Iwi
Iwi () are the largest everyday social units in
Māori society. In pre-European times,
iwi was synonymous with
nation; it described fully the people to whom a person belonged and owed allegiance. With the development of the country now called
New Zealand, a much bigger social unit, the meaning became analogous to that of
tribe or
clan.
Iwi groups can trace their ancestry to the original Māori settlers that arrived from
Hawaiiki, at least according to
tradition. Māori who know their
iwi connections typically value them highly and place great pride in knowing their genealogy. Their origin is among the first things they mention when introducing themselves.
In the
Māori language,
iwi also means
bones. The Māori author,
Keri Hulme, named her best known (1985
Booker Prize) novel
The Bone People, a title linked directly to the dual meaning of bone and
tribal people. Returning home after travelling or living elsewhere is known as "going back to the bones", literally to where the ancestors are buried. Many societies would use the word
roots.
Many
iwi cluster into super-groups based on
genealogical tradition, known as
waka (literally: "
canoes", i.e. the original
migratory canoes). Each
iwi can be divided into a number of
hapu ("sub-tribes"). (For example, the
Ngāti Whātua iwi consists of the hapu: Te Uri O Hau, Te Roroa, Te Taou, and Ngāti Whātua ki Orakei.)
Despite migration within New Zealand and intermarriage with non-Māori over a couple of centuries, most iwi groups still exist and have significant political power, which they exercise to recover land and other assets taken from them over the last 150 years. A notable example of this is the recent settlement between the New Zealand Government and the Ngāi Tahu, compensating that iwi for various losses of the rights that were guaranteed in the
Treaty of Waitangi of 1840. Iwi affairs have a very real impact on New Zealand politics and society. A
current claim by some iwi that they
own the seabed and foreshore in their areas has polarised public opinion (see
New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy).
The following extract from a recent
High Court of New Zealand judgment (discussing the fishing rights settlement process) illustrates some of the problems:
*"... 81 per cent of Māori now live in urban areas, at least one-third live outside their tribal influence, more than one-quarter do not know their iwi or for some reason do not choose to affiliate with it, at least 70 per cent live outside the traditional tribal territory and these will have difficulties, which in many cases will be severe, in both relating to their tribal heritage and in accessing benefits from the settlement. It is also said that many Māori reject tribal affiliation because of a working class unemployed attitude, defiance and frustration. Related but less important factors, are that a hapu may belong to more than one iwi, a particular hapu may have belonged to different iwi at different times, the tension caused by the social and economic power moving from the iwi down rather than from the hapu up, and the fact that many iwi do not recognise spouses and adoptees who do not have kinship links."
In the
2001 census, 32.6 per cent of the 604,110 people who claimed Māori ancestry did not know their
iwi, or only stated a general geographical region or merely gave a canoe name. It seems that the number who "don't know" has remained relatively constant over the last three censuses, despite measures such as the "Iwi Helpline".
In recent years, "Urban Māori" have challenged the established tribal (
iwi-based) Māori power base. Urban Māori form groups of people that, while unashamedly Māori, either choose not to identify with any particular
iwi, or are unable to (typically because they do not know which
iwi they are descended from). A particular Māori person may decide to support non-tribal structures because they believe the existing
iwi do not give significant value to them, or that they believe that
iwi are unable to understand their point-of-view.
They are typically urban bred, and probably identify with European culture to a much larger degree than traditional Māori, and often feel that a non-
iwi group best represents their needs. How the traditional
iwi groups respond to this remains to be seen. (As yet, some appear dismissive of these notions.) Notably, one such group has been created believing that Urban Māori are not getting their fair share of "treaty settlements" between the Māori people and the New Zealand government.
Prominent
iwi include:
*
Ngāi Tahu or "Kai Tahu" (based in the south of
New Zealand - most of the
South Island.)
*
Ngapuhi (the largest
iwi, with over 100,000 people stating their affiliation to it in the 2001 census; based in
Northland)
*
Ngati Kahungunu -
Hawke's Bay and
Wairarapa*
Ngati Maniapoto (based in the
Waikato-
Waitomo region)
*
Ngati Porou -
Gisborne-
East Cape*
Ngati Tama (based in
Taranaki and
Wellington)
*
Ngati Toa (based in
Porirua, having migrated from
Kawhia in the 1820s under the leadership of
Te Rauparaha)
*
Ngati Ruanui (based in the
Taranaki region)
*
Ngāti Whātua (based in and north of
Auckland - notably Bastion Point in
Orakei)
*
Tainui (based in the
Waikato region)
*
Te Arawa (
Bay of Plenty) - with several subtribes
*
Te Atiawa -
Taranaki and
Lower Hutt*
Tuhoe (
Urewera/
Whakatane)
*
Ngati Tuwharetoa (based in the central
North Island)
*
Whakatohea (based in the
Opotiki district)
Note that each
iwi has a generally recognised territory (
rohe), but many of these overlap, sometimes completely.[
1] This has added a layer of complication to the long-running discussions and court cases about how to resolve historical Treaty claims. The length of coastline was one factor in the final (2004) legislation to allocate fishing rights in settlement of commercial fisheries claims.
*
List of Māori iwi*
Map of Tribal areas*
Profiled websites, including past and present iwi*
The home page of the Waikato tribe, one of the tribes of the Tainui waka*
Ngāi Tahu homepage*
Ngapuhi homepage*
Urban Māori Article in the New Zealand Herald details the creation and rationale for the National Urban Māori Authority.
