Indigenous voyaging polynesian navigation1 overview§ portuguese

1. Indigenous Voyaging: Polynesian Navigation
1Overview
§ Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand
Magellan, is often revered for being the first European to
navigate and explore the Pacific (Spanish expedition 1519-
1522).
§ When Magellan and his successors
arrived in the Pacific they were amazed to find that thousands
of islands were already settled by those they regarded as
‘savages’.
Ferdinand Magellan 1480-1521
§ James Cook
– First voyage: 1768 to 1771 – Second voyage: 1772 to 1775 –
Third voyage: 1776 to 1779
§ “How shall we account for this
Nation spreading itself over this Vast ocean? We find them from
New Zealand to the South, to these islands to the North
(Hawaii) and Easter Island to the Hebrides.”
– James Cook, quoted in Steve Thomas,
The Last Navigator, p. 5.
James Cook 1728-1779 Overview
§ We know the ancestors of the island-dwellers of the Pacific
had been going back and forth across its vast oceanic expanses
for thousands of years
§ How did the peoples of the Pacific –with no charts, magnetic
compasses, or navigational instruments succeed in traversing
the open seas?
§ A more challenging proposition for European explorers: did
the people they encounter already have a sophisticated
navigational and astronomical knowledge?
§ Polynesian navigator, Tupaia, joined the
Endeavour in July 1769 in Ra'iatea and provided Cook with
information on the “…existence and approximate bearing of
every major island group in Polynesia and Fiji, with the
exception of Hawaii and New Zealand.”

2. § He had such an impressive geographical
horizon, that it “extended for 2,600 miles from the Marquesas in
the east to Rotuma and Fiji in the west, equivalent to the span
of the Atlantic or nearly the width of the United States.”
– Quoted in David Lewis, We the Navigators, pp. 342
345.
Joseph Banks 1743-1820 Overview
§ Naturalist, Joseph Banks expressed
surprise that Tahitians knew:
§ “A very large part [of the stars] by their
Names and the clever ones among them will tell in what part of
the heavens they are to be seen in any month when they are
above the horizon; they know also the time of their annual
appearing and disappearing to a great nicety, far greater than
would easily believed by an European astronomer.” – J.C.
Beaglehole (ed.), The Endeavour
Journal of Joseph Banks 1768-1771, vol. 1,
p. 368.
§ French admiral and explorer, de Bougainville, consulted
Tahitian navigator, Aotourou.
§ “[He] Pointed at the bright star in Orion's shoulder, saying,
we should direct our course upon it; and in two days we should
find an abundant country... He had likewise told us that night,
without any hesitation, all the names which the bright stars that
we pointed at, bear in his language.”
– Louis Antoine de Bougainville, A Voyage
Round the World, pp. 275-276.
de Bougainville 1729-1811 Overview
§ “When the night is a clear one they steer by the stars... not
only do they note by them the bearings on which the several
islands with which they are in touch lie, but also the harbours in
them, so they make straight for the entrance by following the
rhumb of the particular star that rises or sets over it; and they
hit it off with as much precision as the most expert navigator of
civilized nations could achieve.”
– Andia y Varela, describing Tahitian direction-finding

3. methods.
Quoted in Clifford Connor, A People’s History of Science, p.
43.
§ The appropriation of indigenous geographical and seafaring
knowledge was exhibited in the routine kidnapping of local
navigators who were forced to serve as pilots.
§ This was a practice that was initiated by Columbus in the
Atlantic and Magellan in the Pacific and which became standard
operating procedure for “explorers”.Accidental one-way
voyages?
§ In the past, scholars have contended that the settlement of
the Pacific could have only occurred by accidental one-way
voyages—by navigators caught unaware by gales and drifting to
previously unknown islands.
§ Take a look at the next two slides:The first is a reproduction
of perhaps one of New Zealand’s best-known historical
paintings by Louis J. Steele and Charles Goldie in 1898.The
second is a Stamp issued in 1940 on the centenary of the
“Proclamation of British Sovereignty” in New Zealand.
§ How have the Polynesian crew been depicted?
Louis J. Steele & Charles Goldie, ‘The arrival of the Maoris in
New Zealand’ 1898
11
Théodore Géricault, ‘The raft of the Medusa’, c. 1819; in the
Louvre, Paris.
Louis J. Steele & Charles Goldie, ‘The arrival of the Maoris in
New Zealand’ 1898Centenary of Proclamation of British
Sovereignty stamp issue 1940.Accidental one-way voyages?
§ Both Goldie and Steele were part of a colonial culture that
was obsessed with questions relating to the human settlement of
New Zealand and the other Pacific Islands for a very long time.
§ How did colonial thinkers explain the fact that the people of
the Pacific had successfully traversed vast expanses of open

4. ocean and settled every habitable island?
– It was argued that the people of the Pacific simply could not
have
developed sophisticated navigational knowledge and technology
by themselves.
– The assumption of European pre-eminence was firmly
entrenched in
many models of human development.
15Diffusionist Ideas
§ Major 19th Century theories about the origins of Polynesia
were based on the idea that the people of the Pacific had
primordial links to the more advanced civilisations of Europe.
§ For example,
– Polynesians were seen as being related to Classical Greek
culture.
– Biblical notions that Polynesians were one of the Lost Tribes
of
Israel.
– The ideas of “racial” science, that Polynesians had Aryan or
Caucasian origins.
– Even archaeological models were imposed on the people of
the
pacific e.g. dividing their prehistories into Palaeolithic and
Neolithic periods.Diffusionist Ideas
§ Thor Heyerdahl was an adventurer and
amateur archaeologist.
§ Convinced that the Pacific was peopled from
Peru and that these South American people had brought the
kūmara (sweet potato) with them.
§ in 1947 he constructed what he believed was
a traditional South American raft (named Kon Tiki) from balsa
wood and set off from Peru.
§ After three months drifting with the South
Equatorial Current and sailing with the south easterly trade
winds, he washed up in the Tuamotu archipelago.
Thor Heyerdahl, 1990Current ideas: Key Influences

5. § Three related developments 1. World pre-history was
reinterpreted
as a result of radiocarbon dating and the other advances in
archaeology;
– Radio-carbon dating provided
information about the timing and geographic progress of
humans settlement of the Pacific region.
– The unraveling of the Lapita
pottery cultural complex provided major insights about the
precise routes into the remoter island
world.
– New developments in linguistics,
genetic and ethnobotanic studies independently enhanced such
findings.Current ideas: Key Influences
2. By the 1960s there was much readier acceptance of the idea
of local adaptation to new and changing environments.
Ø It was now understood that cultural changes could
occur within communities.
Ø Change did not have to wait until new and ‘superior’
peoples or ideas came from outside.
Ø Changes no longer were interpreted as ascending or
descending as measured against some European yardstick.
§ Challenged the notion that Polynesians came ready
made to the Pacific.
19Current ideas: Where?
§ Lapita pottery
evidence of human activity in the Pacific.
§ Earliest archaeological
§ The direction of Lapita pottery throughout the Pacific shows
the movement of people from the West to the East.
The Lapita pottery trail 2000-4000 BP
216. Current ideas: Where?
§ Linguistic evidence:Comparative historical linguistics applied
to Austronesian languages.Construction of a ‘proto-language’
from which it is possible to trace the derivation of daughter

6. languages.Source: Alejandro Gutman and Beatriz Avanzati
(2013), The Language Gulper,
http://mail.languagesgulper.com/eng/Austronesian.htmlCurrent
ideas : Key Influences
§ “The modern understanding is that there was no
Polynesian migration into the Pacific because there were no
Polynesians when humans began moving into Oceania. There
was, instead, an initial, generalized Austronesian culture that
emerged from the Southeast Asian region and subsequently
experienced a wide range of adaptations – economic,
technological, social, political, linguistic, physiological –as its
various communities moved through the islands over thousands
of years. The further eastwards they traveled across Oceania,
the more isolated they became from the rest of humanity.”
– Howe, K.R., The quest for origins: who first discovered and
settled New Zealand and the Pacific islands?, Auckland:
Penguin, 2003, pp. 61-62.
25Current ideas: Key Influences
§ Studies of Austronesian
maritime technology and navigational techniques have outlined
a deliberate strategy of exploration and settlement of the
islands.
– Challenged the old idea that the settlement of the Pacific was
a result of random, haphazard meandering or drifting, or of
being castaway.
“The Arrival of the Maoris in New Zealand” 1898 by Charles
Frederick Goldie and Louis John SteelCurrent ideas: Key
Influences
§ Because of the earth’s rotation, stars appear to rise in the east
and set in the west, intersecting the horizon at points that do not
change perceptibly during a navigator’s lifetime.
§ Oceanic navigators use these rising and setting points to
orient themselves and guide their canoes.
§ At night the navigator heads the canoe toward a rising or
setting star or constellation that has the same or nearly the same
bearing as the target island.

7. § When sailing cross wind, the navigator picks a star course
to one side or the other of the direct bearing in order to
compensate for leeway and current.Current ideas: Key
Influences
§ Their system was therefore based on a number of
recognizable stars or small star groups that were approximately
equally spaced around the 360-degree perimeter of the horizon.
§ As a directional guide, it is only useful during times when
they are not very high in the horizon.
§ When the horizon in the direction of travel is clouded over,
navigators look elsewhere for celestial guides e.g. stars rising
or setting astern, or the moon and bright planets.
§ During the early morning or late afternoon, navigators rely
primarily on the sun to keep an accurate course, or when
clouded over, ocean swells, and less accurately, winds.
Star compass —kāpehu whetū—Aotearoa/New Zealand
Source: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/622-the-
star-compass-kapehu-whetu
29
Star compass — Mau Piailug — Micronesia
Source: Hōkūleʻa —
http://archive.hokulea.com/navigate/stars.html
Star compass —Nainoa Thompson— Hawai’i
Source: Hōkūleʻa — The Star Compass -
http://archive.hokulea.com/ike/hookele/holding_a_course.html
31
§ The origins of the diverse peoples of the Pacific can be traced
back along seaways to mainland Asia.
§ It is commonly held that the ultimate ancestors of Polynesians
originated in the area around Taiwan and then moved south and
east.
§ Setting off in rafts, they gradually dispersed through the large

8. islands of South-East Asia.The Pacific: Oceania
§ These people mixed with other Melanesian peoples already
living in Near Oceania, and over time the culture known as
‘Lapita’ developed.
§ They had learned to explore the open sea and survive.
– After millennia of developments in boat building, and
accumulated experience of seafaring in Near Oceania, skilled
navigators began to explore in sophisticated canoes.
35
§ “The word “canoe” is rather misleading in the present
context, conjuring up as it does a picture of some tiny craft
hollowed out from a tree trunk. The vessels with which we
are here concerned... deserve the appellation "ship", rather than
"canoe". As an indication of their size, some were longer than
Cook's Endeavour.”
§ David Lewis, We the Navigators, p. 53.
Source: Alex Kennedy, Model Tipaerua (model canoe), Tahiti,
2002, Te Papa Tongarewa/ Museum of NZ.
Source: Alex Kennedy, Model drua (sailing canoe), Fiji, 2002,
Te Papa Tongarewa/ Museum of NZ.
39
§ Migrants voyaged east across the tropical Pacific into Remote
Oceania, carrying with them domesticated plants and animals, to
sustain settlement in their new island homes.
§ They eventually settled Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, where the
Polynesian culture emerged.
§ Sailed east into French Polynesia and the Marquesas, and then
migrated to Hawaii (600 AD) and Rapanui (700 AD).The
Pacific: Oceania
§ Ultimately explorers arrived at South America, and then
returned to their home islands in Remote Oceania with the
kūmara (sweet potato) and a species of gourd.
– Radiocarbon dates for kūmara found on Mangaia in the
southern Cook
Islands show that Polynesians had reached South America and
returned by 1000 AD.

9. § Aotearoa/New Zealand was the last major land mass to be
settled, around 1250–1300 AD.
41
Map showing the direction of Austronesian expansion from
Taiwan and likely timing of expansion into the Pacific. Dates
are expressed in years before present (BP) and are based on
current archaeological evidence. The dotted line separates Near
Oceania and Remote Oceania.
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nov
2015, 112 (44)
Indigenous People and Astronomy The Carina Nebula Learning
Module
Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California,
Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
1
Starlight over the Church of the Good Shepherd, Tekapo, New
Zealand. Photograph © Fraser Gunn
Pluto’s Haze in Bands of Blue, Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Earth's moon. Credit: Lick Observatory
This Babylonian tablet, written in cuneiform script, contains
geometric calculations used to track the motions of Jupiter.
Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum
The Emu in the Sky Astronomy Learning Module
The Emu in the Sky Astronomy Learning Module
The Emu in the Sky constellation, depicted on a rock formation
in Ku-ring–gai–Chase National Park
Astronomy Learning Module
During April and May, it assumes the form of a running emu
Source: http://aboriginalastronomy.blogspot.com
In June and July, the appearance of the Emu changes, as the
legs disappear. Source: http://aboriginalastronomy.blogspot.com
Photo of Mars taken when the planet was 50 million miles from
Earth on May 12, 2016.
Credits: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

10. (STScI/AURA), J. Bell (ASU), and M. Wolff (Space Science
Institute)
Saturn on 20 June 2019 at approximately 1.36 billion km away.
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center),
and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley)
“…a deep understanding of the motion of objects in the sky, and
this knowledge was used for practical purposes such as
constructing calendars. There is also evidence that traditional
Aboriginal Australians made careful records and measurements
of cyclical phenomena, paid careful attention to unexpected
phenomena such as eclipses and meteorite impacts, and could
determine the cardinal points to an accuracy of a few degrees
.’’Ray P. Norris and Duane W. Hamacher
(2015) “Australian Aboriginal Astronomy – An Overview”
Clive L. N. Ruggles (ed), Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and
Ethnoastronomy, New York: Springer, p. 2215 .
Learning Module Astronomy Wurdi Youang Wurdi Youang
Wurdi Youang Astronomy Learning Module
Messier100 in the constellation Coma Berenices, captured here
by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Cultural AstronomyKey
findings
§ Indigenous peoples were familiar with the fundamental cycle
of
day and night, the daytime path of the sun, and the unmoving
pole of the night sky.
§ Cardinal directions, which emerge from the daily rotation of
the
sky and the circular parade in which the stars march at night,
were important to many groups. They were a key tool in
wayfinding both on land and at sea.
§ The lunar phases were monitored, and each monthly cycle was
often associated with a seasonal change on earth.
§ The seasonal shift of sunrise, sunset, and the sun’s daily path
was

11. known.
19
19
Cultural Astronomy Astronomy Learning Module Key findings
§ Solstices were recognized, and the rising and setting points of
the
summer and winter solstice sun sometimes established an
alternate directional scheme.
§ Seasonal appearances and disappearances of stars were noted.
Constellations were contrived from conspicuous stars.
§ Unusual events like eclipses, bright comets, fireballs and
meteor
showers attracted attention, and sometimes provoked ritual
responses.
§ Planets were recognised by some indigenous communities, but
obviously explicit evidence of detailed indigenous knowledge of
their cyclical behaviour is not always accessible.
20
Astronomy Learning Module Cultural Meanings
The narratives themselves emphasise the parallels between
personalized celestial bodies and their earthly counterparts.
A classic example of this, is the way Māori notions of
whakapapa
(genealogy) incorporate both the animate and inanimate objects
into a unified system of ancestral descent.
This way of humanizing natural phenomena and integrating
them with kinship institutions and customs is evident in many
other indigenous contexts.
21
21
“The heavens are not generally perceived as passive and
immutable, but filled with entities that are not only animate and
can influence events but also capable of being affected by
human action.’’E.C. Krupp
(2008) “Astronomy in Native North America”
In Selin H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science,

12. Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures
Springer, Dordrecht.
11Cultural Meanings
Astronomical narratives provide a degree of order and cer tainty;
they engender a level of confidence about our place in the
universe.
They cultivate a social norm based on respect for the inanimate
as well as animate, since all partake of the same identity as
humans themselves.
The narratives provide a justification for the customs, rites and
morality of the community, since these are reflected and
enacted in the sky world.
23
23
Learning Module Pacific Peoples, Oceans and Water
Associate Professor Evan Poata-Smith
Overview Learning Module 2
Learning Module Overview This module focuses on:
“Pacific Peoples”, “Pasifika”; “Tangata o Moana Nui a Kiwa”
It is important to understand, however, that this conceptual
scheme is not a useful ‘cultural’ or linguistic map.
Learning ModuleKey theme
OverviewThis case study is part of a broader focus on how sky,
land and sea scapes generate meaning and impact on how we
think and make sense of everyday life.In part this is because
“…landscape is constituted as an enduring record of - and
testimony to - the lives and works of past generations who have
dwelt within it, and in so doing, have left there something of
themselves”
• Ingold, T. (1993). “The Temporality of the Landscape”. World
Archaeology 25 (2), p. 152..
Learning Module Overview 5
At the end of this module, you should be able to:Identify how

13. the ocean environment has influenced the cognitive and
affective models that indigenous people use to make sense of
the world in these particular contexts.Explain what the shared
narratives of Māui and Tangaroa, and the metaphors, tropes and
sayings about the ocean, suggest about indigenous knowledge
systems in the Pacific.
The Pacific, the world’s largest ocean. Larger than all of the
Earth's land area combined.
Learning Module Overview Key Themes
The ancestors of the first peoples of the Oceania were probably
the world’s first truly maritime people:
§ They are associated with the world’s first blue water sailing
technology (the development of sophisticated ocean-going
vessels capable of sailing thousands of kilometres and r eliable
navigational systems).
8
The processes of reasoning and making sense of the world
become “cultural” in at least three critical ways:
Internally represented in shared beliefs, ideologies, narratives,
metaphors and tropes.
1
Externally represented in societal
institutions that, as Douglas (1986) puts it, "think for us".
2
Knowledge is embedded in social interactions.
3
Shared beliefs, narratives and metaphors
This cultural relationship with water and the ocean is
reflected in narratives and story telling traditions that transcend
the Pacific.
In some oral histories, the oceans’ depths are considered to be
the origin and source of all life.

14. In other accounts, the islands themselves are believed to be fish,
pulled up from the sea, and humans are thought to have evolved
ultimately from aquatic beginnings.
11Learning ModuleStory-telling and Oral Traditions
§ Water is often represented in oral traditions of the Pacific as a
life force or energy, with many moods, characteristics and
forms.
§ It is sometimes depicted as being a calm and life-giving
energy,
and at other times, as a dangerous and destructive one.
§ This energy is called ‘Tangaroa’ – or what anthropologists
have
popularised as the ‘god of the sea’.
§ This common translation, ‘god of the sea’, does not
adequately
convey the depth of its meaning.Tangaroa
§ Probably the most widely known “energy” in Polynesia:
§ In Mangaia (the most southerly of the Cook Islands),
Tangaroa
is the son of Vatea (Skyfather) and Papa (Earthmother) and a
‘god’ of agriculture, food, trees and fish.
§ In the Tuamotu Islands, Takaroa is a son of Te Tumu and Te
Papa.
§ In Hawai’ian oral traditions—Kanaloa is a deity of fish life
and
the underworld.
§ Tagaloa features more directly with creation stories in Samoa
and Tonga.
13Learning ModuleTangaroa
§ It is thought that these Pacific-wide, Tangaroa traditions date
from
early Austronesian ancestors—and are probably more than 6,000
years old.
§ In some accounts, Tangaroa is a son of Ranginui (Sky father)

15. and Papatūānuku (Earth mother)—he is the progenitor of sea
life, canoes and carving.
§ Ranginui and Papatūānuku are separated from a primeval
embrace, a state characterised by perpetual darkness, from
which a world of light subsequently evolves.
14Story-telling and Oral Traditions
§ In other versions, however, Tangaroa is the husband of
Papatūānuku and a competitor of Ranginui.
§ Ranginui and Papatūānuku have a child called Tānenui-a-
rangi.
§ The adulterous lovers are separated by their child and the
earth returns to her place beneath the water and what is left
above is the whenua–(a word meaning both land and placenta).
§ For example, the Māori term island is moutere – ‘floating
land’.
15Learning Module
§ Like fire, water is a crucial life-giving element.
§ Water has been used to guide and predict human behaviour;
for
ritual purposes that include for its cleansing properties that are
said to reach beyond the physical plane of human existence.
§ There is a mystery about the Māori word ‘wairua’ or ‘te taha
wairua’ which is often translated as ‘spirituality’ and ‘the
spiritual plane (of existence)’ respectively.
§ “Te taha wairua” can literally be translated as ‘the dimension
of
two waters’, a conception that likens spirituality to
water.Revision
Some scholars argue that the actual words our language
provides us, impacts on the way we are able to think (see week
5 lecture on culture).
§ e.g. subtle verbal distinctions; language helps us distinguish
among many different types of what outsiders may regard as
‘the same object’.Learning ModuleRevisionPerception,
language and thought
The Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis, commonly known as the

16. Sapir Whorf hypothesis.
In its mildest form, it is the idea that language can affect how
we think; in its strongest form it is the idea that we can’t think
about things our language doesn’t let us talk about.
Sapir-Whorf thesis
Whorf saw speech patterns as “interpretations of experience”.
Whorf, B.L. (1956), Language, Thought, and Reality,
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Water & Oceans Learning Module
§ “Wai” (water) is described in a number of ways. § Some of
these categories include:
§ Waikino – dangerous water, such as stormy seas or swollen
rivers.
Waitapu—is sacred water used in ceremonies.
§ Waimāori – pure water, water rich in mauri (life-giving
energy), used
for cleansing and for ceremonial purposes § Waitai – sea water,
saline water § Waimanawa-whenua – water from under the land
§ Waikarakia – water for ritual purposes § Waiwhakaika,
waikotikoti – water to assist in the cutting of hair.
§ Linguistic influences—“ko wai koe?” [translated today as
“who are
you?”] literally means, “ from which waters do you
come?”.Water, Culture and Spirituality
§ In many creation narratives, the sea is often considered to be
the
source and foundation of all life.
§ Islands are often depicted as fish drawn up from the water,
and in
some stories, people evolved from amphibious beginnings.
§ Traditional Māori knowledge, for example, includes
genealogies of
fish and other creatures that live under the sea.
§ Numerous oral histories and stories are dramas of underwater
life.
Water & Oceans Learning Module 21 Tinirau and Kae

17. § The story of Tinirau and Kae is very old, and numerous
versions
exist in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
§ Tinirau, an ancestor of all the fish, lives at Te Motutapu-o-
Tinirau
(Tinirau’s Sacred Isle), which in some traditions is located
under the sea.
§ Kae’s people are called Te Aitanga-a-Te Poporokewa (the
descendants of Poporokewa – a type of whale).
§ The story begins with the difficult birth of Tūhuruhuru, the
son of
Tinirau and his wife Hineteiwaiwa.Tinirau and Kae
§ Following the birth, Tinirau needs to find a priest to perform
the
birth rituals.
§ He travels to Te Tihi-o-Manono, where he secures the services
of a
priest named Kae.
§ Tinirau pays Kae and offers him a waka (canoe) to travel
home in,
but Kae asks if he can ride home instead on Tutunui, Tinirau’s
whale.
§ Tinirau reluctantly agrees, giving explicit instructions that
when
they neared the shore and the whale shook himself, Kae must
disembark.
Water & Oceans Learning Module 23 Tutunui’s death
§ Despite these instructions, Kae drove Tutunui towards the
shore
and beached him.
§ The whale was cut up and cooked in the village ovens, and the
aroma of the flesh was brought by the winds to Tinirau’s home.
§ Learning of the creature’s fate, Hineteiwaiwa convened a
group of
women, including Raukatauri, goddess of flute music, to travel
to Kae’s home and capture him.

18. § While he sleeps, the women take Kae to Tinirau’s island and
into a
house identical to his own. When Kae finally awakes, he
wonders why Tinirau is sitting in his house. Tinirau kills Kae
and avenges Tutunui’s slaughter.
The origin of kapa haka (Māori traditional performing arts) is
often traced back to the troupe of women sent by Tinirau, to
identify and capture Kae, who had killed his pet whale, Tutunui.
Picture: Members of Te Kapa Haka o Te Whanau-a- Apanui
from Opotiki perform during the Te Matatini National Kapa
Haka Festival 2015 at Hagley Park in Christchurch.Maui
§ Many other narratives about “cultural heroes”—relate to the
sea.
§ They are based on real figures whose histories have been
transmuted over time in great mythological cycles.
§ The best example of this is the “Māui” traditions, which span
the
breadth of the Pacific ocean.
§ They the most widely and oldest stories of the Pacific and can
found in East Polynesia, North West Polynesia (Samoa and
Tokelau) and Micronesia and Melanesia.Māui
§ Māui is the great trickster hero of
Polynesian mythology.
§ Much pre-European Polynesian history is
related to this inventive character.
§ Many of the stories are legendary – the theft of fire, the
capture of the sun, the pursuit of immortality, the descent into
the underworld in search of his father.
§ The hero of Polynesian mythology Māui is shown here
holding the jawbone of his ancestor Murirangawhenua.
§ He used it to overpower Tamanui-te-rā
.
(the sun), forcing him to travel slowly Legends Chris Slane Of
& The Robert Outcast. Sullivan, A graphic Maui: Novel, across
the sky.Auckland: Godwit Publishing, 1997

19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79DijItQXMM
View “You're Welcome” (From "Moana”, Disney) | 2016 |
Maui
§ Mo-tik-e-tik: Yap—Caroline Islands (far eastern end of
Micronesia).
§ Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga: Mangareva
(French Polynesia).
§ Māui-atalanga: Tonga
§ Maui-ki’iki’i: Hawai’I
§ Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga, Māui
mohio, Māui-atamai and Māui nukurau-tangata: Aotearoa.
§ Māui-tikitiki ("Māui the top-knot") § Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga
("Māui the top-knot of Taranga") § Māui-pōtiki ("Māui the last
born”).
31 Learning Module
Story-telling and Oral Traditions: Children’s books
Water & Oceans
Water & Oceans Learning Module
Chris Slane & Robert Sullivan, Maui: Legends Of The Outcast.
A graphic Novel, Auckland: Godwit Publishing, 1997
34
View “How Māui found his mother” | Peter Gossage | 2007 |
A Māui Te Tupua, book by Peter Gossage, Rumpus Production,
Māori Television, 2007.
Water & Oceans Maui narratives Learning Module
§ The most common theme in the Māui narratives is that he
fished
up land:
§ Yap (Micronesia) § Tongan archipelago § Tumoutu islands
(including the legendary land of Havaiki) § The North Island of
New Zealand (Te Ika a Māui—literally “the
fish of Māui”)—the South Island is sometimes referred to as Te
Waka a Māui—“the canoe of Māui”
View “Tales from the mythologies of Creation, Māui and

20. Aoraki” | ARL | 2011 |
37
“We should not be defined by the smallness of our islands, but
by the greatness of our Oceans.
We are the sea, we are the ocean.
Oceania is us.
We must wake up to this ancient truth and together use it to
overturn all hegemonic views that aim ultimately to confine us
again, physically and psychologically.
It is time to create things for ourselves, to create established
standards or excellence that matches those of our ancestors.”
’Epeli Hau’ofa, (2008), We Are the Ocean: Selected Works,
Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, p. 39.
38
Learning Module
Kahukura 1968 Gordon WaltersMāori Knowledge of People and
Relationships.
Associate Professor Evan Poata-Smith
Learning Module Overview Our focus in this module § How do
systems of indigenous knowledge shape ideas 1
of the ‘self’ and others?
§ How do these knowledge systems shape the roles,
responsibilities and obligations people have to one another and
to the natural environment?
Case study: New Zealand Māori: Whakapapa.
2
Overview
At the end of this module, you should be able to:
1.Identify and describe the way indigenous knowledge systems
map relationships on both the terrestrial and spiritual levels.
2.Describe how whakapapa is used to clarify roles, obligations
and responsibilities to land and to kin in Aotearoa/New
Zealand.

21. 3.To discuss how Māori notions of whānaungātanga (kinship)
shape the mental models or conceptual schemes that are used to
make sense of the world.
Whakapapa What is whakapapa? Learning Module
§ The genealogical connections of individuals and groups to
particular ancestors.
§ It not only records human descent lines, it maps the
relationships we have to each other.
§ It also plots the roles, responsibilities and obligations people
have to one another on the basis of kinship.
NB In the Māori language kinship is called whānaungātanga.
Other Māori terms for genealogy are kāwai and tātai.
Āpirana Ngata (Ngāti Porou) 1874– 1950: a key Māori
politician in the early 20th century and a significant Whakapapa
Learning Module What is whakapapa?
§ The word derives from the Māori verb to
place in layers another .
or lay one upon
§ East Coast elder Āpirana Ngata explained
whakapapa as:
The process of laying one thing upon
another. If you visualise the foundation leader in the Māori
community. ancestors as the first generation, the next and
succeeding ancestors are placed on them in ordered layers.
Whakapapa Learning Module
However, whakapapa constitutes something more than an a
genealogical table:
§ It links human beings genealogically to the origins of the
universe (and therefore all animate and inanimate phenomena in
the universe).
§ In this sense, whakapapa not only binds people to other
people, it binds people to the natural environment.
§ It is a complex knowledge system that is preserved and
transmitted from one generation to the next.Whakapapa can be
considered a mental model:

22. Whakapapa is a “…fundamental form of knowing: it functions
as an epistemological template”.
– Smith, L. (2000). “Kaupapa Māori research”. In Battiste, M.
(ed.),
Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision. Vancouver:
University of British Columbia Press, p. 234.
Whakapapa constitutes “…the skeletal structure to Māori
epistemology”.
– Tau, Te M. (1999), ‘Matauranga Māori as an epistemology’,
Te
Pouhere Korero, 1(1), p.15.
“…rationalize existence and explain the origins of the
universe… whakapapa codes (identifies and names) and
calibrates (measures and identifies component parts) existence
[by] attempting to understand the collusion of space (location),
time (history) and matter (communities and individuals).”
Wharehuia Hemara
(2004), Whakapapa. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Victoria
University of Wellington, p.1.
“Māori use of whakapapa and narrative creates a ‘metaphysical
gestalt’ or whole, integrated pattern, for the oral communication
of knowledge.”
Mere Roberts et al.
(2004) “Whakapapa as a Maori Mental Construct: Some
Implications for the Debate over Genetic Modification of
Organisms”, The Contemporary Pacific, Spring 2004, p.1..
Whakapapa Learning Module 1. Creation genealogies
§ The founda+on from which all other whakapapa(genealogies)
derive.
§ These are the most revered of all narra+ves because
they lay down fundamental beliefs about the nature of reality
(i.e. an ontology).
§ Genealogies of crea+on vary from community to
community, or from region to region, and from tohunga (expert)
to tohunga (expert).Genealogies most often begin with the

23. unfolding
f the universe through various states of existence.Te Pō
of creation).
(representing the unknown darknessTe Kore
(primal source of energy, creative potential)Te Ao
(the light).Learning Module
Te Ahukaramū’s versions
§ Gave two different whakapapa
involving Te Pō, Te Kore and Te Ao. The first shows the
progressions from darkness to light:
Te Pō (night, darkness) Te Ata (dawn) Te Ao (light, world) Te
Ao-tū-roa (longstanding world) Te Ao Mārama (world of light).
Te Ahukaramū, a 19th-century Ngāti Raukawa leader, and his
wife Manumea.
Whakapapa Learning Module
Wīremu Maihi Te Rangikāheke’s version*:
Te Pō, te Pō
Te Ao, te Ao
Te kimihanga, te hahunga, i te kore, i te kore
Ko te nui, ko te roanga
Rangi = Papa.
The night, the dark
The day, the day
The seeking, the adzing out from the nothing, the nothing
The immensity, the endurance
Sky father and Earth mother.
*Te Rangikāheke (Ngati Rangiwewehi) 1815?-1896Creation
genealogiesGenealogical recitations usually culminate in
Ranginui and Papatūānuku (the sky father and earth
mother).This is often followed by the deities of nature and the
beginnings of human and other life forms, as explanations of
how the world came to be.
15Learning ModuleCreation Genealogies

24. In the creation of the world Ranginui and Papatūānuku were the
first ancestors.
§ Their children ruled the natural world and are responsible for
the emergence of human beings and all aspects of the natural
world.Children of Ranginui and Papatūānuku:
§ Tāwhirimatea controlled the winds; § Tangaroa controlled the
sea; § Tāne-mahuta controlled the forest; § Tūmatauenga was
responsible for war and humankind; § Rongo was deity of
cultivated foods and Haumia was reponsible
for uncultivated foods.
Source: Roberts, M. et al. (2004) “Whakapapa as a Māori
Mental Construct: Some Implications for the Debate over
Genetic Modification of Organisms”, The Contemporary
Pacific, Spring 2004, p.1.
Kāne, Kū and Kanaloa
NB These names are found throughout Polynesia.
Tāne, Tū and Tangaroa
19 Learning Module Whakapapa This coin from the Cook
Islands shows a carving of Tangaroa, deity of the sea.
Other Polynesian narratives also have an origin story linking
earth and sky. While the names of the sky differ, names for the
earth ancestor – are very similar.Papatūānuku, Acrylic on
canvas by Phil Mokaraka Berry
NB all begin with the prefix “Papa”.
In Tonga: Papakele In Aotearoa: Papatūānuku In Samoa: Papa
ele In Rarotonga, Paparoa-i-te-itinga In Tahiti: Papatu oi
Creation genealogies Whakapapa Learning Module
In Hawai’i: Papa
Creation traditions could be highly localised:
§ The Ngāi Tūhoe people descend from the mist
of the Urewera Ranges.
§ Known as Hine-pūkohu-rangi, the mist is a
tipuna (ancestor).
§ From the union of Hine-pūkohu-rangi with Te

25. Maunga (the mountain) came Pōtiki, a human who was the
ancestor of Tūhoe, the founder of the tribe.
Urewera in mist. Different forms of whakapapa
§ There are four different ways whakapapa
was used:WhakamoeTaotahiTararereWhakapiri.
24
Whakamoe: line includes spousesLearning Module
Taotahi: line excludes spouses
“Tararere”: single line of descent
Whakapiri: line to show connections
Whakapiri
To define a person s position in respect of another, a common
ancestor was traced, counting down the generations to both
people.
If the two are found to be from the same generation, a speaker
would have to consider whether the other was from a senior
branch, and should be called tuakana (descended from a senior
line), or from a younger branch, so should be called taina (from
a junior line).
Learning Module
Whakapapa (genealogical connections)
Ko wai koe? Nā wai koe?
§ These declarations not only consolidated relationships with
ancestors and the natural environment, they also served to
differentiate Māori on an
iwi and hapū basis.
§ When asked Ko wai koe? (who are you?), the response
integrates features of the natural environment (mountains,
rivers, seas, lakes) and common ancestors, together with the
more specific origins of your extended family.
The next two slides are examples of my response (also known as
a

26. pepeha : i.e. a well known set of verses that describe one s
genealogical links to a particular hapū or iwi; and are therefore
specific to each individual and the people they descend from).
Ko Tinana te waka Ko Tumoana te tangata Ko Karirikura te
moana Ko Whangatauatea te maunga Ko Te Ōhākī te whare
tipuna Ko Roma te marae Ko Ahipara te kainga Ko Te Rārawa
te iwi Tinana is the canoe Tumoana is the navigator Karirikura
is the sea Whangatauatea is the mountain Te Ōhākī is the
ancestral house Roma is the marae Ahipara is the place Te
Rārawa are the people MAORI IDENTITY Ko wai au? Who am
I? Ko wai au? Who am I? MAORI IDENTITY Kinship
Iwi , hapū and whānau are the basic kinship units of Māori
society based on descent from a common ancestor.Kinship
(whanaungatanga):Iwi are the largest kinship grouping that
draws people together on the basis
f a founding ancestor.Each iwi is made up of various semi -
autonomous hapū (clans or descent groups) that trace descent
from the offspring of that founding ancestor.Hapū may range in
size from one hundred to several hundred people, and consist of
a number of whānau (extended families).Hapū have
responsibilities and obligations to a defined portion of territory.
Often, these Māori concepts are described as
Whakapapa Learning Module tribes and extended families in
the literature.
tribes, subKinship
The use of the word reasons:tribe is problematic for a number of
1.It has deep roots in a Euro-centric colonial anthropological
tradition where tribes were defined as more ‘primitive’ forms of
social organisation that were yet to bemodernised’.
2.Settler colonial states also redefined indigenous communities
in hierarchical
ways as
contiguous principalities paramount chiefs’.*
or discrete kingdoms ruled over by
v This notion was, of course, especially attractive to colonial
officials

27. looking for an easily identifiable, all-embracing and
authoritative body with which to negotiate land purchases.
The use of ‘tribes’ and ‘sub-tribes’ also ignores and disregards
indigenous understandings of kinship.
Note how whakapapa (genealogy) is actually entrenched in the
meaning of key Māori concepts of kinship:Iwi = literally means
bones .Hapū = literally means pregnantWhānau = literally
means birth
This is also the case with respect to Māori understandings of
land.
• Whenua = the Māori word for land’; but it is also the word for
placenta’.
36 This is the inside of a poupou (vertical panels on the sides
of the house). (ancestral house). Note the 35 whare tipuna
Whakapapa Recalling whakapapa Learning Module 37
Represent specific ancestors of the local area and their
particular stories. “Poupou”:
Those formally trained as repositories of oral lore could recite
hundreds of names in interlocking genealogies.
…evidence exists that the most expert tohunga did have
phenomenal memories… There is some evidence that
genealogies were learned in metric patterns involving changes
of pitch for each generation, similar to intonation of waiata
[songs], in formalised patterns designed to aide the
memory…Genealogies were often rendered at a speed and in a
tone of voice designed to protect both the tapu information and
the status of the tohunga.
Ballara, A. (1991) The Origins of Ngati Kahungunu,
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Wellington: Victoria
University of Wellington, pp. 550-551.
38Recalling whakapapa
§ Ethnographer Elsdon Best described one Māori informant who
dictated from memory 341 waiata (songs) and karakia (prayers).
§ Tamarau Waiari of Ngāti Koura recited 1,400 names before a
1890s Native Land Court hearing, in a dense interwoven
genealogy including all living persons from a single ancestor

28. about 20 generations earlier.
§ These individual experts had contemporaries in their whānau,
hapū and iwi, with other traditional knowledge, meaning that
the overall collective genealogical memory of tribes was much
larger than these impressive individual examples.
39
Whakapapa experts often had Recalling whakapapa: rākau
whakapapa , which looked similar to walking sticks, but had
small ridges running along the shaft.
§ This is held by an orator. § The hand is moved along the
notches as
whakapapa is recited.
§ Each new notch represents a
new generation.
Learning ModuleRecalling whakapapa
§ Whakapapa links to landscape were recalled in waiata (songs),
particularly oriori (chanted to children), and in stories.
§ Waiata (songs) embellished the meaning of whakapapa.
§ Kōrero (stories) and traditions were recalled which also
added meaning to whakapapa.
Whakapapa Learning Module Recalling whakapapa: 41
§ With the introduction of writing, whakapapa soon began
to be written down in manuscripts and books.
§ These books were considered tapu and were handled
carefully.
§ In many cases, when their owners died the books would
be buried with them or burnt because of the level of tapu they
were considered to have.
§ In the late 19th century, when important people passed
away, their whakapapa links to the most important tribal
canoes were sent to be printed in the newspapers.
42Other considerations:
§ Impact of colonial processes (particularly land alienation
and the subsequent relocation of people) on knowledge of
whakapapa and whānaungātanga (kinship links).

29. § The distortion of whakapapa and Māori oral histories by
amateur ethnographers and historians.
§ The impact of hierarchical and static models of tribal
social and political structure introduced by anthropologists and
imposed on more fluid Māori knowledge systems.
§ The historical role of the state in redefining Māori kinship
institutions.
43Learning Module
Further Reading:Walker, R.J., Ka Whawhau Tonu Matou:
Struggle Without End, Penguin Books, pp. 63-77.Te Rito, J.S.,
Whakapapa: A framework for understanding identity, MAI
Review, 2007, Article 2.Roberts, M. (2013). ”Ways of Seeing:
Whakapapa", Sites: New Series, Vol
No 1, pp. 93-120.Poata-Smith, E., The Treaty of Waitangi
Settlement Process and the Changing Contours of Māori Identity
, in Hayward, J. and Wheen, N.R. (eds.), The Waitangi
Tribunal, Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 2004, pp. 168-
183.
44
More suggestions and sources:Ballara, A, The Origins of Ngati
Kahungunu, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Victoria
University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand,
1991.Mitchell, J. H. Takitimu. Wellington: A. H. and A. W.
Reed, 1944.Ngata, A. T. The genealogical method as applied to
the early history of New Zealand. Paper presented at a meeting
of the Wellington Branch of the Historical Association,
1929.Ngata, A. T. Rauru-nui-ā-Toi lectures and Ngati
Kahungunu origin. Wellington: Victoria University,
1972.Simmons, D. R. The great New Zealand myth: a study of
the discovery and
rigin traditions of the Maori. Wellington: A. H. and A. W.
Reed, 1976.Simmons, D. R. The Taonui Manuscript. Records of
the Auckland Institute and Museum 12 (1975): 57–82.