E toru ngā momo tāngata i te ao Māori o mua, e taea pea te kī he whakawehenga kāwai: arā ko te rangatira, ko te tūtūā te ware rānei, ko te taurekareka. Tērā anō hoki te tohunga he momo motuhake ake anō.
E ai ki ngā kōrero take tikanga tangata a Te Rangihīroa e kīia ana ēnei whakawehenga he ‘taumata tangata’ e whakatau i te mana me te rangatiratanga o te tangata – inā koa, ka whai mana ake ngā rangatira o tētahi hapū i tētahi atu i runga i ngā kāwai whakaheke o te iwi.
Nō te whānautanga mai ko te rangatira. Ko ngā mātaamua ngā ariki. Ko ngā mātaamua ka heke mai i ngā kāwai ariki o tētahi tipuna rangatira. Ka kitea hoki te rangatiratanga i roto i te whanaungatanga o te tuakana me te teina. Ko te tikanga ka riro i te tamaiti i whānau mai i te tuatahi te tuakanatanga. Ko te tuakana ki mua, ko te teina ki muri.
Ka heke mai te karangatanga ariki ki te wahine i te hekenga mai o ngā kāwai ariki o ngā tīpuna me ngā atua ki runga ki a ia. He nui te wā mā tana tāne hei whakahau i tōna mana. Heoi arā anō ngā tīpuna wahine i whai mana ake. Ki tā Āpirana Mahuika, ko Hinematioro rāua ko Mihi Kotukutuku o Ngāti Porou ētahi tauira o te rangatira whai mana.
Ka amuamu te Minita Māori tuatahi a William Richardson he ‘nanakia’ te iwi Māori ki te noho ohu, ka kīia ko te noho ohu ‘puihi’ o te Māori.
He rahi tonu te marea o te ao Māori arā ko te tūtūā. Ko ngā kōrero mō te tūtūā he kōrero whakaiti, heoi kāre i tino whero me te pango i ēnei rā – whakaheke katoa mai ngā tāngata o te hapū me te iwi i te tipuna rangatira. Nā runga i ngā tātai whakapapa, ahakoa tātai teina he uri rangatira tonu. E ai ki a Te Peehi, kore rawa ia i tūtaki i tētahi Māori e kī ana he tūtūā kē ia.
E kīia ana te kōrero he mana tō te iwi Māori whānui. Kāore te marea i piko atu ki te rangatira.
Ko tētahi whakamārama i te rerekē o te rangatira i te tūtūā ko tēnei whakataukī ‘Ko tā te rangatira kai he kōrero; ko tā te ware he muhukai.’
E ai ki te pū kōrero mātauranga Pākehā a Angela Ballara tērā hoki tētahi wehenga Māori e kīia ana he tangata marea. Mēnā ka noho tētahi hapū ki raro i tētahi atu hapu kaha ake, me tuku taonga rātou ki ngā rangatira o tērā hapū whakaruruhau. Ka kīia ērā o te hapū whirinaki he tāngata marea.
Ko te taurekareka he hoariri i mauhere i te pakanga. I whakaaetia te tangata o te hapū o te iwi rānei kia moe i te taurekareka, ā, ko a rāua uri ka tukuna kia ora.
Nā tēnei, kore rawa i heke tētahi kāwai taurekareka i roto i te ao Māori. Kāore hoki i aukatia te whakarauora te rere, kāore hoki te nuinga i pīrangitia e ō rātou iwi ake kua ngaro tō rātou mana, ā, kua whakarērea hoki e ō rātou atua.
E whakaatuhia ana te mana me te tūranga tangata i ngā kōrero o te ōrokohanga. Ka whakaatuna hoki te whanaungatanga tuakana teina, me te wāhi o te tapu me te noa.
I muri i te wehenga o Ranginui rāua ko Papatūānuku ka pakanga ā rāua tamariki. Ka riri te pōtiki a Tawhirimatea ki ōna tuākana. Ko Tumatauenga anake i pakanga ki a ia. Kia eke i a Tūmatauenga ōna tuakana, ka riro ki a ia te mana me te tapu a ka noa rātou. Ka noho ana tuakana ko Tangaroa, ko Tāne-Mahuta, ko Haumia me Rongo hei kai māna. Heoi ka noho tonu ki a Tāwhirimatea tōna tapu, i te mea kaore ia i hinga ki a Tūmatauenga. Koinei te take e haukerekerehia nei te tangata i te ahuarangi.
Ka rerekē te mana me te tūranga o te tuakana me te teina i runga i tōna pakeketanga me ōna kāwai. Ko Uenuku tērā te matua o Kahutiaterangi rāua ko Ruatapu, heoi he rerekē ngā whaea. He pakeke ake a Kahutiaterangi, ā, ko tōna whaea te wahine matua. Ko tō Ruatapu whaea he murimanu, arā he mauhere hoki. I te kitenga o Ruatapu e tītī ana i te heru o Kahutiaterangi ka kangaia ia e tōna matua i te aroaro o te iwi:
E hika, nāku tonu koe; he tama meamea koe nahaku; he moenga rau-kawakawa, he moenga hau!
Ka riri a Ruatapu ki tēnei kanga, ā, ka whakatika ia kia patua ngā tama mātāmua katoa o te iwi mā te tahuri i te waka hī ika, ā, ka mate kau atu te katoa tae noa ki a Ruatapu. Ko te karanga tērā a Kahutiaterangi ki ōna tīpuna ka tuku tipua mai ka puea mai te tohorā ka mau ia ki uta.
Ehara ko Te Rauparaha i te ariki o Ngāti Toa. Nā runga kē i tana mana tipu arataki i tōna iwi ka noho ko ia hei rangatira ūpoko mō tōna iwi.
He pōriro a Tutānekai. Ka pūremu a Rangiuru te wahine a Whakaue ki a Tūwharetoa. Heoi ka noho tamaiti tonu a Tutānekai mā Whakaue. Heoi nō te mate kanehe o Tutānekai ki te puhi ki a Hinemoa, kore rawa te whānau o Hinemoa i whakaae kia moe rāua inā ia he pōriro. Hei aukati i a Hinemoa ki te hoe atu ki a Tutānekai ki Mokoia i Rotorua, ka tangohia e ōna tūngāne ngā hoe o ngā waka. Engari ka here a Hinemoa i ngā tahā ki tōna tinana ka kauhoe atu ai ki a Tutānekai e whai haere ana i te tangi o te pūtōrino a Tutānekai. Nāwai rā ka whakaaea tā rāua moe tahi.
Ka panoni ngā whakahaerenga iwi o te Māori i te taenga mai o te Pākehā. Nō te tau 1848 ka tuhi atu tētahi rangatira o Waikato Ngapora ki a Kāwana Kerei: ‘Kore rawa ngā taurekareka o taku iwi e aro mai. Kāore ō rātou whakaaro rangatira mōku ... Nā koutou, Pākehā mā, i pēnei ai ... I mua he mana tō te ao Māori, ināianei kua kore.’1
I mua ka taka mai ngā mihinare Pākehā ki raro i te mana o ngā rangatira Māori. Nō te tahuri nui atu o te Māori ki te Rongopai, ka piki te mana mihinare. He nui te wā ko ngā taurekareka i huri ki te Rongopai ka noho hei mihinare tuatahi mō ō rātou iwi, ka raru ai i ētahi wā ki ō rātou rangatira ā-iwi.
He mea ārahi te Kamupene o Niu Tireni e Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Ka whakapono a Wakefield ko ngā whenua Māori me hoko atu ki ngā Pākehā kia ‘rahi’ ai te moni mā te kamupene. Kotahi tekau o ngā whenua tāone me ngā whenua tuawhenua ka wehea mai mō te Māori, otirā ka purihia e te Pākehā mō ngā rangatira me ō rātou whānau. Ko te rautaki a te kamupene mā ngā Pākehā whai rawa e hoko whenua hei tuku mahi ki te hunga kaimahi, e whiwhi moni ai hoki rātou hei hoko whenua ā tōna wā. Ko te whakaaro hoki kia pēnei anō ngā ‘tāngata marea’ Māori nei ka mahi mā ō rātou rangatira ake, mā te pākehā rānei, ka whiwhi moni ai hei hoko whenua ake mō rātou ā tōna wā, rite ki te pākehā.
Tērā tonu ētahi tāngata Māori i whai rawa, kia rite ki ngā rangatira o te ao Pākehā. Ko te rangatira whai rawa tērā o Wairarapa ko Tamahau Mahupuku tērā i whakarato i tana hapori – nāna i utu te Tauā Māori o Wairarapa, ko te niupepa reo Māori o Te Puke ki Hikurangi, ā ko te whakatūnga hoki o ētahi whare ki Pāpāwai ki Wairarapa.
Ko tēnei mea te pōti ka riro i te hunga whai whenua ake anake. I te tau 1853 100 ngā tāngata Māori i pōti.
I te tau 1893 ko Timi Kara uri Māori uri Pākehā hoki te Māori tuatahi kia toa i tētahi rohenga pōti Pākehā.
He nui ngā Pākehā i hiahia kia noho te Māori hei ringa mahi ihuoneone noa hei tautoko noa i ngā mahi a te Pākehā. I te tau 1862 ka mea a Henry Taylor:
I do not advocate for the Natives under present circumstances a refined education or high mental culture: it would be inconsistent if we take account of the position they are likely to hold for many years to come in the social scale, and inappropriate if we remember that they are better calculated by nature to get their living by manual than by mental labour.
Kia kaua e akohia te Māori ki ngā mātauranga ao whānui: kāre tērā e rite ki te tūranga mō rātou i ngā tau e heke mai nei, ā, mō ngā mahi ā-ringa hoki e tika ana mā rātou ehara kē ko ngā mahi ā-hinengaro.2
Heoi nā te kāreti tamatāne Māori o Te Aute i whakahaere akomanga wānanga, i puta ai ō rātou tauira hei kaimahi pūkenga hei rata, hei rōia, hei kaiako anō hoki. I whakahaua te kura e te tari mātauranga kia aro kē ki ngā mahi ā-ringa kē hei oranga mō te Māori.
Nā te raupatu me ngā hoko whenua ka tahuri te Māori ki ngā mahi ā-ringa ihu oneone nei. I te wehenga tuatahi o te rautau 1900 neke atu i te haurua o ngā kaimahi Māori i whai mahi ā-ringa ihu oneone nei. I te tau 1943 ka mea te kairangahau take tikanga tangata nei a Ernest Beaglehole, ‘there is a tendency to rank most Maori in a group equivalent in status to that of the lowest-class White group' (tērā te pōhēhē me whakaōrite te tūranga o te iwi Māori ki tō ngā tāngata tūtūā rawa o te ao Pākehā)1. Ka huri hoki tēnei pōhēhē i te huringa hoki o te iwi Māori i te mutunga o te rautau 1900.
Nō te whiwhinga a te Māori i ngā tohu mātauranga i te tīmatanga o te rautau 1900 ka tīmata ngā taukumekume i waenganui i ngā rangatira tuku iho me ērā i whai tūnga ki roto i te ao Pākehā. He mea whakamāmā hoki tēnei tūāhua inā nui atu ngā uri rangatira i whai i ngā tohu mātauranga nei. Ko te whakatūnga hoki tērā o te Rōpū Rangatahi Māori ko tā rātou hoki kia aro kē ki ngā mahi hei tohu rangatira, kaua ki tōna kāwai whakaheke anake.
Nō te tau 1858 ka tīmata mai te Kīngitanga, ā, heke noa mai ki tēnei te mano tau hōu. Ko te arikitanga o Te Heuheu ki roto o Tuwharetoa hoki tēnā i heke mai ki te mano tau hou nei. Kei ngā rōpū ā-iwi maha, ko ngā rangatira o ngā taratī me ngā kamupene ā-iwi hoki he uri rangatira tonu. Arā rā tā Apirana Mahuika mō ōna hapū tonu, ko ngā whānau Weka, Green me nga Manuel hoki me ētahi atu whānau rangatira i eke tonu ki ngā mahi rangatira mō te iwi tae noa ki te mutunga o te rautau 1900.
E ai ki a Hirini Mead, ‘flattened out and there is one class called Māori' (kua kore haere ngā wehenga tāngata Māori i ēnei rā, ā, kua kotahi noa ko te Māori anake)2 – nā reira he rangatira katoa ināianei. E rangona ana tēnei i ngā mihi o te whaikōrero, arā ‘Rau rangatira mā’.
Nō te mutunga o rautau 1900 ko te aranga o te whai rawa a te nuinga o te iwi Māori. Whai muri i te whakatūnga o te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi, ka whakapau kaha ngā rōia me ngā kairangahau Māori ki ngā kerēme tiriti. I te whai hua mai i ngā whakataunga kerēme kua whakatūtūhia ngā kamupene me ngā taratī Maōri i whakahaeretia anō e te Māori whai pūkenga. Ka nui atu hoki te kitea o te kanohi Māori ki ngā tini mahi a te kāwanatanga.
Ka ngaro atu ki roto i tēnei tū āhuatanga ngā wehewehenga tūturu o te ao Māori. I taua wā anō e whakatauhia haerehia ana ngā kerēme titiri nunui, ka pā kino hoki te hokotanga atu o ngā kamupene kāwanatanga nui ki ngā kaimahi Māori, tokomaha tonu i riro atu kē ō rātou tūranga mahi.
I te whare wananga o Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa ka tū te rōpū rangahau o Te Hoe Nuku Roa, nana nei i whakawehewehe tonu ngā wehenga Māori nā te ine i ngā tikanga whakaaro, te reo, me ētahi āhuatanga hoki o te oranga moni o te hapori.
Mead, Hirini. Tikanga Māori: living by Māori values. Te Whanganui-a-Tara: Huia, 2003.