Māori of New Zealand

Below are resources related to Margaret Mutu's “Māori of New Zealand” chapter of Native Nations: The Survival of Indigenous Peoples, 4th Edition, edited by Sharlotte Neely and Douglas W. Hume.

Agencies & Organizations

Discussion Questions

  • Explain the cultural changes that have occurred among the Māori due to external forces on them.
  • Describe the threats to Māori cultural survival by outsiders in their recent history.
  • There is one native Maori language for all Maori people. What things have the Maori done to preserve the language and increase the number of speakers?
  • How effective have total language immersion pre-schools been?

Documentary Films

Further Reading

Contemporary Māori People

Maori Warriors Perform a Haka
Maori warriors perform a Haka, meaning dance of welcome, for Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta during a Powhiri ceremony while visiting Auckland, New Zealand Sept. 21, 2012. The ceremony is an ancient Maori tradition used to determine if visitors came in peace or with hostile intent (DoD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo (Released) [Public domain])

Māori Tribal Groups

(Māori Tribal Groups Map
Map of the Iwi (Māori tribal groups) in New Zealand ((Evil Monkey [CC BY-SA]))

Māori Ethno-historical Photograph

Māori Group Portrait
Three unidentified Maori, part of a larger group, with two others partially obscured on the left. The woman has very long hair, and is wearing a European blouse and a piupiu (flax skirt). The man is wearing a European shirt, with a kakahu (cloak), and is leaning on a walking stick. The young boy standing behind is wearing European clothes. This image is a copy negative made by Albert Percy Godber from an original by an unidentified photographer. Location and date are unidentified (Godber, Albert Percy, 1875-1949 [Public domain])

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