Tuaupiki, HakiKana, Ivan2026-05-222026-05-222025https://hdl.handle.net/10289/18295Te Ipu Mahara – The Chanting Memories of an Indigenous People explores how Māori knowledge systems have been retained, transmitted, and adapted across generations. Guided by kaupapa Māori methodology and framed within Indigenous research paradigms, this thesis examines the resilience of Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) as both a living inheritance and a dynamic practice. While Māori knowledge systems are well established within Indigenous scholarship, this thesis contributes to that body of work by centring Māori voices to articulate how knowledge is retained, transmitted, and renewed through embodied, spiritual, and relational practices. The study investigates three central pou (pillars): Retention, Transference, and Survival & Innovation. Drawing on a combination of literature review, participant interviews, and oral histories, it identifies whakapapa as the architecture of memory; chanting, waiata (song), and karakia (prayer) as vital mnemonic and spiritual technologies; and wānanga (discussion) as enduring pedagogical spaces. It highlights the role of knowledge holders as kaitiaki mahara, whose responsibilities extend beyond preservation to adaptation and creativity. Findings demonstrate that Māori knowledge has survived not by remaining static, but through continual renewal. Colonisation disrupted traditional pathways, yet communities have responded with resilience - composing new oriori (lullaby), embedding mātauranga in classrooms, revitalising te reo Māori, and harnessing digital tools to sustain intergenerational transmission. Knowledge retention is shown to be holistic and embodied, encompassing spiritual, relational, and physical dimensions of learning. Academically, this research contributes to Indigenous scholarship on memory, pedagogy, and decolonisation. Culturally, it is an offering of utu - returning kōrero and reflections to the communities who sustain them. The metaphor of the ipu (vessel) captures the essence of this work: memory as something carried, chanted, embodied, and continually replenished. Ultimately, the thesis affirms that the survival of Māori knowledge systems is inseparable from the survival of Māori futures. Each chant, whakapapa, and act of wānanga binds past, present, and future together, ensuring that the wisdom of tūpuna (ancestors) endures as a pathway for the generations to come.enAll items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.Thesis