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.

Aotearoa New Zealand’s environmental management has long been considered short-sighted and focused on economic development over environmental, cultural or social imperatives. Tourism contributes to those pressures on our environments and communities. While Māori have always been involved in tourism, there is a concerted movement by many Māori towards engagement with tourism as a means of reconnecting with cultural traditions, protecting natural resources and providing employment for whānau. However, a definitive framework is lacking for establishing the limits of acceptable environmental change for different taonga from the effects of tourism.

He kipakipa mutunga kore kua oho ake i te whatumanawa o te tangata kia mōhio anō ia ki ngā taonga tuku iho a ōna mātua tūpuna. E kitea ana i te hiakai o te iwi Māori whānui ki ngā kōrero mō Matariki, te maramataka Māori, te whakatere waka, te whakaora tikanga, me te tupu matomato rawa o ngā kaupapa whakarauora reo. Nā, ko te aronga nui o tēnei tuhinga he kuhu atu ki ngā kōrero tuku iho e pā ana ki ō tātou atua Māori. Inā rā, ko te matapae i tōna whai tikanga nui ki te whanaketanga o te tuakiri Māori, ka tahi. Ka rua, he whakatakoto tauira o tā te tangata Māori whakahāngai i ērā kōrero atua ki ōna horopaki hou o tēnei ao hurihuri. Āe rānei, ka whai take i tua atu o Rautaki, o Mahere?

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.

What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people.