What whakapapa means to hapū-based Māori researchers: kairangahau reflections

ABSTRACT Collecting kōrero tuku iho (indigenous knowledge, indigenous storytelling, traditional technical knowledge) of life on land and life under water is how this group of three kairangahau, Māori researchers, propose whānau (family/families) and hapū (family collective/s), can build governance and management practices with their whānau and hapū over their rohe whenua (tribal land area/s), rohe moana (tribal ocean area/s) and wai (water/s) today. Through a reflexive weaving of whakapapa this article shares how these hapū based kairangahau articulate ‘whakapapa’ as a practice that connects them to ‘people, place and purpose’. Whakapapa as praxis, while presenting challenges, strengthens their everyday practice as kairangahau with ‘themselves’ and ‘others’ and unfolds for them new and affirming spaces and pathways that aim to privilege and uphold their whakapapa practices of whānau and hapū decision-making.