Kaupapa Māori

Abstract

In contemporary times Kaupapa Māori has become the term that represents the ontology and epistemology of the Indigenous Māori people of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Kaupapa Māori is drawn from Māori customary ways of knowing and being that have originated from the intergenerational relationships between Māori, and their natural world, beings, and entities. Like many other Indigenous peoples across the world, Māori have survived been invaded and conquered by an imperialist nation. In the context of Aotearoa/New Zealand the imperial conquering nation was Britain. Māori culture, knowledge systems and language were decimated and replaced by British colonial settler culture, language, and knowledge. The Māori that survived the invasion by the British colonists were strong determined people and these traits have been inherited by their descendants of this time and who are equally determined in the activity of seeking the recovery of Māori ways of knowing and being. Within this paper the cultural reclamation by Māori of all things Māori including their knowledge systems and cultural ways of knowing is understood as Kaupapa Māori.