Story: Kāwanatanga – Māori engagement with the state

Ian (Hugh) Kawharu, 1992

Ian (Hugh) Kawharu, 1992

Anthropologist and Ngāti Whātua leader Hugh Kawharu (right) receives the Polynesian Society's Elsdon Best Medal in 1992 from Professor Bruce Biggs, the society's president. In 1989 Kawharu made an English translation of the Māori version of the Treaty of Waitangi, aiming to better reflect the understanding of the chiefs who signed the treaty. He translated 'kāwanatanga' as 'government'.

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The Journal of the Polynesian Society
Reference: Journal of the Polynesian Society 101, no. 2 (1992), p. 112.

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How to cite this page:

Paul Meredith and Rawinia Higgins, 'Kāwanatanga – Māori engagement with the state - Defining kāwanatanga', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/37434/ian-hugh-kawharu-1992 (accessed 19 March 2024)

Story by Paul Meredith and Rawinia Higgins, published 20 Jun 2012, updated 1 Aug 2016