Kaupapa Māori: An Overview of Key Elements

• In Event: He Māori Ahau: Challenging Dominant Notions of Leadership, Responsiveness, and Effectiveness in Education

Abstract

The first presentation in this symposium is an overview of key elements of Kaupapa Māori in order to provide a clear framework of analysis and critique. It is argued that Kaupapa Māori Theory is a theory that is informed by its Indigenous underpinnings. It is defined and controlled by Māori and grounded within Te Reo and Tikanga Māori. The development of Kaupapa Māori as a foundation for theory and research methdologies has grown from Māori struggles for tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake, in which there is a clear cultural and political intent. The idea that theorists and researchers are a-cultural is directly challenged by the assertion of Indigenous theories such as Kaupapa Māori, which are located within cultural frameworks and epistemologies.

Kaupapa Māori is transforming the way in which theory and research is being shaped in this country. For many Māori who have actively sought theoretical explanations for our experiences, Kaupapa Māori theory provides a culturally defined theoretical space.

As a theoretical framework Kaupapa Māori theory is engaged in a site of struggle. This paper discusses Kaupapa Māori theory as a framework from which critique and analysis of dominant discourses can be undertaken. It contextualises the discussion within the wider focus of the symposium, in regards to the problematic capture of key educational notions by dominant discourses and the necessity of Kaupapa Māori approaches to educational notions such as Educational Leadership, Cultural Responsiveness and Teacher Effectiveness.

Author

• Leonie Pihama, MAIA Ltd. /University of Waikato