Iwi

Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English.

groups trace their ancestry to the original Polynesian migrants who, according to tradition, arrived from Hawaiki. Some cluster into larger groupings that are based on (genealogical tradition) and known as (literally " canoes", with reference to the original migration voyages). These super-groupings generally serve symbolic rather than practical functions. In pre-European times, most Māori were allied to relatively small groups in the form of ("sub-tribes") and ("family"). Each contains a number of ; among the of the Ngāti Whātua iwi, for example, are Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te Taoū, and Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei. Māori use the word ''rohe'' to describe the territory or boundaries of iwi.

In modern-day New Zealand, can exercise significant political power in the management of land and of other assets. For example, the 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlement between the New Zealand Government and Ngāi Tahu, compensated that for various losses of the rights guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840. the tribe has collective assets under management of $1.85 billion. affairs can have a real impact on New Zealand politics and society. A 2004 attempt by some to test in court their ownership of the seabed and foreshore areas polarised public opinion (see New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy).

Naming

In Māori and in many other Polynesian languages, literally means "bone" derived from Proto-Oceanic *''suRi''₁ meaning "thorn, splinter, fish bone". Māori may refer to returning home after travelling or living elsewhere as "going back to the bones" — literally to the burial-areas of the ancestors. Māori author Keri Hulme's novel '' The Bone People'' (1985) has a title linked directly to the dual meaning of bone and "tribal people".

Many names begin with or with (from and respectively, both meaning roughly "the offspring of"). has become a productive morpheme in New Zealand English to refer to groups of people: examples are Ngāti Pākehā ( Pākehā as a group), Ngāti Poneke (Māori who have migrated to the Wellington region), and Ngāti Rānana (Māori living in London). Ngāti Tūmatauenga ("Tribe of Tūmatauenga", the god of war) is the official Māori-language name of the New Zealand Army, and ("Black Tribe") is a Māori-language name for the All Blacks.

In the southern dialect of Māori, Ngāti and Ngāi become and , terms found in such iwi as Kāti Māmoe and Kāi Tahu (also known as Ngai Tahu).

Structure

Each has a generally recognised territory (), but many of these overlap, sometimes completely. This has added a layer of complication to the long-running discussions and court cases about how to resolve historical Treaty claims. The length of coastline emerged as one factor in the final (2004) legislation to allocate fishing-rights in settlement of claims relating to commercial fisheries.

Self-determination

can become a prospective vehicle for ideas and ideals of self-determination and/or . Thus does the Māori Party mention in the preamble of its constitution "the dreams and aspirations of to achieve self-determination for , and within their own land". Some Tūhoe envisage self-determination in specifically -oriented terms.

Iwi identity

Increasing urbanisation of Māori has led to a situation where a significant percentage do not identify with any particular . The following extract from a 2000 High Court of New Zealand judgment discussing the process of settling fishing rights illustrates some of the issues:

... 81 per cent of Maori now live in urban areas, at least one-third live outside their tribal influence, more than one-quarter do not know their iwi or for some reason do not choose to affiliate with it, at least 70 per cent live outside the traditional tribal territory and these will have difficulties, which in many cases will be severe, in both relating to their tribal heritage and in accessing benefits from the settlement. It is also said that many Maori reject tribal affiliation because of a working-class unemployed attitude, defiance and frustration. Related but less important factors, are that a hapu may belong to more than one iwi, a particular hapu may have belonged to different iwi at different times, the tension caused by the social and economic power moving from the iwi down rather than from the hapu up, and the fact that many iwi do not recognise spouses and adoptees who do not have kinship links.

In the 2006 census, 16 per cent of the 643,977 people who claimed Māori ancestry did not know their . Another 11 per cent did not state their , or stated only a general geographic region, or merely gave a name.Table 30
QuickStats About Māori
2006 Census. Wellington: Statistics New Zealand. Initiatives like the Iwi Helpline are trying to make it easier for people to identify their , and the proportion who "don't know" dropped relative to previous censuses.

Pan-tribalism

Some established pan-tribal organisations may exert influence across divisions. The Rātana Church, for example, operates across divisions, and the Māori King Movement, though principally congregated around Waikato/Tainui, aims to transcend some functions in a wider grouping.

Iwi radio

Many operate or are affiliated with media organisations. Most of these belong to (the National Māori Radio Network), a group of radio stations which receive contestable Government funding from Te Māngai Pāho (the Māori Broadcast Funding Agency) to operate on behalf of and . Under their funding agreement, the stations must produce programmes in the local Māori language and actively promote local Māori culture.

A two-year Massey University survey of 30,000 people published in 2003 indicated 50 per cent of Māori in National Māori Radio Network broadcast areas listened to an station. An Auckland University of Technology study in 2009 suggested the audience of radio stations would increase as the growing New Zealand Māori population tried to keep a connection to their culture, family history, spirituality, community, language and .

The Victoria University of Wellington Te Reo Māori Society campaigned for Māori radio, helping to set up Te Reo o Poneke, the first Māori-owned radio operation, using airtime on Wellington student-radio station Radio Active in 1983. Twenty-one radio stations were set up between 1989 and 1994, receiving Government funding in accordance with a Treaty of Waitangi claim. This group of radio stations formed various networks, becoming .

Major iwi

Largest iwi by population

# Ngāpuhi – 125,601 (in 2013) – based in the Northland Region
# Ngāti Porou – 71,049 (in 2013) – based in Gisborne and East Cape
# Ngāti Kahungunu – 61,626 (in 2013) – based on the east coast of the North Island
# Ngāi Tahu – 54,819 (in 2013) – based in the South Island
# Waikato Tainui – 40,083 (in 2013) – based in the Waikato Region
# Ngāti Tūwharetoa – 35,874 (in 2013) – based in the central North Island
# Ngāti Maniapoto – 35,358 (in 2013) – based in Waikato and Waitomo
# Tūhoe – 34,890 (in 2013) – based in Te Urewera and Whakatane
# Te Arawa

Largest iwi groupings by population

# No affiliation – 110,928 (in 2013) – includes New-Zealand-based Māori with no affiliation
# Waikato Tainui – 55,995 (in 2013) – based in the Waikato Region
# Ngāi Tahu Whanui – 55,986 (in 2013) – based in the South Island
# Te Arawa

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