Aligning the Vibrations: Resounding Matters

Te Kore, to Te Pō, to Te Ao MaramaTe reo Māori (the Māori language) is an oral language, so these “Te Kore, to Te Pō, to Te Ao Marama” words are most commonly encountered as spoken. Unlike Western traditions, precontact Māori cultures did not impose Cartesian divisions between nature and culture on the world. Nor does te reo position entities in an oppositional manner, as for instance the Greek prefix ‘in-’ does on the words ‘tangible’ and ‘intangible.’ Similarly, the Greek prefix ‘inter-’ inscribes the possibility that within oppositional entities there is always an in-between. Sound vibrates, resonates and reverberates, sound is always inherent to material movement, both in its generation and propagation. Vibrations are one of the ways that the material world makes itself felt. If language is communication, then in this understanding it is not just a human prerogative.