MAOR108: Mana and Power 4

Context & Aims of the Lecture

• Explores intersections of de-colonisation and Christianity in Aotearoa–New Zealand, especially Māori responses to what the lecturer calls philosophical / religious colonisation.
• Core argument: Māori engagement with Christianity is complex, syncretic and often subversive—not a simple story of either total colonisation or total de-colonisation.
• Two key questions framed:
  • Was Indigenous belief entirely expunged by missionary Christianity?
  • Does successful de-colonisation require purging all Christian elements today?

Revival of Traditional Karakia (Incantations)

• Traditional karakia (ritual incantations) now ubiquitous at marae openings, tangihanga, public gatherings.
• Revival traced to Te Māori Exhibition of the $1980\text{s}$:
  • Māori artefacts toured major U.S. museums; delegations of kaumātua performed ritual openings.
  • Elders (e.g.
  • Hohua Tutunui-Aihe) researched, re-composed or even invented incantations to meet ceremonial needs.
• Pre-$1980\text{s}$ Māori gatherings more likely featured Christian prayers; the exhibition signalled a flip toward "traditional" karakia.

Historical Background: Missionaries & Early Conversion

• First sermon by Samuel Marsden $\text{(Christmas Day }1814\text{)}$; arrival of Thomas Kendall early $1810\text{s}$.
• Kendall:
  • Published first Māori book Te Karatia o Ngā Ture $\approx$ Te Korao no New Zealand.
  • Learned te reo, declared Māori had adequate spirituality, urged London CMS to halt mission; later recalled for "going native" and an extramarital relationship.
• By mid–$19^{\text{th}}$ C. Anglican & Catholic churches held strong Māori footholds; whānau often dedicated one child to the clergy.

Syncretic Māori Christian-Political Movements

• Pai Mārire / Hauhau (founded by Te Ua Haumēne, Taranaki): "Good & Peaceful"—became ideological base for Kīngitanga (Māori King Movement).
• Ringatū (founded by Te Kooti Rikirangi):
  • Te Kooti wrongfully imprisoned on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands), "rose from death", escaped, waged decades-long guerrilla campaign; left prolific prophecies & waiata.
• Iharaira / Israelites (founded by Rua Kēnana at Maungapōhatu, Tūhoe):
  • Taught community to see themselves as a Lost Tribe of Israel; practised deliberate tapū disruption (e.g. burning carving chips as firewood).
• Dozens of smaller prophetic movements in Hokianga, Bay of Islands etc.—all re-read Bible through Māori cosmology.

Key Figures & Texts Mentioned

• Te Ua Haumēne → Pai Mārire / Hauhau.
• Kereopa Te Rau: Hauhau leader who executed Rev. Volkner (episode of utu; lecturer cites earlier lecture).
• Te Kooti Rikirangi → Ringatū; see Judith Binney Redemption Songs.
• Rua Kēnana → Iharaira; see Allan Hanson "The Cult of Rua: Māori Roots & Christian Branches".
• Wīremu Tāmehana (the "Kingmaker")—devout Christian who still confessed inability to "forget the old ways" before death.
• Scholarship:
  • Bronwyn Elsemore Mana from Heaven.
  • Judith Binney The Legacy of Guilt (life of Thomas Kendall).
  • Lindsay Head on "Christian mana".

Core Theoretical Concepts & Lecturer’s Critiques

1 Expunging versus Layering

• Idea that colonisation "deleted" Māori religion likened to swapping Lego blocks—oversimplifies cultural memory.
• Human cognition lacks an "existential delete button"; beliefs "seep into our bones" and swell (adapt, hybridise).

2 Māui–Tāwhaki Model (Change vs. Tradition)

• Tāwhaki = inherited, stable tradition.
• Māui = disruptive innovation, novelty on cultural periphery.
• Christianity read as Māui-type intervention that was co-opted into Tāwhaki core over time; did not erase it.

3 Universalism vs. Pluriversalism

• Universalism: European Enlightenment claims single, correct worldview; exports it globally.
• Boaventura de Sousa Santos: calls Western knowledge "abyssal thinking"—non-Western knowledges rendered absent.
• Proposes ecology of knowledges / pluriversalism—multiple epistemologies coexist without forced reconciliation.

4 Comfort with Paradox

• Māori epistemology handles contradiction (e.g. only "one God – and many Māori atua" story).
• Practical value: more conceptual tools to tackle problems (climate change example & lecturer’s debate with daughter).

Case Study: Rua Kēnana & Tapū/Noa Oscillation

• Outsider view: Rua abolished tapū.
• Hanson’s analysis: community cycles between gathering (tapū) at Maungapōhatu and dispersal (noa) mirror classic Māori sacred/profane rhythm—more Māori than Judeo-Christian.

Arguments Against Total Christian “Purge” in De-colonisation

• Logically impossible to forget $200+$ yrs of entanglement.
• Risks romanticising a pre-contact "originary moment" that never existed (Homi Bhabha).
• Implies younger generations "know better" than tūpuna who adopted Christianity tactically.
• Examples from Mexico & Philippines: Indigenous cosmologies persist behind Catholic forms—subversion, not capitulation.

Christianity as Political Technology

• Biblical literacy used to hold Pākehā to account (e.g. Ngāti Pāoa elders quoting scripture in $1990\text{s}$ Environmental Court).
• Ringatū practice: continuous oral recitation of scripture during Rā & Hāpati lasting hours / days—oral retention strategy.

Wider Ethical & Philosophical Implications

• Need to resist drive to declare a single "right" system—otherwise anti-colonial struggle reproduces colonial universality.
• Embrace pluralist or pluriversal stance: different knowledge systems may produce incommensurable yet co-valid insights.
• Cultivate ability to "sit with the uncomfortable," as lecturer’s basketball coach: "Suck it up." (Accept paradox & complexity.)

Metaphors & Illustrative Examples

• Lego blocks: wrong idea that beliefs can just be swapped (Indigenous out, Christian in).
• Night & Day in Māori thought: day (agency) vs. night (uncontrollable forces); humility toward uncontrollable events (applied to climate change debate).
• Millennial cults comparison: climate-catastrophe activism framed like apocalyptic religious movements—illustrates human hubris & need for epistemic plurality.

Important Dates, Numbers, Places (LaTeX Form)

• $1814$ – Marsden’s first sermon.
• $1810\text{s}$ – Thomas Kendall’s arrival; first Māori orthography.
• $1840\text{s}$–$1870\text{s}$ – Peak of prophetic movements (Pai Mārire, Ringatū, Hauhau).
• $1858$ – Pōtatau Te Wherowhero crowned first Māori King.
• $1880\text{s}$–$1890\text{s}$ – Lindsay Head’s period for "Christian mana" formation.
• $1905$–$1916$ – Rua Kēnana’s Maungapōhatu era; police raid $1916$.
• $1980\text{s}$ – Te Māori exhibition & karakia revival.

Connections to Prior Lectures & Foundational Principles

• Links back to earlier lecture on utu (Kereopa Te Rau & Rev. Volkner).
• Continues theme of Māori intellectual appropriation and indigenisation of foreign concepts (cf. Maui/Tāwhaki tension covered previously).

Suggested Readings for Deeper Study

• Allan Hanson, "The Cult of Rua: Māori Roots and Christian Branches".
• Judith Binney, Redemption Songs (Te Kooti) & The Legacy of Guilt (Thomas Kendall).
• Bronwyn Elsemore, Mana from Heaven.
• Boaventura de Sousa Santos, "Abyssal Thinking" (ecology of knowledges).
• Lindsay Head articles on "Christian mana".
• Graham Hingangaroa Smith et al., "Equivocal Knowing & Elusive Realities" (discusses paradox & pluralism).

Study & Exam Tips

• Be able to define: karakia, tapū/noa, syncretism, universalism vs pluriversalism.
• Memorise key prophetic leaders and match them with movements & regions.
• Understand Maui–Tāwhaki model as analytical tool for cultural change.
• Prepare examples of subversive uses of Christianity (e.g. court testimony, Rua’s oscillations).
• Reflect on ethical debate: Is purging Christianity necessary or even possible? Formulate your stance with evidence.