“Te reo can’t be revitalised to its fullest extent without addressing some of the fundamental constraints under which its revitalisation is taking place,” writes Dr Awanui Te Huia. (Photo: Ebony Lamb)
The revival of te reo Māori can only be fully realised if tough questions are addressed, reflects Awanui Te Huia at the end of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.
The renowned scholar Joshua Fishman once asked: “What do you lose when you lose your language?” I’d like to flip that question and ask: “What do we gain by revitalising our language?”
Framing it that way might bring more people on board to tackle the task at hand. After all, revitalising te reo Māori is a goal that is yet to be realised, and we need all the effort, aroha, and collective energy that we can muster to create the change.
What would Aotearoa whānui gain by achieving a revitalised reo Māori?
At a collective level, we’d see the aspirations of whānau, hapū, marae and iwi come to fruition. We’d see proof that our society is ready to address some of the fundamental issues that created the conditions where our language needed to be revitalised.
Achieving a revitalised te reo Māori would require “mainstream” society to engage with, rather than look away from, the colonial conditions that permeate our lands. The historical suppression of te reo through the Native Schools Act (1867), the confiscation of millions of acres of iwi land through legislation like the Suppression of Rebellion Act (1863) and the New Zealand Settlements Act (1863), followed by the Native Lands Act’s (1865) processes of extinguishing customary title, have had an enduring impact on who speaks te reo Māori today, as does the ongoing underfunding of kaupapa Māori education (see the Wai 262 report findings for evidence).
The revitalisation of te reo Māori is like a litmus test for how we’re doing as a society. When our reo is doing well, it’s a sign that we’re doing well as a collective. It’s helpful to think about the health of our awa to demonstrate this point. When our awa are clean, it demonstrates that the surrounding area has been brought to a state of environmental stability. We can’t have clean awa without addressing the paru that surrounds them.
Take, for example, the case of the Pūniu River, our people’s awa whakarite, which is being “revitalised” through the efforts of our kaitiaki whenua and kaitiaki awa at Pūniu River Care, based at our pā at Mangatoatoa in the Waipā.
Even though our lands were confiscated in 1864, our kaitiaki awa still feel a deep connection to our lands and awa, and a responsibility to nurture them. Cleansing the paru in our awa remains a priority, irrespective of the fact that the paru was directly created through colonial actions.
The care that we give to ensuring the survival of our waters is similar to the care that we need to be directing towards our reo. Our history, our environment and our reo are all interconnected now and into the future.
Te reo can’t be revitalised to its fullest extent without addressing some of the fundamental constraints under which its revitalisation is taking place. We are going through a process of environmental and societal change. The changes needed to achieve a state of rongo or balance in our society, require an acknowledgment of the ongoing violent harm that this government is producing through its policies and legislation (including those being proposed).
Let’s not assume that the revival of te reo Māori can be achieved in isolation from the other inequities and injustices that we’re experiencing in our society.
As Atakohu Middleton reminds us: “The work we do to support our reo is inextricable from the work we do to reclaim what has been lost and assert our mana motuhake, our right to control our destiny. We can’t divorce our language activism from the activism (still) required to see improvements in Māori education, health, housing and employment, to tackle disproportionate rates of incarceration, and to challenge racism.”
It’s useful then to ask what steps tangata Tiriti can take, if they’re committed to a Tiriti-led future that supports te reo Māori revitalisation. A good place to start is to ask these sorts of questions:
How are you showing up when social justice conversations are happening?
Where does your sphere of influence lie and how are you using it to enable power-sharing with tangata whenua?
In which areas of your life could you support Māori voices to lead conversations towards true partnership?
Can you examine how white supremacy presents itself in your own life?
How might you create opportunities for change towards a Tiriti-led future?
As a starting point, these questions may lead to non-Māori learning te reo Māori from a place of critical consciousness and reflection.
If it is the process of answering some of these questions that leads to engagement with te reo Māori, the benefits will be far more enduring than if non-Māori engage with te reo without thinking through some of the hard questions.
Coming into reo Māori contexts with an appreciation of the underlying challenges that we as tangata whenua are attempting to overcome in the journey towards revitalisation is a much more meaningful starting point for relational change.
The journey towards a healthy, enduring, “revitalised” reo Māori is a long one. However, we’re better placed to meet the challenges ahead if we understand some of the complexities involved.
Kia kaha tātou.
Dr Awanui Te Huia (Ngāti Maniapoto) is a senior lecturer at Te Kawa a Māui, Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington, where she has taught and researched te reo Māori for over a decade. She also teaches Māori research methods to postgraduate students. Awanui lives in the bilingual town of Ōtaki with her husband Tai and their two children.
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