In and Out of Touch: Whakamaa in Cross Cultural Context

By Joan Metge

Whakamaa is a Maori word without an English counterpart. This book investigates this central Maori cultural concept in terms of both individual experience and cultural misunderstanding.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Victoria University Press
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9780864737984

Book preview

Snowden

Contributors

Ko te Hunga na ratou nga Purapura o tenei Parakereke Korero

Acknowledgements

In acknowledgement of their help, I record my warmest aroha to all who contributed information and ideas to this project, both those named above and those who prefer to remain anonymous; to Victoria University of Wellington for research leave in 1979 and in 1981–3; to the Royal Society of New Zealand for support during my tenure of the Captain James Cook Fellowship (1981–3); to Wiremu Parker for the Maori headings and dedication and for unfailing encouragement; to Keri Kaa for checking my spelling and translation of the Maori passages in the text; and to Joy Paris, for typing assistance.

Joan Metge

July 1986 

Royalties to the Kotare Trust for Maori Purposes

Hei whaka-maharatanga ki a

Eileen Yate Le Couteur

he wahine i puuaho mai i toona kanohi

te mahana o toona ngaakau ki te tangata,

ahakoa noo wai iwi

ONE

Introduction

On the front steps of the house across the road an eleven-year-old in school uniform was being scolded by her mother, who stood above her on the porch. I was too far away to hear what was being said. I did not know what the scolding was about, or whether it was just; but the girl’s stance arrested my attention. She stood stock still, head bowed, arms hanging limp, looking at the ground. She did not move a muscle; she did not raise her eyes; she made no reply. I was reminded of a house that has been shut up: windows closed, blinds drawn, showing no sign of life.

Inside the community hall of a country town a meeting was in progress, the quarterly meeting of delegates from the branches of a women’s organisation in the surrounding region. On the stage the regional President and Secretary sat behind a table and a former office-holder stood at the microphone. Head bent, speaking softly and hesitantly, she explained to the members seated in the body of the hall that, since they had farewelled her with tears and parting gifts a month before, her husband’s employers had rescinded his posting to a distant centre and promoted him in the local office, so that they were not leaving after all. As her voice faltered and tears spilled over, the Secretary got up from the table, crossed the stage, reached an arm round her shoulder and held her supportively until she had finished.

The large old meeting-house named for a famous ancestor was packed with hosts and guests from all over the country, young and old. One of the guests was on his feet. For some time now he had been making a scathing attack on persons both present and absent for their stand on a political issue. He was switching between Maori and English and interlarding his comments with English swear words.As he repeated himself yet again, the crowd showed signs of growing impatience and disapproval. A kuia went up to him and, laying a hand on his arm, spoke softly to him. He shook her off and continued. Those around him moved back as far as the crush would permit. The level of background noise dropped sharply. As if by general agreement the listeners dropped their gaze to their toes, until all that could be seen were the tops of bent heads. The speaker slowed, faltered, and finally sat down, at last reduced to silence. Immediately people turned to their neighbours and a lively hum of conversation arose. Isolated, ignored, the former speaker fidgeted, looked around, and spotting a relative made a beeline for her, greeting her as whaea (mother or aunt). She responded with a hug and a kiss, but significantly made no mention of his speech. Normally she would have supported him by starting the waiata for him at its end. A little later he left the meeting-house to spend the evening in the dining-hall. By breakfast next morning he had left the marae.

In 1982 the Foster Care Association held its annual conference at Putiki Marae on the outskirts of Wanganui. During the Saturday night impromptu concert in the dining-hall, the Master of Ceremonies (a Pakeha) called out the names of two girls who had turned fifteen during the conference and asked them to come up to the stage to receive birthday congratulations and cut the cake that had been made for them. At first the girls, who were both Maori, hung back. After much urging from the M.C. and their foster parents and friends, they came forward in a rush, giggling furiously. They stood on the top step of the flight up to the stage with their backs to the audience, hanging on to each other and hopping from foot to foot through the singing of ‘Happy Birthday’ and the blowing out of the candles on the cake. Finally released, they ducked their heads and threw up an arm each to hide their faces as they bolted back to hide in the audience.

These four word pictures are all of scenes I witnessed myself, the first in the late nineteen fifties, the other three between 1978 and 1982. They are all indelibly imprinted on my memory. I do not need even to close my eyes to call up an instant replay. In re-creating them here I have concentrated on features of general significance, omitting details which might identify the participants.

From a Pakeha point of view these four scenes appear to have little in common. The principal actors are of varying ages and both sexes. Some appear to have done something wrong, but others clearly have not. Two are the targets of criticism and rebuke, one attracts sympathetic support, and two are recipients of honour and good wishes. Maori brought up in a Maori cultural context, however, will see at once that the four scenes are linked by the occurrence of whakamaa.

Whakamaa is a word standing for a concept which Maori use in the process of organising and talking about their experience of being human. It cannot be matched with any one English word but covers a range of meaning that is divided among several. It suggests a way of thinking about interpersonal relations which is different from that expressed in and reinforced by the English language.

No-one explained this to me: I found it out the hard way, by experience, while studying Maori urbanisation in Auckland and Kotare, a rural community in the Far North, in the nineteen fifties and sixties. I heard Maori use the word when speaking English as well as Maori but it took me a long time to realise that the English word which was offered or seemed most appropriate as a translation was different in different contexts. Maori tend to take the concept of whakamaa for granted: they use it frequently but do not normally reflect upon or discuss it. However, once I began open enquiry into the subject, I found no dearth of interested guides. This book is the product of a continuing dialogue between myself and Maori of varied ages and backgrounds, who gave freely of their time and knowledge because they saw value in fuller understanding.

As we have explored the ramifications and implications of whakamaa together, it has become increasingly obvious that understanding whakamaa is of crucial importance in understanding and improving relations between Maori and Pakeha. This book is an attempt to share my own deepening understanding with all who are interested in this goal. In writing it I have two main aims:

— to help improve understanding and communication between Maori and Pakeha, especially in situations of close personal and professional involvement, as husbands and wives, in-laws and friends, as work- and team-mates, as teachers and students, as doctors, nurses and patients, as lawyers, social workers and other counsellors and clients,

— to confront professionals trained in Western scholarly disciplines with an alternative way of ordering an important field of human experience, in the belief that they will find illumination, insights and practical measures they can use to test, complement and enrich their own theory and practice.

Research

When I first became interested in the concept of whakamaa I could find no statement about it in books beyond an entry in A Dictionary of the Maori Language under ma, the adjective from which it is formed by addition of the causative prefix whaka- (Williams 1957:161). Ma is given four meanings: white; pale, faded; clean; and freed from tapu. Whakamaa is identified as: a transitive verb meaning to whiten; a noun meaning ‘shame, abasement’; and an adjective meaning ‘shy, ashamed’.

In 1963 James Ritchie discussed whakamaa in The Making of a Maori (178–84). His description was brief and interpreted in terms of the development of individual Maori identity. Though stimulating, it left questions unanswered. In the first edition of my own general text The Maoris of New Zealand I mentioned whakamaa only in the glossary, not because I thought it unimportant but because I knew too little about it and could not fit it easily into the book’s limited format. I included a short passage on the subject in the revised edition, The Maoris of New Zealand: Rautahi (Metge 1976:65–6), and a rather longer one in Talking Past Each Other (Metge and Kinloch 1978: 22–4), but I knew I was only scratching the surface. I made whakamaa a major focus of my research during research leave in 1979 and continued to pursue the subject in conjunction with other themes as Captain James Cook Fellow from 1981 to 1983.

Sources and Methods

When I first broached the subject of whakamaa some of the Maori I approached were surprised at my choice, not having given it much thought. They were even more surprised at how much they found to say once they got started. In other cases no more than a brief statement of my interest and the reasons for it evoked an immediate and lively response from people who were already concerned about whakamaa and its effects, especially on Maori-Pakeha relations. Too busy, modest or orally oriented to put their thoughts on paper, they seized the opportunity to share them with me, on the understanding that I would communicate them to other Pakeha. Many recommended me to friends and relatives. Several organised group discussions on the subject. As a result of this assistance I recorded 128 interview discussions partly or wholly devoted to whakamaa in notebooks and on tapes which I later transcribed. I also made notes on behaviour and casual remarks bearing on the subject. I talked to a total of 109 people in formal interviews, fifteen of these on two occasions, and nine on three or four. Twenty of these interviews were with two persons at once, and ten with three or more; the two largest involved nine and fourteen participants. Discussion was carried out mainly in English sprinkled liberally with Maori words and references but slipped into Maori for occasional sentences and in two cases at length.

Because my aim was to understand whakamaa as a cultural concept and because I knew from experience that many city-bred Maori do not know or use the word itself, I did not consider it necessary to consult a statistically representative cross-section of the Maori population as a whole, but sought help primarily from individuals who had grown up and lived as adults in Maori-speaking homes and communities. At the same time I took whatever opportunities presented to raise the question with Maori with different backgrounds, especially those who did not speak Maori, were raised in the city and were under twenty-five. Some of those approached were uninterested, in which case I did not press the matter, but others contributed valuable insights. I began work with people who had known me for years, worked with me before, and knew the work I produced. Then I widened my range to include people recommended to me or met at meetings, hui and in private homes. Though my roster of contributors was far from being a random sample in the technical sense, there was certainly an element of randomness, in the sense of chance, accident and sheer good luck, in the way it was assembled.

The phrase I used earlier, ‘interview discussion’, is a more accurate description of what actually took place than the word ‘interview’, with its connotations of one person asking and another answering questions. Once I had opened up the issue (and sometimes even that was done by someone else), the other or others present generally took over the initiative, volunteering descriptions, examples, criticalanalysis and hypotheses about causes and treatment. So active a part did so many play that ‘informant’ is too weak a word to describe their role. They have been co-workers, contributors to a joint enterprise. Under that title I refer to them in the text and acknowledge their contributions, where I have their permission, by name in the list of Contributors. Included among them are several Pakeha who contributed out of their experience on the invitation of Maori spouses and friends.

Presentation

While these contributors played a major part in contributing case material and developing the understanding of whakamaa presented here, the responsibility for the form of that presentation and the writing of the text has been largely mine. I have striven to communicate without distortion the information and insights given me so generously, but at times I have had to attempt reconciliation of apparent contradictions and felt impelled to make connections and inferences not stressed by those directly involved. I have repeatedly referred the text back to contributors and other Maori advisers for checking, but in the final analysis what is presented in this work is a model (simplified picture of the main features) I have constructed, and must be judged as such.

In my presentation I have been governed on the one hand by the