Tension without tikanga: The damaging face of the treaty claims settlement system

• Published in: AlterNative : an international journal of indigenous peoples Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 317 - 325
• Main Authors: Taiapa, Ken, Moewaka Barnes, Helen, McCreanor, Tim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.06.2021
• Subjects: Claims; Colonization; Evaluation; Legal status, laws, etc; Maori (New Zealand people); Methodology; Tikanga; Tiriti o Waitangi; Treaties; New Zealand; mārakai; hapū development; colonisation; treaty settlements; treaty; te tiriti
• ISSN: 1177-1801; 1174-1740; 1174-1740
• DOI: 10.1177/11771801211019123

In Aotearoa New Zealand, the arrival of imperial ideologies in the 19th century led to devastating land-loss and cultural marginalisation for Maori at the hands of settlers and successive governments. This article examines the damaging effects of a Crown-imposed treaty claims settlement system designed to address injustices inflicted on Maori. Interview data from a Taranaki-based (a West Coast region, central North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand) hapu (sub-tribe) that engaged with this system foreground the adversarial nature of this system and its continuation of trauma. We argue that, while the process provides voice to Maori, it does so within a paradigm that pits kin-groups against each other, unjustly limits redress and fails to resolve tension. A tikanga framing provides insights into how tensions are set up and ways tikanga (underlying values and principles that guide practice) can be used outside the redress system to seek healing and resolution.