Whakapapa and Genetic Modification: Notes

Whakapapa as a Māori Mental Construct

  • Whakapapa is a Māori mental construct that encodes knowledge and records human descent lines and relationships.

  • Whakapapa also applies to nonhuman entities, requiring knowledge of names and accompanying narratives.

  • Whakapapa and narrative create a "metaphysical gestalt" for oral communication of knowledge.

  • Renewed interest in whakapapa arises from controversy over genetic modification (GM) of plants and animals.

  • Genetic modification involves laboratory-based transfer of genes between species, genera, or kingdoms to create genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

  • GMOs are regarded by many as "unnatural" due to human intervention.

  • In 2000, a royal commission was established in New Zealand to enquire into genetic modification and its place in society.

  • Major Maori concerns include cultural and political aspects related to the Treaty of Waitangi (1840).

  • Analysis of cultural concerns revealed key values and beliefs antithetical to genetic modification, including whakapapa, tapu, and mauri.

  • Tapu refers to an intrinsic spiritual integrity and potential for power.

  • Mauri refers to the elemental energy or material life force.

  • Many Maori argued that mixing genes between species interferes with whakapapa and violates tapu and mauri.

  • The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 requires scientists to consult with Maori regarding potential risks and effects on cultural beliefs, values, and relationships with ancestral lands.

  • The purpose of this paper is to understand the underlying principles of whakapapa and its relevance to the GMO debate, using the kumara (sweet potato) as a case study.

Cosmogonical Whakapapa

  • Cosmogonical whakapapa, often recited in chants, describe the origins of the universe.

  • The Kumulipo, a Hawaiian creation chant, describes the original source as Pō, a period of intense darkness.

  • The Kumulipo describes the emergence of the earth from corals, followed by plants, animals, and human-like creatures.

  • The second half of the Kumulipo recounts genealogies of gods and humankind.

  • Maori inherited a similar intellectual legacy from Eastern Polynesian ancestors.

  • Cosmogonical accounts differ between tribes, but share the basic form of a genealogical account rooted in a common origin.

  • Some tribes locate the ultimate origin in a supernatural being called Io; others cite Te Kore (the formless void).

  • From Te Kore, the cosmogony proceeds through space and time to the emergence of Rangi-nui (Sky) and Papa-tu-a-nuku (Earth).

  • Rangi-nui and Papa-tu-a-nuku produce children deified as atua (gods), who personify all known phenomena.

  • Important atua include:

    • Tane = god of forest trees, birds, insects, rocks, stones, and humans (in some whakapapa)

    • Tangaroa = god of marine and freshwater fishes, reptiles, and other creatures

    • Rongo = god of cultivated foods and peace

    • Haumia = god of uncultivated or wild foods

    • Tawhirimatea = god of winds, rain, and clouds

    • Tumatauenga = god of warfare and humans (in some whakapapa)

  • From Tane or Tumatauenga come many generations of mythical human beings, who give rise to historical whakapapa.

  • Historical whakapapa records the names of voyaging canoe captains who brought ancestors to New Zealand.

  • Descendants can recite their whakapapa back to a canoe ancestor, reinforcing whakapapa's importance as a way of knowing.

  • "To know" something is to locate it within a whakapapa.

  • There is no disjunction between the spiritual and material worlds; all things descend from the spiritual realm of the atua and possess spiritual qualities (mauri).

  • This dual inheritance emphasizes complementary relationships.

  • Conceiving phenomena as godlike beings emphasizes that the environment and its resources are ancestors and kin, obligating respect and reciprocity.

Classification

  • Throughout history, various criteria have been used to classify living things.

  • Aristotle relied on morphological similarities, complemented by anatomy and embryology.

  • Linnaeus created a system where each organism has two names (binomial nomenclature). For example, Ipomea batatas is the binomial of the kumara.

  • Linnaeus arranged taxa (groupings of like organisms) in a hierarchy: species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom.

  • Charles Darwin argued that species are descended from common parents within their own class or group.

  • Modern phylogenies are based on the theory of evolution (descent by natural selection from a common ancestor).

  • Evidence for determining lines of descent includes comparative morphology, anatomy, embryology, paleontology, and molecular biology (genetics).

  • A species is defined as a population of individuals sharing a common gene pool, capable of interbreeding only with each other.

  • Relationships are determined by shared homologous dna sequences or amino acid sequences in proteins.

  • Gene technology enables identification of actual relationships, allowing construction of accurate biological