traditional knowledge conference 2008 te tatau pounamu

the ngākau which is recognized through the response of the ngākau. The ngākau is where thought iscentralized and stored as memory. Evidence in karakia (invocations) indicates that once knowledge issettled in the ngākau it may be described as mātau (knowledge, understanding). The disturbance of thislatent state creates memory recall (maharatanga).The source from which tohu might be initiated and conveyed is external to the human body and thengākau of the receiver. There are various ways that tohu are perceived by the ngākau. The head androro (brain) are particularly sacred and important for tohu perceived by smell, sight, hearing or othersense occurring around the head of an individual. The transfer of tohu to the ngākau of the human bodyis termed rongo (hear, sense) or whakarongo (listen, sense). In contemporary Māori language these areterms that are often translated in relation to hearing alone. Early manuscript evidence indicates,however, a much greater use of these terms being qualified by the particular sense through which theknowing or tohu entered the human body, for example, rongo ā taringa (hearing), rongo ā kitea(knowing by seeing), rongo ā ihu (knowing by smell). A metaphorical sense of the word might beprovided in pre-colonial philosophical narratives of whakapapa kōrero. Rongo was a supernatural beingthat fled from the violence of the outer external world to comfort and safety by interring him/her selfinto the darkness of the earth.Knowledge might also be perceived through the wairua (spirit) of a person and internal visioning.The wairua of a person is said to travel during sleep and has the ability to gather knowledge during thisactivity. Pre-colonial houses also provide a metaphorical sense of the same theme. The inside of ameeting house is sometimes referred to as the ngākau of the house and the sheltered porch area as theroro or the brain area. The open area in front of a meeting house (marae ātea) is sometimes referred toas the domain of Tūmatauenga (te marae o Tūmatauenga), an exposed, open area of potential violenceand struggle. In opposition to this, the inside of a house (ngākau) is sometimes metaphorically referredto as the domain of Rongo (te whare o Rongo), a place of peace, warmth and goodwill. In formal debateon the marae ātea (forecourt) the discussion is “heard” at the front of the house and this knowledge istransferred to the ngākau (the interior) by way of the tāhuhu or ridgebeam which is also the backbone ofthe house (T. Smith 2007a).Tohu and kōreroTohu can be classified as active or passive (non-reactive), and verbal or nonverbal. Pre-colonialevidence suggests that tohu were primarily nonverbal. However, verbalization of and about tohuoccurred within specific contexts. An active tohu might be a physical gesture or behaviour by a personthat indicates something more powerful and therefore more sacred: ka tohungia te whare o te rangatira(the chief’s house was indicated). Another example of an active tohu not verbalized might be aparticular wind that indicates a change in weather conditions. A passive tohu might be a symbol orrepresentation that appears to remain dormant or non-reactive to the observer but, nevertheless, has thepotential for the manifestation of power. An example might be a symbol in an artwork that represents atipuna (ancestor) or an aspect of a tipuna. Yet another example might be an element within theenvironment: a mountain, stone, tree, river or natural feature of the landscape that serves as therepresentation of a particular tipuna or holds significance to the whakapapa kōrero within a tribaltūrangawaewae.Tohu communicated by people can be classified as verbal and nonverbal. In pre-colonial narrativestohu are not only signs, marks or indicators that are nonverbal but are also verbalized as kupu tohutohu(words of import) within specific contexts. Tohu connect to whakapapa kōrero and are therefore sacredwithin themselves. Within formal learning contexts kupu tohutohu are discourses imparted by tohungawithin whare wānanga (places of learning), the curriculum of the whare wānanga being whakapapakōrero.Tohu as a language of silenceNonverbal tohu include actions or gestures that communicate shared understandings for survival. Inpre-colonial tangata whenua (people of the land, indigenous people) communities the use of these tohuis likely to have increased in times of stress or warfare or during hunting and food gathering. Foodgathering required silence in order to capture prey and children were socialized into reading and267