation: Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples,Volume 4, Chapter 7, Ottawa. SISSONS, J. 2000. 'The Post-assimilationist Thought of SirApirana Ngata: Towards a Genealogy of New Zealand Biculturalism',New Zealand Journal of History, 34(1): 47-59. SORRENSON, M. (ed.) 1988. Na To Hoa Aroha arohaNounNZ love, compassion, or affection [Maori] , From Your Dear Friend:The Correspondence Between Sir Apirana Ngata and Sir Peter Buck,1925-1950, Auckland, Auckland University Press. TAMIHERE, J. 2000. Maiden Speech to Parliament. www.scoop.co.nz.8/27/03 WARD, A. 1997. National Overview, Volume II, Waitangi TribunalRangahau Whanui Series, Waitangi Tribunal. WAITANGI TRIBUNAL, 2001. Rekohu: A Report on Moriori and NgatiMutunga Claims in the Chatham Islands. WEBSTER, S. 1998. Patrons of Maori Culture: Power, Theory andIdeology in the Maori Renaissance, Dunedin, University of Otago The University of Otago (Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo) in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 20,000 students enrolled during 2006. Press. Jeffrey Sissons Victoria University of Wellington