Kei ō tātou ringa te rongoa? Is the remedy already at hand? The assertion and application of tikanga as a valid and credible response to contemporary issues.

Abstract

This thesis examines the notion that tikanga is well positioned to address issues confronting Māori and other indigenous groups who strive to achieve self-determination and the freedom to be and to do. This work is inspired by the late John Te Rangi-āniwaniwa Rangihau’s statement, “Ko te rongoā kei roto i ō tātau ringa” (1987, p. 24), which promotes the notion that through culture and identity Māori already have within their grasp the answers to contemporary matters of import in te ao Māori. This thesis inverts that statement and presents it as a question querying whether indeed the remedy is at hand and, if so, could tikanga and cultural identity be that remedy. To that end this study deliberately sets out to examine if the rongoa of self-determination, power and freedom can be achieved by the assertion and application of Māori ways of being and doing, that is to say by exercising tikanga. Understanding notions of tikanga, sovereignty, and indigeneity is pivotal to this study as is articulating the notion of third space. This thesis argues that these four notions are interconnected when considering ideas of self-determination for disempowered groups. A case study forms a large part of this work and focuses on an indigenous group operating from a pre-contact tupuna worldview and based on He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni 1835/Declaration of Independence of New Zealand 1835. This particular group was chosen because it presented as being a point of intersect for the four notions of tikanga, sovereignty, indigeneity and the third space. This thesis argues that whilst tikanga is a powerful mechanism for determining and rationalising ways of being and doing it has less to offer at a pragmatic level when it comes to effecting change in the status quo. However, when overlaid with the third space lens new perspectives can be enunciated and new opportunities detected which in turn can lead to determining new actions. Through this study it becomes clear that the assertion and application of tikanga contributes to, but on its own is not, the whole answer.