The Māori renaissance, as a turning point in New Zealand's history, describes a loosely defined period between 1970 and the early 2000s, in which Māori took the lead in turning around the decline of their culture and language that had been occurring since the early days of European settlement. In doing so, social attitudes towards Māori among other New Zealanders also changed.
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👉 Māori renaissance in the context of Māori language
Māori (Māori: [ˈmaːɔɾi] ; endonym: te reo Māori [tɛ ɾɛɔ ˈmaːɔɾi], 'the Māori language', also shortened to te reo) is an Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost member of the Austronesian language family, it is related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian. The Māori Language Act 1987 gave the language recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages. There are regional dialects of the Māori language.Prior to contact with Europeans, Māori lacked a written language or script. Written Māori now uses the Latin script, which was adopted and the spelling standardised by Northern Māori in collaboration with English Protestant clergy in the 19th century.
In the second half of the 19th century, European children in rural areas spoke Māori with Māori children. It was common for prominent parents of these children, such as government officials, to use Māori in the community. Māori declined due to the increase of the European population and government-imposed educational policies; by the early 20th century its use was banned in school playgrounds and classrooms across the country. The number of speakers fell sharply after 1945, but a Māori language revival movement began in the late 20th century and slowed the decline. The Māori protest movement and the Māori renaissance of the 1970s caused greater social awareness of and support for the language.
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Māori renaissance in the context of Rangatira
In Māori culture, rangatira (Māori pronunciation: [ɾaŋatiɾa]) are tribal chiefs, the leaders (often hereditary)of a hapū (subtribe or clan). Ideally, rangatira were people of great practical wisdom who held authority (mana) on behalf of the tribe and maintained boundaries between a tribe's land (Māori: rohe) and that of other tribes. Changes to land-ownership laws in the 19th century, particularly the individualisation of land title, undermined the power of rangatira, as did the widespread loss of land under the Euro-settler-oriented government of the Colony of New Zealand from 1841 onwards. The concepts of rangatira and rangatiratanga (chieftainship), however, remain strong, and a return to rangatiratanga and the uplifting of Māori by the rangatiratanga system has been widely advocated for since the Māori renaissance began c. 1970. Moana Jackson, Ranginui Walker and Tipene O'Regan figure among the most notable of these advocates.
The concept of a rangatira is central to rangatiratanga—a Māori system of governance, self-determination and sovereignty.
Māori renaissance in the context of Māori language revival
The Māori language revival is a movement to promote, reinforce and strengthen the use of the Māori language (te reo Māori). Primarily in New Zealand, but also in places with large numbers of expatriate New Zealanders (such as Sydney, London and Melbourne), the movement aims to increase the use of Māori in the home, in education, government, and business. The movement is part of a broader revival of tikanga Māori (Māori culture, cultural habits and practices) in what has been called the Māori renaissance.
Until World War II, most Māori people spoke Māori as their first language. But by the 1980s, fewer than 20 per cent of Māori spoke the language well enough to be classed as native speakers. The causes of the decline included the switch from using Māori to using English compulsorily in schools and increasing urbanisation, which disconnected younger generations from their extended families—in particular their grandparents, who traditionally played a large part in family life. As a result, many Māori children failed to learn their ancestral language, and generations of non-Māori-speaking Māori emerged.
Māori renaissance in the context of Māori protest movement
The Māori protest movement is a broad indigenous rights movement in New Zealand (Aotearoa). While there was a range of conflicts between Māori and European immigrants prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the signing provided one reason for protesting. Disagreements in the decades following the signing sometimes included war.
In its modern form, the Māori protest movement emerged in the early 1970s as part of a broader Māori renaissance and has focused on issues such as the redressing Treaty of Waitangi grievances, Māori land-rights, the Māori language, culture, and racism in New Zealand. It has generally allied with the left-wing, although it differs from the mainstream left in a number of ways. Most members of the movement have been Māori but it has attracted some support from non-Māori New Zealanders and from other indigenous peoples around the world. Notable successes of the movement include establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975, the return of some Māori land, and the Māori language becoming an official language in New Zealand in 1987.