BSNS111 Chapter 4-5 (Maori World View)

How does Chapter 4 treat Te Ao Māori?

As a coherent and sophisticated economic worldview with its own ideas about value, exchange, property, time, personhood, obligation, and the more-than-human world.

Why should Māori concepts not be treated as simple English equivalents?

Their English translations are only approximations; the te reo Māori terms contain meanings that cannot be captured one-to-one in English.

Is Te Ao Māori presented as monolithic?

No. Iwi, hapū, and whānau have different histories and local expressions of shared concepts.

Why is Te Ao Māori described as a living economic tradition?

Māori communities have long adapted commerce and new technologies within Māori frameworks, and the tradition continues to shape contemporary enterprise.

What is whakapapa?

The structure of relationships connecting people, places, ancestors, descendants, atua, and ecosystems across time.

Why is whakapapa more than genealogy?

It describes not only ancestry but the relationships through which people, places, and other entities are constituted and understood.

What is the central philosophical idea of whakapapa?

The relation, rather than the isolated entity, is the foundational unit of reality.

How does whakapapa differ from an individualist economic starting point?

Individualist thought starts with autonomous individuals who form relationships; whakapapa starts with relationships that constitute the individual.

What does it mean to understand something through whakapapa?

To understand its connections backward to origins, sideways to related beings and places, and forward to future generations.

How does whakapapa change the understanding of property?

Property becomes embedded in relationships and obligations rather than being only an individual right of ownership.

How does whakapapa affect economic time horizons?

Decisions are considered across multiple generations rather than only short-term or annual horizons.

Why are externalities harder to separate under a whakapapa worldview?

Those affected by an action are part of the same web of relationships rather than completely external parties.

What is mauri?

The life-force, vitality, or systemic integrity of a person, place, organisation, or other entity.

How can mauri change?

It can be strengthened or diminished by the quality of the relationships and actions affecting the entity.

How does mauri differ from a conventional economic metric?

Mauri evaluates holistic, situated integrity rather than reducing diverse qualities to one numerical measure.

Why can mauri not simply be reduced to money?

It includes ecological, social, relational, and spiritual dimensions that a single financial metric cannot capture.

What can a business with strong finances but damaged relationships have?

Strong financial performance but weakened mauri.

What does mauri remind decision-makers about interventions?

Acting on a system changes its overall integrity, not merely its measurable output.

What is mana?

Relational standing, authority, legitimacy, and effective capacity to act.

Why is mana relational rather than privately possessed?

It depends on recognition by others and on the relationships in which a person or group is embedded.

How can mana be strengthened?

Through right conduct such as generosity, hospitality, courage, and fulfilling obligations.

How can mana be diminished?

Through breaches of tikanga, failed obligations, or disrespect toward others.

How does mana differ from authority?

Authority may come from a formal role; mana depends more deeply on relational legitimacy and recognition.

How does mana differ from reputation or raw power?

It is more substantive than reputation and more legitimate and relational than the simple ability to compel others.

What is mana whenua?

Mana arising from ancestral standing and relationship with a particular land.

What is mana tūpuna?

Mana inherited through ancestors.

What is mana whakahaere?

Mana associated with legitimate decision-making and management.

Why can short-term profit conflict with mana?

A financially profitable decision may still damage the long-term standing and legitimacy of an iwi or organisation.

What is kaitiakitanga?

The inherited, multi-generational, place-specific obligation to care for particular places, species, and taonga.

Where does the obligation of kaitiakitanga come from?

From whakapapa and the relationships connecting the kaitiaki to what they care for.

Why is kaitiakitanga more than environmental stewardship?

It is an inherited obligation involving specific relationships, tikanga, places, and responsibilities across generations.

Why is kaitiakitanga intergenerational?

Kaitiaki are accountable both to ancestors who entrusted the taonga and to descendants who will inherit it.

Why can kaitiakitanga be described as a long-feedback ethic?

Actions today are judged partly by consequences experienced by generations far into the future.

Why is kaitiakitanga place-specific?

It requires detailed knowledge and responsibility toward particular places, species, and taonga rather than abstract environmental concern.

How is the kaitiaki-place relationship reciprocal?

The kaitiaki cares for the place, while the place also sustains and contributes to the wellbeing of the kaitiaki.

How can kaitiakitanga change the structure of an enterprise?

It can create longer time horizons, different stakeholder priorities, different success criteria, and stronger constraints on what may be sold or exploited.

What is manaakitanga?

The ethic of care, hospitality, generosity, and looking after others well.

What economic role does manaakitanga perform?

It builds trust, relationships, alliances, wellbeing, and mana that support future cooperation.

Why might manaakitanga appear inefficient under a narrow transactional model?

It may require spending time and resources without an immediate financial return.

Why is manaakitanga not necessarily economically inefficient in a relational worldview?

The resources help build and maintain the relationships on which future economic activity depends.

What is utu?

The principle of reciprocity in which gifts, harms, services, and exchanges create obligations that must eventually be balanced.

Does utu require immediate repayment in the same form?

No. Reciprocity may occur later, take another form, and sometimes extend across generations.

What is the key difference between transactional exchange and utu?

A transaction can close the relationship once payment occurs; utu creates an ongoing reciprocal relationship.

What is koha?

A meaningful gift or contribution that expresses relationship and participates in the wider system of reciprocity.

How is koha different from an ordinary contractual payment?

It has no explicit contractual price but still carries relational meaning and sits within ongoing reciprocity.

How do manaakitanga, utu, and koha fit together?

Manaakitanga provides care, utu structures reciprocity, and koha is a meaningful contribution within that continuing relationship.

What is tapu?

A state of being sacred, set apart, or restricted and therefore subject to particular tikanga and protocols.

What is noa?

The ordinary, unrestricted state contrasted with tapu.

What is whakanoa?

The process of removing tapu and returning something or someone to a noa state.

Why are tapu and noa economically significant?

They distinguish what may properly enter ordinary exchange from what should remain restricted or treated according to special protocols.

What mistake can occur when something tapu is treated as an ordinary commodity?

A category error: the problem is not simply its price but misunderstanding what kind of thing it is.

What is a taonga?

A treasured object, practice, language, knowledge, or other thing valued across generations.

What is tikanga?

The correct practices, protocols, and customs governing action within Te Ao Māori.

What is mātauranga Māori?

The body of practical, theoretical, and spiritual knowledge developed within Te Ao Māori.

How does a Te Ao Māori business analysis differ from a simple cost-benefit analysis?

It also considers relationships, mauri, mana, kaitiakitanga, reciprocity, future generations, and whether tapu boundaries are respected.

Must a Te Ao Māori analysis produce a different final decision from a conventional analysis?

No. It may reach the same decision, but through a broader and differently structured set of considerations.

Why is Te Ao Māori described as a relational systems worldview?

It treats interconnection, systemic integrity, reciprocal obligation, and long time horizons as foundational.

How does whakapapa connect to systems thinking?

It represents long-running interconnections across people, places, and generations.

How does mauri connect to systems thinking?

It focuses on the integrity of the whole rather than analysing only isolated components.

How does kaitiakitanga connect to systems thinking?

It builds long-term feedback and intergenerational accountability into decision-making.

How does utu connect to systems thinking?

It treats exchange as reciprocal feedback that continues through relationships over time.

How do tapu and noa connect to systems thinking?

They establish boundaries around which kinds of interactions are appropriate within different parts of the relational system.

What is an important caution when businesses use concepts such as kaitiakitanga?

Using the vocabulary without its relational, place-specific, obligated, and intergenerational meaning can become appropriation rather than genuine engagement.

Why must local iwi, hapū, and whānau interpretations matter?

Shared concepts have local expressions, and the relevant community's own tradition takes priority over a generic definition.