Iwi

This article is about the Māori social unit. For other uses, see Iwi (disambiguation).

Iwi (Māori pronunciation: [ˈiwi]) are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, iwi roughly means 'people' or 'nation',[1][2] and is often translated as "tribe",[3] or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English.

Iwi groups trace their ancestry to the original Polynesian migrants who, according to tradition, arrived from Hawaiki. Some iwi cluster into larger groupings that are based on whakapapa (genealogical tradition) and known as waka (literally 'canoes', with reference to the original migration voyages). These super-groupings are generally symbolic rather than logistical. In pre-European times, most Māori were allied to relatively small groups in the form of hapū ('sub-tribes')[4] and whānau ('family').[5] Each iwi contains a number of hapū; among the hapū of the Ngāti Whātua iwi, for example, are Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te Taoū, and Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei. Māori use the word rohe to describe the territory or boundaries of iwi.[6]

In modern-day New Zealand, iwi can exercise significant political power in the management of land and of other assets. For example, the 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlement between the New Zealand Government and Ngāi Tahu, compensated that iwi for various losses of the rights guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840. As of 2019 the tribe has collective assets under management of $1.85 billion.[7] Iwi affairs can have a real impact on New Zealand politics and society. A 2004 attempt by some iwi to test in court their ownership of the seabed and foreshore areas polarised public opinion (see New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy).

  1. ^ Ballara 1998, Back cover.
  2. ^ See also: Durie, A. (1999). Emancipatory Māori education: Speaking from the heart. In S. May (Ed.), Indigenous community education (pp. 67–78). Philadelphia, PA: Multilingual Matters.
    - See also: Healey, S. M. (2006). The nature of the relationship of the Crown in New Zealand with iwi Māori. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
    - See also: Sharp, A. (1999). What if value and rights lie foundationally in groups? The Maori case. Critical Review of International, Social and Political Philosophy, 2(2), 1–28.
  3. ^ Taylor, R. (1848). A leaf from the natural history of New Zealand, or, A vocabulary of its different productions, &c., &c., with their native names.
    - White, J. (1887). The ancient history of the Maori, his mythology and traditions.
    - Smith, S. P. (1910). Maori wars of the nineteenth century; the struggle of the northern against the southern Maori tribes prior to the colonisation of New Zealand in 1840.
    - Best, E. (1934). The Maori as he was: A brief account of Maori life as it was in pre-European days.
    - Buck, P. (1949). The coming of the Maori.
  4. ^ Ballara 1998, p. 17.
  5. ^ Ballara 1998, p. 164.
  6. ^ "Glossary of Māori terms". Te Kete Ipurangi – New Zealand Government. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  7. ^ "2019 Annual Report". Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. 21 November 2019. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022.