Week 4, Task 1: Huhana Smith

Huhana smith describes how the use of maori language upholds the mana of someone as it relates
to their cultural identity and knowing. As previously mentioned, knowing who you are and connecting
with your past is a way to uphold mana in yourself. The use of language here is a medium for native
speakers to connect with their past as it is used as a way of passing on stories and legends of the
people. It is the way knowledge can be transferred and taught, and therefore is incredibly valuable.
In the 1800’s the Maori language was dampened by the colonialism, and if the language was lost,
so would all the knowledge and history of the past, jeopardizing the 'existence' of a whole nation of
people in the past.
Te Reo today is slowly becoming a part of our everyday lives for those not native to the tongue.
Total immersion schools and education programs are aiming to reintroduce the
language into daily English use. Kept alive also by waiata, art, kapa haka and literature, by having
Te Reo as part of every aspect of day to day life, it slowly concretes itself in modern NZ and allows more
people to become educated on the historical and cultural New Zealand, helping to keep alive skills and
stories related to Te Reo. Personally, growing up I was introduced to very little Te Reo, although wherever
teachers had the time and resources between teaching English, we would learn about Waitangi and
Matariki, therefore I believe it set a stone of normalisation in speaking a bit of Maori in NZ schools.
Although more is better!


(Waitangi tribunal claim is that Te Reo is taonga and should be protected under the treaty. Te Reo was
named as an official NZ language etc)

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