Lincoln University Digital Dissertation - Lincoln University Research ...

linking you back to Papatuanuku – that is the parent you know, that is the
mother. The hinengaro is that it makes you think, you know you don’t go out
without thinking about the climate, the weather, the time of the year, you have
got to look at that element of thinking. And the whanaungatanga is the fact
that you bring other people along side you to achieve the end - you know you
don’t do it alone. So it contributes to all four elements and it has too… That’s
not a unique thing for Maori; it’s just that other cultures express that in other
ways. But for Maori we express it as te taha tinana, te taha wairua, te taha
whanaunga, te taha hinengaro, and some people add te taha mauri. But te
taha mauri is that complete set, so when it all comes together the mauri is just
so. That’s the cultural element.” (Grower 1)
Tikanga is a noun which loosely refers to the customs and habits of the
people, but has the connotations of the reasoning behind these actions. If it is
the whakapapa, and other concepts which built the values, beliefs and actions
of Maori, then it is also these things which create the tikanga – customs and
habits. All the daily activities undertaken by Maori as part of customary
lifestyle including the various management methods associated with crop
production are based on tikanga. They are practiced in accordance with the
beliefs and values of the people, built over centuries – modern society has
incorporated the tikanga of Pakeha with that of Maori. This is an important
consideration because all growers identified the potential challenges
surrounding the evolution of methods and management concerning
contemporary taewa cultivation. The general opinion seems to support the
growth of Maori tikanga, incorporating and engaging potentially useful
technologies and practices of today. The growers interviewed do not see such
adaptation as detrimental to traditional Maori tikanga, but rather see
knowledge and practice as dynamic factors reflecting the particular
opportunities and constraints of an environment.
“Even the old people responded to their environment. If something was
happening with the fisheries that was affecting how things were they re-
worked how things were, they responded… so it’s no different to that [now] it’s
just that the impacts and the effects have been a lot more and a lot stronger
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