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Iwi
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Iwi
Iwi (Māori pronunciation: [ˈiwi]) are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, iwi roughly means 'people' or 'nation', and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English.
Iwi groups trace their ancestry to the original Polynesian migrants who, according to tradition, arrived from Hawaiki. Some iwi cluster into larger groupings that are based on whakapapa (genealogical tradition) and known as waka (literally 'canoes', with reference to the original migration voyages). These super-groupings are generally symbolic rather than logistical. In pre-European times, most Māori were allied to relatively small groups in the form of hapū ('sub-tribes') and whānau ('family'). Each iwi contains a number of hapū; among the hapū of the Ngāti Whātua iwi, for example, are Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te Taoū, and Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei. Māori use the word rohe for the territory or boundaries of iwi.
In modern-day New Zealand, iwi can exercise significant political power in the management of land and other assets. For example, the 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlement between the New Zealand Government and Ngāi Tahu compensated iwi for various losses of the rights guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840. As of 2019[update] the tribe has collective assets under management of $1.85 billion. Iwi affairs can have a real impact on New Zealand politics and society. A 2004 attempt by some iwi to test in court their ownership of the seabed and foreshore areas polarised public opinion (see New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy).
In Māori and many other Polynesian languages, iwi literally means 'bone', derived from Proto-Oceanic *suRi₁, meaning 'thorn, splinter, fish bone'. Māori may refer to returning home after travelling or living elsewhere as "going back to the bones" — literally to the burial areas of ancestors. Māori author Keri Hulme's novel The Bone People (1985) has a title linked directly to this dual meaning of bone and "tribal people".
Many iwi names begin with Ngāti or with Ngāi (from ngā āti and ngā ai respectively, both meaning roughly 'the offspring of'). Ngāti has become a productive morpheme in New Zealand English to refer to groups of people: examples are Ngāti Pākehā (Pākehā as a group), Ngāti Pōneke (Māori who have migrated to the Wellington region), and Ngāti Rānana (Māori living in London). Ngāti Tūmatauenga ("Tribe of Tūmatauenga", the god of war) is the official Māori-language name of the New Zealand Army. Hawaiian navigator Nainoa Thompson and his crew upon the Hōkūleʻa canoe were inducted among the Te Tai Tokerau Māori by James Henare as the iwi of Ngāti Ruawāhia (“Tribe of the Arcturus”) after their successful voyage from Rarotonga to Waitangi in 1985, the admission of Ngāti Ruawāhia was formalised in 2018.
In the southern dialect of Māori, Ngāti and Ngāi become Kāti and Kāi, terms found in such iwi names as Kāti Māmoe and Kāi Tahu (also known as Ngāi Tahu).
Each iwi has a generally recognised territory (rohe), but many of these overlap, sometimes completely. This has added a layer of complication to the long-running discussions and court cases about how to resolve historical Treaty claims. The length of coastline emerged as one factor in the final (2004) legislation to allocate fishing-rights in settlement of claims relating to commercial fisheries.
Iwi can become a prospective vehicle for ideas and ideals of self-determination and/or tino rangatiratanga. Thus does Te Pāti Māori mention in the preamble of its constitution "the dreams and aspirations of tangata whenua to achieve self-determination for whānau, hapū and iwi within their own land". Some Tūhoe envisage self-determination in specifically iwi-oriented terms.
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Iwi
Iwi (Māori pronunciation: [ˈiwi]) are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, iwi roughly means 'people' or 'nation', and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English.
Iwi groups trace their ancestry to the original Polynesian migrants who, according to tradition, arrived from Hawaiki. Some iwi cluster into larger groupings that are based on whakapapa (genealogical tradition) and known as waka (literally 'canoes', with reference to the original migration voyages). These super-groupings are generally symbolic rather than logistical. In pre-European times, most Māori were allied to relatively small groups in the form of hapū ('sub-tribes') and whānau ('family'). Each iwi contains a number of hapū; among the hapū of the Ngāti Whātua iwi, for example, are Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te Taoū, and Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei. Māori use the word rohe for the territory or boundaries of iwi.
In modern-day New Zealand, iwi can exercise significant political power in the management of land and other assets. For example, the 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlement between the New Zealand Government and Ngāi Tahu compensated iwi for various losses of the rights guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840. As of 2019[update] the tribe has collective assets under management of $1.85 billion. Iwi affairs can have a real impact on New Zealand politics and society. A 2004 attempt by some iwi to test in court their ownership of the seabed and foreshore areas polarised public opinion (see New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy).
In Māori and many other Polynesian languages, iwi literally means 'bone', derived from Proto-Oceanic *suRi₁, meaning 'thorn, splinter, fish bone'. Māori may refer to returning home after travelling or living elsewhere as "going back to the bones" — literally to the burial areas of ancestors. Māori author Keri Hulme's novel The Bone People (1985) has a title linked directly to this dual meaning of bone and "tribal people".
Many iwi names begin with Ngāti or with Ngāi (from ngā āti and ngā ai respectively, both meaning roughly 'the offspring of'). Ngāti has become a productive morpheme in New Zealand English to refer to groups of people: examples are Ngāti Pākehā (Pākehā as a group), Ngāti Pōneke (Māori who have migrated to the Wellington region), and Ngāti Rānana (Māori living in London). Ngāti Tūmatauenga ("Tribe of Tūmatauenga", the god of war) is the official Māori-language name of the New Zealand Army. Hawaiian navigator Nainoa Thompson and his crew upon the Hōkūleʻa canoe were inducted among the Te Tai Tokerau Māori by James Henare as the iwi of Ngāti Ruawāhia (“Tribe of the Arcturus”) after their successful voyage from Rarotonga to Waitangi in 1985, the admission of Ngāti Ruawāhia was formalised in 2018.
In the southern dialect of Māori, Ngāti and Ngāi become Kāti and Kāi, terms found in such iwi names as Kāti Māmoe and Kāi Tahu (also known as Ngāi Tahu).
Each iwi has a generally recognised territory (rohe), but many of these overlap, sometimes completely. This has added a layer of complication to the long-running discussions and court cases about how to resolve historical Treaty claims. The length of coastline emerged as one factor in the final (2004) legislation to allocate fishing-rights in settlement of claims relating to commercial fisheries.
Iwi can become a prospective vehicle for ideas and ideals of self-determination and/or tino rangatiratanga. Thus does Te Pāti Māori mention in the preamble of its constitution "the dreams and aspirations of tangata whenua to achieve self-determination for whānau, hapū and iwi within their own land". Some Tūhoe envisage self-determination in specifically iwi-oriented terms.