MARAE AND TRIBAL IDENTITY IN URBAN AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND

Authors

Paul Tapsell, Auckland War Memorial MuseumFollow

Abstract

This article examines the ceremonial courtyard called a marae, the quintessential focus of tribal Maori society, which not only represents customary authority over surrounding land but also provides the forum on which taonga (ancestral treasures) are ritually performed. Historically rooted in the Pacific, the tribal marae has stayed intact for countless generations serving generations of kin communities in their ever-changing social, political, and economic contexts. After World War II the marae underwent new transformations as descendants began migrating in their thousands from relative rural isolation to newly developing metropolitan areas. Competition and accessing new opportunities based upon ethnicity gave rise to new community morales at the expense of customary practice and brought about the genesis of the nontribal and immigrant-tribal marae.

Recommended Citation

Tapsell, Paul (2002) "MARAE AND TRIBAL IDENTITY IN URBAN AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 25: No. 1, Article 6.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol25/iss1/6