Animals and the Environment - Te ao Māori, Kaitiakitanga, and Taonga

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers key Māori concepts, archaeological periods, and the roles of native and introduced species in the environment of Aotearoa New Zealand as discussed in Lecture 21.

Te ao Māori

The Māori world.

Mātauranga Māori

The combined knowledge of Polynesian ancestors and the experiences of Māori living in the environment of Aotearoa.

Whanaungatanga (Whakapapa)

Kinship; the philosophy that places humanity within nature with recognition of connections and responsibilities.

Kaitiakitanga

The obligation, arising from the kin relationship, to nurture or care for a person or thing.

Taonga

Anything that is treasured, including tangible things such as land, waters, and wildlife, and intangible things such as language, identity, and culture.

Archaic period

The period from $1300$ to $1500$ characterized by less landscape modification, big game hunting, and small socio-political groupings.

Classic period

The period from $1500$ to $1642$ characterized by more landscape modification, fortified Pā, large gardens, and permanent houses.

Rāhui

A tool for kaitiakitanga consisting of a temporary ban or closed season placed on an area or resource to manage it.

Kiore

The Pacific rat (Rattus exulans), which is considered both an introduced pest and a taonga species.

Kurī

The Pacific dog, an introduced taonga species used for food, clothing, hunting, and rituals that went extinct by the $1860\text{s}$.

Karaka

A native plant (Corynocarpus laevigatus) whose current distribution correlates with Māori archaeological sites due to active translocation.

Toheroa

A threatened surf clam (Paphies ventricosa) whose distribution and genetic structure may be explained by historical translocations by Māori.

Whenua

The Māori term for land.

Taiao

The Māori term for the environment.

Tangata whenua

The people of the land; a term used in the context of hapū and iwi involvement in biodiversity management.