Celebrate Astronomically-Based Matariki
A story about Māori New Year, when the constellation Matariki is first visible in the morning sky, features in Forbes this week. The date of the inaugural Matariki public holiday has been announced by…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Study Suggests Māori First to Encounter Antarctica
Māori explorers could have been the first humans to set eyes on Antarctica as far back as the 7th century, a new study suggests, even though for the past 200 years, tales of discovering…
Manaakitanga Behind Our Strong Covid Response
There is a deeper reason why New Zealand has “fared so much better”, than say, the United States in combatting Covid-19, and it’s manaakitanga, according to New Zealanders Matthew Milner and Richard Ngata, who…
Trapped in Museums for Centuries, Maori Ancestors Are Coming Home
Writing for Atlas Obscura, Ye Charlotte Ming has taken an in-depth look at the ongoing process of repatriation of Maori remains from international museums, quoting poet and musician Hinemoana Baker, researcher Amber Aranui and…
Learning Te Reo Māori Is Where It’s At
New Zealanders of all stripes are signing up to learn te reo Māori, according to Amy Gunia reporting for TIME magazine. Gunia writes that experts say over the last five or so years, the…
Berlin Museum Returns Toi Moko to New Zealand
With a ceremony and prayers, Berlin’s ethnological museum has marked the official repatriation of two Toi Moko, or tattooed Māori heads, to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington, Deutsche Welle…
A Country Can Best Heal When it Acknowledges Past Injustices says Sociologist
What would happen if you lost your land and ended up as a second-class citizen in your own country? asks American medical sociologist Robert Bartholomew in an opinion piece for Psychology Today. “New Zealand is a land…
Oldest Surviving Photograph of Māori Discovered
The oldest surviving photograph of a Māori person, a picture of Hemi Pomara, has been discovered in the National Library of Australia, an historical “scoop” being lauded on both sides of the Tasman. Eleanor…
A Country Can Best Heal When it Acknowledges Past Injustices says Sociologist
What would happen if you lost your land and ended up as a second-class citizen in your own country? asks American medical sociologist Robert Bartholomew in an opinion for Psychology Today. “New Zealand is a land…
Recognising the Whanganui River’s Legal Voice
In 2017, New Zealand granted legal personhood to the Whanganui River. Since then, other nations have followed suit in an effort to protect the environment. The BBC’s Luana Harumi reports, with the river featured…
Businesswoman Mavis Mullins Speaks on Pukaha Treaty Reparations with NPR
Mavis Mullins runs a sheep-shearing company that handles over 1,000,000 sheep. She’s also a charming, disarmingly honest straight-shooter. One day her cousin pulled her into a café with a request: Help us fight with…
Māori Increasingly Asserting Identity with Tā moko
Gary Harding’s body is a living testimony to his heritage. Tā moko, a cultural tattoo artwork, adorns Harding’s face and body, a visualisation of his Māori whakapapa or genealogy, his role in the community…
Te Papa’s Te Taiao Nature an Urgent Call to Action
Dunedin-based Guardian journalist Eleanor Ainge Roy writes on Te Papa’s biggest development since its inception 21 years ago, the result of the largest ever investment in a museum exhibition in the country. Te Taiao…
What the Haka Means and How It’s Performed
It’s what representing their country is all about – walking out in New Zealand’s All Blacks jersey, facing their opposition, and delivering a spine-tingling, hair-raising haka before the whistle blows for kick-off. George Ramsay…
Barbie Releases First-Ever Māori Doll
Barbie has released its first-ever Māori doll, modelled after New Zealand sports journalist and former rugby player Melodie Robinson. The doll, which has “curly hair and beautiful brown skin”, holds a microphone as part of…
The Treaty of Waitangi and Its Influence On Identity Politics
“Globally, there has been a crisis of confidence in the promises of liberal democracy in recent years,” writes James H. Liu, Professor of Psychology at Massey University. Against trends like the US president wanting…
UK High Commission in NZ to Recruit Māori Adviser & Te Reo Teacher
“The British high commission in New Zealand has been given the green light to recruit its first adviser on Māori affairs, as well as a te reo language teacher for high commissioner Laura Clarke.”…
How Spark Helped NZ Learn Māori
“Whilst te reo Māori has steadily seen an increase in a number of revitalisation efforts across New Zealand—especially in recent years—actual te reo learning opportunities remain limited and sometimes inaccessible,” writes Faaez Samadi in…
Oceans Apart Doco a Tribute to Māori Determination
British art historian James Fox presents Oceans Apart: Art and the Pacific, an “engaging” BBC documentary exploring Māori culture. It is reviewed in The Guardian by Emine Saner. In Oceans Apart, Fox examines artworks that…
Maori Language Is Having a Renaissance in NZ
“A teenage thrash metal band screams out Maori lyrics in its latest videos. A popular radio host is learning New Zealand’s indigenous language and sharing new vocabulary with his audience. Maori is having a…
How Māori-Owned Small Businesses are Reshaping NZ
Kākano means ‘seed’ in Māori. For Jade Temepara, a Māori woman who was crowned New Zealand’s Gardener of the Year in 2012, though, it means a lot more. Temepara owns Kākano, a Māori restaurant…
Google and Disney Join Rush to Te Reo
Te Reo is undergoing a revival – lessons are packed, songs are top of the pops, and even the prime minister wants to be part of it. Māori language teachers from Auckland to Dunedin…
German Museum Returns Tattooed Māori Skull
The Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum of world cultures in Cologne, Germany has returned a tattooed Māori skull, which had been in its collection for 110 years, to a delegation representing the Museum of New Zealand Te…
US Actress Bryce Dallas Howard Finds Solace in NZ
In a revealing new interview with American television show Entertainment Tonight, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom star, Bryce Dallas Howard opens up about the health struggles she faced in her 20s and how New Zealand…
Early Māori Village Found in Gisborne Tells Story
While much early Māori history is documented through songs and stories – from tales of Kupe, who Māori consider to be the first adventurer to navigate to New Zealand to the deep roots of the…
Lance O’Sullivan Takes Youths on Trip of Lifetime
Twelve rangatahi Māori from across the country have accompanied New Zealander of the Year Dr Lance O’Sullivan and the Kaitaia-based Moko Foundation to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues…
Jacinda Ardern Wears Korowai to Meet the Queen
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern turned heads at Buckingham Palace last week, wearing a traditional Māori korowai to a state banquet of world leaders. The korowai was loaned to Ardern by the
Translated Moana Bolsters Maori Language
New Zealand writer and director Taika Waititi, who worked on the original English-language version of Moana, also approached Disney early on about translating the film, and his sister, Tweedie Waititi, went on to produce…
Speaking Te Reo Maori All Year Round
The real question is whether the enthusiasm around the annual Maori Language Week (Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori) can spill into the rest of the year. “Te Reo Maori Week should be an…
Pania Newton Taking up the Fight for Ihumatao
Pania Newton, 26, a descendant of Ihumatao has been integral in helping to establish Save Our Unique Landscape (SOUL Ihumatao), the group at the forefront of the Auckland land struggle. Ihumatao…
New Zealand’s Bronze Māori Storehouse Destined For UN
“A significant cultural gift from Aotearoa New Zealand to the United Nations is a step closer with the unveiling of a bronze whatarangi (storehouse) at Te Puia New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute…
New Generation of Maori Women Wearing Moko
For Maori women, the moko kauae, or traditional female chin tattoo, is considered a physical manifestation of their true identity. It is believed every Maori woman wears a moko on the inside, close to…
Speaking Irish in New Zealand to My Maori-Irish Son
“There’s a special connection between Irish people, Irish speakers and Maori. It’s another reason why Aotearoa feels like home,” educator Gillian Cotter writes in an Irish Times lifestyle piece about raising her Maori-Irish son,…
Maori Emotiki Join Emoji Crowd
People wanting to text in a Maori “accent” will be able to do so in July with the release of a special set of distinctive green emoji in New Zealand, called “emotiki”. Along with more…
US Returns Remains of 54 Indigenous People to NZ
Four mummified Maori heads have been returned to New Zealand, following five years of negotiations with the Smithsonian Institution in the United States. The objects are part of the second-largest repatriation of indigenous remains…
Ta Moko – Traditional Maori Face and Body Tattoos
The Daily Mail has featured a number of black and white photos, which were taken by possibly the first New Zealand female professional photographer Elizabeth Pulman and depict “how far…
Pataka Taonga Returned to New Plymouth
Five intricately carved storehouse carvings have been returned to New Zealand after 150 years buried in a swamp and 40 years exile in Europe. They are the Motunui epa and once were almost sold off…
Indigenous NZ Practice Aims to Reunite Kids in Care with Families
A delegation from New Zealand, led by Katie Murray has travelled to Winnipeg to work with the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre Inc. on reducing the number of children in foster care. The delegation’s…
Finnian Galbraith’s Hit Te Reo Pronunciation Video
Raumati College pupil Finnian Galbraith’s YouTube video complaining about poor pronunciation of Maori words has proved a hit online, with more than 160,386 views. Galbraith, 15, says in his YouTube video that many people in…
Settlements May Be Imperfect but Important Example Says UN
Last year’s $170 million Ngai Tuhoe settlement is one of dozens the New Zealand government has signed with Maori tribes in a comprehensive, multi-billion-dollar process described in a United Nations report as imperfect but…
Maori Feature in New Book Documenting World’s Tribes
Powerful portraits of Maori feature in a new book about 31 unique tribes by British photojournalist Jimmy Nelson called, Before They Pass Away, “an irreplaceable ethnographic record of a fast disappearing world.” Nelson writes…
USA Today: Breaking Down the All Blacks Haka
USA Today has provided insight into the Haka, which has become a familiar rite to anyone who has watched a New Zealand team play in international sporting events. The Haka, drew headlines this summer as…
New Zealand Exemplary in Embracing Indigenous Culture
“Can you imagine NBA players performing a Native American grass dance in an act of team solidarity and national unity? In New Zealand, no one bats an eye,” writes Morgan Godfery in…
People Come and Go but Te Wahipounamu Endures
“Te Wahipounamu, the place of jade. Since 1990 this southwestern edge of New Zealand has enjoyed World Heritage recognition for its four national parks and interconnecting tracts of conservation land,” Kennedy Warne writes for…
Royal Visit Shines Global Light on Maori Traditions
News outlets worldwide have lately been splashing a bare bottom on their front pages – but it’s not what you think. Upon their arrival to New Zealand the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge received…
Ngai Tahu Investments Pay off
For generations, the Ngai Tahu tribe resembled many other indigenous people around the world: impoverished, virtually landless and experiencing a steady erosion of its language and culture. However, Ngai Tahu have now turned their situation…
Tracing Maori Ancestry for Worldwide Family Tree
Over the past year, Gisborne’s Ngai Tamanuhiri has been participating in the National Geographic’s Genographic Project working closely with Oceania’s genographic principal investigator Lisa Matisoo-Smith who is helping the iwi learn more about their…
Maori Added to Google Translate
Google has added Maori to the list of languages supported by its online translation service. From today, converting a Maori phrase into English – or vice versa – is as simple as cut-and-pasting it into…
Maori to NY: Let our People Sleep the Sweet Slumber
Pressure will be mounting on the American Museum of Natural History in New York to return sacred Maori remains to New Zealand after USA Today gave prominence to the issue of toi moko (tattooed…
Repatriation of Lost Ancestral Remains
A tattooed preserved Maori head, or toi moko, and skeletal remains, koiwi tangata, discovered in the anatomy department at the University of Birmingham, are being returned to New Zealand. University staff said the ancestral items…
After 150 years Mummified Maori head to Return to New Zealand
After 150 years Britain’s Warrington Museum is sending back the mummified head said to be that of a New Zealand Maori chief. The Maori head, or Toi moko, was brought to Britain in the…
Reviving the Legacy of a Great Chieftain
“After 150 years of marginalisation, things are finally looking up for the ,” Yasmine Ryan writes for Al Jazeera. “The central New Zealand town of Matamata is world renowned for its thoroughbred horse…
Right-Wing Danish MP Labeled ‘Ignorant’ About Maori Culture
Marie Krarup, a right wing Danish MP, offended New Zealand Maori by describing their traditional welcome as ‘uncivilised and grotesque’, says Richard Shears in The Daily Mail. The Danish MP, in New Zealand with…
Maori King’s Gift to Chairman Mao Loaned Back to New Zealand
‘The smallest is as a great as the largest’, said Chairman Mao when given a Maori cloak by New Zealand filmmaker Ramai Te Miha Hayward in 1957. Chairman Mao was replying to Ramai when…
Cooking Stones With The Force
Hangi rocks could reveal the magnetic history of the Earth going back hundreds of years, new research from Victoria University suggests. The findings, which were presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical…
Treasures Travel to Beijing
Te Papa is sending an exhibition of pounamu to China, where it expects a flurry of interest among museumgoers who haven’t seen how other cultures work with the precious stone. ‘Kura Pounamu: Treasured Stone…
