Towards a Creative Tino Rangatiratanga

In a recent paper, I made a call for a ‘creative tino rangatiratanga’, a transformation of tino rangatiratanga from its current traumatised and marginalised state into a confident, positive and distinctive cultural feature of New Zealand of which we can all be proud. Since 19th century conflicts, tino rangatiratanga has been largely constructed and experienced in opposition to Kāwanatanga and the so-called ‘Pākehā’ world. Tino rangatiratanga, as we have customarily come to regard it, was created through colonisation, conflict and marginalisation. Later it became a political tool to communicate protest and disquiet. This is entirely understandable given our history. We can ask the question, however, was tino rangatiratanga envisaged in this way at the time of the signing of the Treaty?

In my view, the Treaty was never designed as an instrument for the alleviation of grievance. Rather its purpose was more forward looking, guaranteeing and entrenching certain rights to those representing ‘tino rangatiratanga’ and establishing new rights for those representing ‘kāwanatanga’. I do not believe that my ancestors, who signed the Treaty upon Kapiti Island and elsewhere, would have signed the Treaty if they truly believed that their rangatiratanga was soon to be seriously compromised. Rather I think they saw the Treaty as a way of entrenching their position as well as introducing some order into relationships with the newly arrived Pākehā of the time.

As we know, they did indeed come into serious conflict and their rangatiratanga was deeply compromised. Hence, tino rangatiratanga became entangled in conflict and became inextricably linked to it. For the future, I hope we can develop a creative tino rangatiratanga, one which all New Zealanders may be proud of. Its features might include:
  • A concern for all New Zealanders and for New Zealand, a concern for the mana of our nation
  • A tino rangatiratanga that is not in competition with Kāwanatanga
  • A tino rangatiratanga that is liberated out of the Māori/Pākehā ethnicity paradigm and instead becomes a taonga for all New Zealanders (as Kāwanatanga is)
  • A concern overall for the new tangata whenuatanga – a vehicle for the indigenous worldview as this is expressed through mātauranga Māori, tikanga Māori, and the heritage generally of the tangata whenua in history.
A copy of this paper can be obtained from www.charles-royal.com

Comments

  1. melindaFebruary 18, 2009 at 12:22 PM

    Kia Ora Dr Charles

    I know this has nothing to do with your writings but I need to contact you and thought this would be the best way.

    My name is Hana Hapai Skinner and I currently reside in Victoria, Australia. Last year I met your uncle, Jim Ngaiwi Royal at his property Waimango Orere Pt.

    I was looking for Tupuna Paora and Ripeka who I believed was buried on Jim's land. We established that they were. I have alot of ancestry knowledge that Jim told me that we were related because of the people that are buried there and this has tied things together in the ancestory lineage and would love to discuss this further with you. I have alot of historical knowledge that I know you would be most interested in.

    bree_melinda@hotmail.com

    Regards
    Hana Skinner

    ReplyDelete

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