MAI Journal 2017: Volume 6 Issue 2

Protein intakes of advanced age Māori participating in Te Puāwaitanga o Ngā Tapuwae Kia Ora Tonu (LiLACS NZ) are presented. Detailed dietary assessments were completed by 216 Māori men and women aged 81–91 years using a repeat 24-hour multiple pass recall. Nutrient intakes were analysed using FOODfiles 2010. Among this cohort of older Mäori men and women, the highest contributors of protein intake were fish and seafood, meat and poultry.

In recent times, during the Māori language revitalisation era, there has been a renewed interest in learning and promoting Māori dialects. Iwi identification is often signalled by younger speakers of Māori through pronunciation, idiom, vocabulary and written forms that are thought to be associated with a particular iwi or region. To date, there has not been promotion of a standard form of Māori; standardisation efforts have instead largely focused on lexical/technical development and promoting orthographic consistencies for writing Māori.

The guaranteed Māori seats are a distinguishing and controversial feature of New Zealand’s democracy. In recent years, a number of reports, commentators and politicians have called for the seats to be abolished on the grounds that they are no longer “needed” in New Zealand’s proportional electoral system. These claims are usually grounded in principles of equality. This paper makes the opposite claim: that principles of equality create convincing and coherent justifications for the Māori seats.

In most areas, whaikōrero in pōwhiri has survived the test of time sheltered by the confines of marae, but the performance aspect of this art form has changed significantly. The impacts of Christianity, the influence of European culture and the movement of pōwhiri from outdoors to indoors have created a more subdued speaker, free of weaponry and limited body movement. In recent years there has been a renaissance among particular groups to revive past ways of performance.

This paper considers the use of contemporary popular waiata in promulgating a Māori worldview by expressing cultural identity and belonging. Waiata are a traditional medium, a practice through which Māori knowledge, histories, culture and language continue to be passed down from one generation to another (Ka‘ai-Mahuta, 2010; McLean, 1996; Orbell, 1991; Smith, 2003). Similarities can be observed between traditional and contemporary waiata, in that messages are delivered through musical, melodic, rhythmic and harmonic motifs that are distinctively Māori.

Pōwhiri has a long history and generates deeper meanings beyond the formal enactment of welcome. What happens when this ritual is transferred into contemporary environments, especially those beyond the traditional marae? In particular, how might the performance of this ritual as adapted to suit objectives beyond its ritual origins be seen, even so, to reconstruct and reinforce the sense of identity, communality and belonging—who we are and how we come together—that pōwhiri was evolved to engender?