Piripi Whaanga

Maori Values Can Reinvigorate a New Zealand Philosophy Piripi Whaanga

At the bottom of the world on most maps is the Pacific island of New Zealand. All over the world the plight of the indigenous people is gaining media attention through a global media focus. It is part of the inter-cultural conflict that is taking place around the world where the contest between different values is increasing. The Maori are the native people of New Zealand which is also called by its Maori name, Aotearoa. Maori agreed in the 1840?s to allow British settlement through the Treaty of Waitangi. Intermarriage between mainly British settlers and the Maori has produced people like me, an Irish Maori. Ours is a quiet cultural revolution because a person of mixed ancestry may choose to acknowledge both streams but it is the culture they are able to practice their values in that determines their stance and how they are then seen. This book is my account of that marriage seen through the eyes of values.