Week 7: Maori Perspectives Flashcards
What does Koro’s medicine (book) teach us?
Maori perspectives on child development
Traditional knowledge of plants to treat everyday injuries -> cuts, scraps
Different perspectives of the grandfather and child
Sharing of knowledge across generations (within wider whanau I.e. child and grandfather) -> orally
Grandparents have an educative role within maori families
Touches on disillusion of traditional living arrangements -> I.e. the grandchild had to travel by bus to see grandfather and they don’t see each other often -> traditionally maori families would live together and the passing on inter-generational knowledge would be a lot easier -> this reflects a changing in modern society (impact of urbanization) due to colonisation
Participatory learning -> learning alongside someone actively doing something
Whanau
Whānau is the fundamental building block within Māori society.
Whānau is generally translated as ‘extended family’, consisting
of up to three or four generations, and was the basic social unit
under the direction of elders
Wider definition of family than western ideas (could be around 30 people)
Where do Maori children form their identify from ?
Participation in Kin groups i.e. from the collective not individualistic
Hapu
Subtribe - section of a large kinship group and the
primary political unit in traditional Māori society. It consisted of a
number of whānau sharing descent from a common ancestor. . .
.
Iwi
number of related hapu usually sharing territory, forming a looser tribal formation
Bound geographically rather than necessarily whakapapa
What is the traditional role of whanau in child development?
“Within precolonial Māori society the whānau was the first point of
learning for the Māori child
“Upbringing and development [of children] was viewed as an evolving
process, located deep within whānau bonds”
Children’s development and learning was not seen as the sole responsibility of the direct parents but of all adults in the wider group (it takes a village) -> This shared approach was
possible because children lived
within a environment that
included at least 3 generations.
How does the role of parents and grandparents differ as the child grows?
- Parents played an especially
important role in a child’s
development during infancy. - Grandparents (tūpuna/tīpuna)
played an increasingly important
role in a child’s development
during childhood.
What are kohanga reo?
Immergent spaces children were maori children were enrolled in during the 80s to revitalise language and culture, family also deeply invovled in this process -> founded by dame dame iritana tawhiwhirangi
Colonisation and urbanisation
The urban migration of Māori has been described as the most rapid movement of any population.
Year and % of Māori Population Living in Towns & Cities
1945 26%
1956 35%
1966 62%
1986 80%
The governments “pepper-potting” policy prevented whānau and hapū from living together (forced to adopt the western nuclear family structure) and isolated Māori from their language and culture
* Knowledge of traditional child-rearing practices was eroded
Te Pā Harakeke
Flax plant
Used as a symbol of the whanau and how the child sits in the center of protective mechanism:
-The child exists as the central root (rito)
-The parents are the next layer of flax surrounding (Awhi rito)
-Then the grandparents (tupuna)
It [the flax plant] is a total environment in which, Māori assert, the past stands as a resource to sustain the current and future generations”
Tiakina te Pā Harakeke: Māori Childrearing
within a Context of Whānau Ora
Project to harness children maori child bearing processes that have been lost in modern times
They consulted experts on maori child bearing processes (weavers of flax bush) = one idea is many parents, all generations work together to nurture and raise the child
What is the waiata sung about the flax bush?
Hutia te Rito:
Pluck the centre shoot
from the flax bush,
Where will the bellbird sing?
You ask me
What is the most important
thing in the world?
I will say
It is people,
It is people,
It is people
Essence of this whakatuaki is the importance of nurturing children. The Rito emerges with the parents and grandparents around. Weavers know not to cut the central root as If you do the plant dies
What was traditionally the maori view of children and how did that approach change with western influence? In other words what ideas did colonialism bring about the place of children in the world
Traditionally children were not chastised in maori cultural they were worshipped and cared for, nurtured, adored -> vibrancy, cheekiness celebrated.
Teaching and learning was informal and embedded in the life of the community – happened naturally and with inclusivity.
Colonial ideas place children as lesser than and that they need to be disciplined. The idea of children being Seen and not heard is very western.
What is Te Whariki ?
Early childhood education approach that has Maori concepts deeply embedded (e.g. natural world, interrelational, mana, tapu)
It is law that you have to use the full part of document to inform education and the goal is to be more culturally sustaining
Whakatauki from Te Whariki are:
He purapura i ruia mai i
Rangiātea e kore e ngaro
* A seed sown in Rangiātea will
never be lost
- Tū mai e moko. Te whakaata o
ō mātua. Te moko o ō tīpuna. - Stand strong, moko. The
reflection of your parents.
The blueprint of your ancestors.
Oriori and Child Development
A type of chant that was composed especially for infants and young children about his/her ancestry and tribal history.
Can do it from last ten weeks of pregnancy as baby can hear, the baby will recognise lullabies and voices/ stories that were told to them in the womb and it is soothing and familiar to them
By the time the child is old enough to ask questions they have committed the knowledge to memory -> have deep knowledge of who they are and where they fit in the world
Whenua
Land = Place of belonging, draw sense of identity from
* Placenta or afterbirth = traditional practices starting to weave back in rather than burning the placenta or viewing it as gross (colonized idea). Placenta has mana in maori view.
The word whenua links these two concepts of the placenta and the land
Rangimarie Rose Pere +ideas in writing
Maori scholar
Writes about maori based concepts of health
Ideas from writing =
Grew up alongside many generations
Grandparents generations influenced most of learning
Learn through participation and observation -> guided participation
Tradition gatherings -> included through everything (even funerals)
Guided Participation: Rogoff and connection to Vygotsky
“Although Vygotsky’s [ZPD] idea is very important, it seems to focus especially on the kind of interaction involved in schooling and preparation for use of academic discourse and tools. . . . The focus on instructional interactions tends to overlook other forms of engagement that are also
important to children’s learning”
I.e. Vygotsky focuses on how guidance from a more knowledgeable other helps to achieving academic goals (still very much a western perspective) not in just the observation and transmission of idea sin everyday life
What is Rogoff’s idea of guided participation?
Guided participation provides a perspective to help us focus on the varied ways children learn as they participate in and are guided by the values and
practices of their cultural communities”
They can learn through actively observing and participating but also through reciting lessons in whakatauki
Te Wheke Model -what is it?
It is a maori health model developed by Dr. Rangimarie Rose Pere in the 1980s
NOTE: Acknowledge that it is not the only maori health model and that different regions/ iwis have different ideas
Te Wheke model -> body and head
The body and the head represent the individual/the whānau (family). This is the foundation of wellbeing
Te Wheke model -> tentacles
Each tentacle represents a dimension that requires and needs certain things to help give sustenance to the whole
Te Wheke model -> suckers
The suckers on each tentacle represent the many facets that exist within each
dimension
Te Wheke model -> eyes
The eyes reflect the type of sustenance each tentacle has been able to find and
gain for the whole. If each tentacle receives sufficient sustenance for the whole,
the eyes will reflect waiora (total wellbeing).
How is te Wheke a fluid model?
- The intertwining of the tentacles represents a merging of each dimension.
- The dimensions need to be understood in relation to each other, and within the
context of the whole.
-Recognises the individuality of each child
The Poutama: Royal Tangaere
The stepped pattern of tukutuku
panels and woven mats.
- Symbolises both genealogies
and the various levels of learning
and intellectual achievement. - Some say they represent the
steps which Tāne ascended to
the topmost realm in his quest for superior
knowledge and religion
What are the dimensions of a person represented by in Poutama? What are these dimensions?
The layered steps represent the
dimensions of a person
- Dimensions can be identified as
separate entities but all work together as a whole
Tinana: Physical development
* Hinengaro: Cognitive development
* Wairua: Spiritual development
* Whatumanawa: Emotional development
How does Poutama relate to Vygotsky’s ZPD ?
The steps of poutama provide a visual of the learning process -> the space between steps is the ZPD where the individual may need guidance from a more knowledgeable other to progress
The previous stp is the old ZPD now internalised by the learner
Octopus tentacle in te wheke model : Wairuatanga
-Spirituality
Octopus tentacle in te wheke model : Hinengaro
The mind
Octopus tentacle in te wheke model : Taha Tinana
Physical wellbeing
Octopus tentacle in te wheke model : Whanaungatanga
Extended family and relationships
Head in te wheke model : Te Whanau
The family
Eyes in te wheke model : Waiora
Total Wellbeing for the individual and family
Octopus tentacle in te wheke model : Mauri
Life force in people and objects
Octopus tentacle in te wheke model: Mana Ake
Unique identity of individuals and family
Octopus tentacle in te wheke model: Ha a koro ma, a kui ma
Breath of life from forebearers (ancestral connections)
Octopus tentacle in te wheke model: Whatumanawa
The open and healthy expression of emotion
All 8 tentacles in the te wheke model
-Whatumanawa
-Ha a koro ma, a kui ma
-Mana Ake
-Mauri
-Whanaungatanga
-Taha tinana
-Hinengaro
-Wairuatanga
