Why I didn’t sit with the other Māori girls at school
I grew up in a predominantly Pākehā town in the South Island. My mother is Pākehā. My father, who...
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Tag: Issues
The Waitakere rāhui is kaitiakitanga in action — so where’s the support from government?
Frustrated by inaction from central and local government over kauri dieback disease, which is...
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Without He Whakaputanga, there might have been no Treaty of Waitangi
He Whakaputanga — The Declaration of Independence of New Zealand, 1835 — has often been regarded...
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Moana Maniapoto: Every day is Waitangi Day
I love a good debate. When I was at St Joseph’s Māori Girls’ College, I was in the school debating...
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The Great Silence — the heartbreak of losing te reo
In the opening sequence of the cult classic The Great Silence, the cowboy — a lone figure on a...
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It all started with Ten Guitars
We’ve done a fair few te reo stories on e-Tangata. But it seems you can never have too many,...
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Kennedy Warne: No more shoes on Uluṟu
In two years’ time, Uluṟu /Ayers Rock will be closed to climbing — an outcome the traditional...
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Joanna Kidman: Reaping our own strange and bitter harvest
Last week, I was at home finishing off a paper for a conference when I heard a hacking smoker’s...
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Stacey Morrison: Te reo growing pains — this is what change feels like
When there were cries of “Māori snowflakes” in the media, it seemed to me the writer...
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Māmari Stephens: Just what are we really commemorating with Rā Maumahara?
I remember a few more over the last couple of decades in Wellington as attendance at such...
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It’s what you might call architecture-tanga
What can designers and planners learn from tikanga Māori? An Auckland architect, Tony Watkins, offers some thoughts.
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The Crown isn’t just Pākehā. It is also Māori.
Symbols come in many forms, tangible and the intangible. They tell us stories we may not even be...
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Just let the revolution come
The call to make te reo Māori compulsory is getting louder and louder. This year, with Te Wiki o...
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Turning the tap off? Righting water wrongs
One of the things I’m really enjoying about this election season is how many cats are being...
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Why is tax evasion treated more gently than benefit fraud?
Lisa Marriott, Professor of Taxation at Victoria University’s Business School, has spent six...
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Just because some people think it’s funny, doesn’t make it okay
Would Māori Television executives have considered broadcasting a show based on a Pākehā man in...
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And there he lies, ever, ever, the manuhiri
Our father died in 2012. He’d been living in Australia for about 42 years and had only rarely...
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Richard Pamatatau: Alfred Ngaro has soured his brand
Alfred Ngaro did a lot of apologising after his “naïve, poorly worded” comments at the National...
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Glacial pace – but inexorable progress for tangata whenua
I’ve always liked the idea of New Zealand having an unwritten constitution. I was a reporter...
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Moana Jackson: Colonisation and the suffering of children
It always requires a certain courage to speak the unspeakable. The increasing number of Māori men...
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Māmari Stephens: What about a welfare system that doesn’t judge need?
A couple of weeks ago, on a Lower Hutt street, a woman and her children decided to do something...
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Nadine Millar: Be a hōhā about your kid’s education
A few years ago, I worked as a quiz writer on a TV show aimed at secondary school kids. Trial runs...
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It sticks like a knife in my guts
Every time Anne Tolley and Bill English talk about the new Ministry for Vulnerable Children, or...
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Who should call the shots on reo Māori priorities?
In my 13 years of school in Wellington, about the only Māori language I learned was “Hōmai te...
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The Christmas Gift
“2016 has been the story of that first Christmas played out once again,” writes Rev Don Tamihere,...
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Laura Toailoa: Just because sex is taboo, doesn’t mean we’re not doing it
Sex is a sticky topic to unravel and explore for many young Pacific Islanders, writes Laura...
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Is sorry enough?
The government’s apologies in recent settlement bills are powerful statements, but they do not...
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Patrick Thomsen: Why Moana could actually be good for us
Disney’s latest film, Moana, featuring its first Pacific Island princess, is being released in New...
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Patrick Thomsen: The racial divide in our education system
The NCEA final exams that are about to take place in a few weeks will, for a large proportion of...
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Moana Maniapoto: We need doctors to be on top of their game
Doesn’t life pack a wallop sometimes? One minute our family was laughing, singing and dancing,...
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