The beauty of te ao Māori is the pragmatic fluidity of many of our concepts. Generally employed to explain our genealogical links and connections to land, whakapapa can also be applied within the context of rangahau to organise, structure, analyse and understand information, experiences and relationships. This article introduces Te Waka Pounamu, a whakapapa-based framework developed as a methodological research model for my doctoral studies. Included in the whakapapa framework is a tikanga Māori model I have named Te Tuamaka.

He rahi ngā kupu kōrero mō tēnei āhua o te ao wairua kei roto i te ao Māori. He hokinga ki te nehenehe nui o te ao ātea, ki tōna kunenga mai ki te ao tūroa. Ko tana whakapapa i ahu mai i te orokohanga:

Te Rākau o Te Ao

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Te Ao Mātinitini = Te Rangi Mātinitini

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Ngā atua nui tonu (70)

(Williams, K. K. & T. T. R., 1980)

Te reo Māori, the Indigenous language of Aotearoa New Zealand Māori, suffered great marginalisation due to British colonisation, the effects of which are still experienced today. We interpreted national probability data from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study and constructed two models. Participants rated how strongly they supported teaching Māori language in New Zealand primary schools, from 1 (strongly oppose) to 7 (strongly support). Model 1 assessed how demographics related to support in 2015 (N = 15,821).

This article illuminates the embryonic academic practice of writing doctoral theses in te reo Māori, storying the experiences of graduates, supervisors, examiners and senior managers involved in this pathway. In keeping with Indigenous sensibilities, a narrative research approach is adopted, whereby analysis proceeds by carefully curating interview data to tell a compelling insider story of the reo Māori doctoral journey. This narrative research process respects the teaching power of stories, told in the voices of pioneers in this field, and brings forward a joyful counter-narrative to the dominant detrimental research stories about Māori university education.

Due to processes of colonisation, te reo Māori is currently identified as being in a state of endangerment (Reedy et al., 2011), which heightens the need for positive Māori language education outcomes. At a national level, reo Māori educators have begun incorporating technology into language classrooms to increase student engagement with the language (Heavey, 2014; McKenzie, 2014). This research evaluates a pilot study of Māori language auditory resources involving introductory to intermediate level learners of te reo Māori from Victoria University of Wellington.

Death narratives are common in literature on the Māori language. While there is a place for language death, such a strong focus on death may be limiting our scholarship. Conclusions drawn from such approaches may risk overlooking key information about language health, and this could pull the scholarship further away from reliable language health conclusions. This article discusses the need to offer space to new language conversations in contemporary times. The most recent published scholarship in the Māori language discipline is examined to support a new discussion.

A discussion about the decreasing proficiency levels of one of the official languages in New Zealand, te reo Māori, would not be complete without understanding teacher trainees’ attitudes and motivations towards taking an optional Māori language course. This is because teacher trainees can provide significant opportunities within the classroom to promote learning of te reo and understanding their perspectives on learning the language to inform future revitalisation efforts.

Kua hau ngä rongo o te hangarau i te mata o te whenua, me uaua ka kitea he tangata kāore i te whakamahi i tētahi momo hangarau—te pouaka whakaata, te waea pūkoro, te rorohiko, me te ipurangi. Katoa ēnei nei mea he uri nō te wāhiaotanga, ā, he whakangāwari i te horapa o ngā mea katoa ki ngā hau e whā o te ao. Ko te ito o tēnei tuhinga roa he titiro ki ngā mata e rua o te hangarau, arā, te mata i tāmi i te iwi Māori, me te mata i whakawhanake i te iwi Māori. Ko ngā whakahau ka whakatakotoria e māua i tuhia hei whakaohooho, hei whakatenatena i te iwi Māori kia kaua e waiho mä te ao te tuakiri me te reo Māori e waihanga ki te ao.

He aha te reo Māori i ngaro ai ki Ōtākou? He hiahia nō te hapū ki te whai i te rākau a te Pākehā. I whai rātou i te mātauranga me te whakapono o te Pākehā. Waihoki, tē taea e rātou te ao hou te karo. Ahakoa tērā, kei te pupuritia tonutia ngā tikanga o te kāinga. I uiuitia tētahi Taua o te kāinga e te kaituhi, ko Aunt Jean tōna ingoa ki te kāinga. Kei roto ia i te reanga tuatahi i tipu ki te reo Pākehā ki Ōtākou. He tino kaumātua o te kāinga, ā, i tau hoki tana tū ki tōna ao Māori. Ahakoa kāore ōna reo Māori, ehara i te mea, i te tangi ia mō te reo kei te memeha atu. Nō te tau 2013 ia i mate ai.

Kua whakapau kaha te mahi a te tangata ki te whakahaumanu i te reo Māori. I whakamanahia ā-turetia te reo Māori, ā, kua whakaputahia ētahi rautaki reo Māori mō te whenua. Heoi, kāore anō te reo Māori kia māori i ngā wāhi katoa o te hapori. Ko ngā marae, ko ngā kura Māori, ko ngā āhuatanga Māori kē ngā wāhi ‘tika’ mō te reo Māori. Ka aro tēnei pepa ki te reo Māori ki roto i tētahi wāhanga kē o te porihanga, arā, ko ngā hinonga kāwanatanga. Mā ngā wheako whaiaro o ētahi kaimahi o ngā hinonga e whāki te whakatinanatanga o ngā ture me ētahi tohutohu hei ārahi i ngā hinonga kei tūpono, he ngutu kau noa iho pea te Rautaki Reo Māori.