Whenua ki te whenua. Indigenous naming of the land and its people

Whenua ki te whenua. Indigenous naming of the land and its people by reconnecting the past to the present and the future

This article reports on the second stage of the three-year Marsden-funded research project “Languaculture within Te Ao Māori: Learning from Infants, Whānau and Communities”, undertaken with Māori hapū in Aotearoa New Zealand. It presents the voices of kaumātua and whānau from the hapū speaking on their worldviews, values, experiences and practices related to naming tamariki. Their narratives of experiences provide insights into motivations, influences and understandings concerned with naming practices from traditional pre-European to contemporary times.