Kia ora e te whanau
I have been asked to give a talk at Mana wahine seminar here at
Lincoln University, here are snippets of notes (I haven't put
together much at the moment). I believe Mana wahine and
Pakeha (non-Maori/European) feminism to have the same inherent goals
(e.g. empowerment of wahine/women, etc.) but are still `poles apart'
because of their different political and cultural
identities/histories. I don't to know much about feminism so I hope
that some of you can help me out here, and correct me if I make too
many incorrect assumptions.
**********************************************************************
A number of factors influence Maori wahine/women's development -
iwi/tribal affiliation, sexual preference, knowledge of traditional Maori
tikanga (that is, rules, protocols, etc.), knowledge of te
reo/language, rural or urban location, identification on the
political spectrum from radical to traditional, place in the
whanau/extended family, the level of formal schooling and educational
attainments to name but a few (Irwin, 1990: 2-3).
Beyond these, however, and our identities as Maori women are our
gendered positions in both the Maori and Pakeha (non-Maori) worlds.
As a traditionalist I accept my gendered position in te
kotahitanga/the unity which gives me the powerful spirituality of
mana wahine which symbolises the status, power and authority handed
down to me along my matrilineal line of descent from
Papatuanuku/mother earth. My status when I am in the Maori world (as
opposed to the Pakeha world in which I live in Lincoln) was based on
the traditional mores of iwi where my role as wahine is clearly
defined as complementary but different to those of tane/men. My
status of wahine is parallel to the status of my brother.
Te Whakamana wahine validates the knowledge of Maori women and
enables that knowledge to be reproduced or passed on to younger
women. Many Maori women, myself included, believe that the natural
mana possessed by wahine has been robbed by colonisation, by the way
history has been defined and by the impact of social and economic
change on Maori women. Te kotahitanga has been unbalanced.
Colonisation helped to upset this balance by promoting the
activities and perspectives of knowledge held by Maori tane at he
expense of Maori wahine.
Te Whakamana wahine is about recovering and reclaiming our sacred
knowledges and our worldviews. Mana wahine is about reclaiming
Papatuanuku/earth mother and Ranginuietunei/sky father. It is a
continuous struggle for autonomy for Maori wahine and it a continuous
struggle to reclaim our matriarchy.
Te Whakamana wahine also relates to the provision of space where the
activities of wahine can be carried out autonomously without
distractions. In the past we had our own Whare/houses, in these
places, wahine were in control and could determine all aspects of
work. The whole sphere of the marae/sacred meeting places was
controlled by wahine (the battlegrounds belonged to the tane). It
was the wahine who undertook to control all aspects of marae protocol
from beginning to end. The decline and devaluation of the control of
wahine on the sacred marae, and the displacement of their position
compared to tane within their own society, began with Christian
morality and Victorian values of the early missionaries. The roles
of Maori wahine and our sexuality was re-interpreted according to
Pakeha christian patriarchy.
In the decades that followed, Maori wahine were often ostracised when
they tried to participate in iwi/tribal business at decision-making
levels because of the false premise that tane along had "speaking
rights" (could whaikorero) in Maori society. Some feminists (Maori
and Pakeha) argued for wahine to have the right to whaikorero (in
fact many do but many choose not to) because denial of "speaking
rights" impled denial of leadership potential. They assumed that
because Maori wahine did not whaikorero on the marae, this was
somehow sexist and had to be changed. In making these assumptions,
however, they used the male whaikorero as the norm against which our
behaviour as wahine was being judged. In other words, what we did
didn't count, and as a consequence the karanga, the waiata, and the
tangi, our "speaking rights", were invalidated. These very important
functions were not considered to be as privileged or prestigious as
those duties performed exclusively (in most cases) by tane/men.
The new awakening and interest in tikanga Maori, has illuminated some
sad (but expected) aspects of our changing culture. Modernised
Maori cultural practices are emerging now which coincidently serve
the interests of Pakeha men whilst disempowering Maori wahine. Male
outsiders, by virtue of their gender, are increasingly given
exclusive participatory rights on the marae, in ways which exclude
Maori wahine. One of these rights, is the freedom to whaikorero
("speaking rights") which I spoke about above. Although an inherited
male-right, if tane wish to give up their right to speak on the
marae, I believe it should be it be offered to the many contemporary
wahine who wish to have this right.
To offer this right to outsiders, this shows Maori wahine that our
culture can and is being changed to accomodate the needs of men and
the links they have with each other. The role and status of wahine
remains unchanged, immobile and inflexible, and often defined by tane
(in reality they are the roles we have inherited but many tane still
try to define them for us).
I get particularly bad-tempered when a tane (often a young tane)
tries to define my role for me, this shows a lack of respect. I
would never dare try to define the role of the tane on the
marae (I'm not that bloody ignorant). Many tane even have the
audacity to define our menstruations, trying to prohibit us from
doing things on the basis of their own ignorance. In our world
menstruating wahine are sacred during which time, the menstruating
wahine was not allowed (by kuia/elderly wahine) to partake in many of
the activities normally undertaken by wahine. The rationale, for a
society in which menstrual protection was not absolutely reliable,
made clear sense. Because many of the tasks performed by wahine
demands a squatting position, often over the actual work, to
accidently stain some weaving work or other would damage it
irreparably. It would be undeniably shameful if she was to spoil
the food that she is gathering or cooking. The risk was simply
not worth it. Menstruating wahine were just allowed to languish in
exquisite laziness until it was over. Ignorant tane have
turned this natural part of our existence into some that is
bad. All discharge from the womb of a wahine, however, reinforced her
connection to Papatuanuku, origin of all things.
In the sense, that te Whakamana wahine, strives for autonomy for Maori
wahine and the acknowledgement of the mana of wahine, and
criticises what patriarchy has done to the mana of wahine, here it
embraces the goals of Pakeha feminism. For me, however, Pakeha
feminists have tended to place gender as a central focus of analysis.
I think that the issue of ethnicity/culture and the issue of class (a
feature of contemporary life) also needs to be woven more centrally
into the analysis. Colonisation was legitimated by ideologies that
located Maori people as `inferior' and Maori wahine as `doubly
inferior' because of being Maori and being female. Mana wahine works
towards critiquing ways in which Maori wahine have been defined
historically, to unveil the essence of Mana wahine beneath the
colonial shroud under which we have been subsumed. To regain control
over our images and the image of our mother Papatuanuku.
********************************************************************
It would be great, if anyone can offer some other thoughts on the
integration of Pakeha feminism and non-Pakeha traditional knowledge.
Naku na ano
Nellie:)
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Jul 29 11:34:56 1995
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Michael Golden)
Subject: press statement on NYC Aug. 3 demo for Mumia (fwd)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 95 10:35:51 PDT
Forwarded message:
> From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Jul 28 14:47:53 1995
> Date: Fri, 28 Jul 1995 17:22:13 -0400
> Reply-To: Progressive News & Views List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sender: Progressive News & Views List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> From: PNEWS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: press statement on NYC Aug. 3 demo for Mumia
>
> [*****PNEWS CONFERENCES****]
> From: NY Spartacist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: new press statement on NYC Aug. 3 demo for Mumia
>
> August 3 Demonstration Demands: Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-
> Jamal! Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!
>
> Join Local 1199, Social Service Employees Union Local 371,
> the Black Veterans for Social Justice and many others in a mass
> labor/black mobilization to stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal
> and to abolish the racist death penalty. Initiated by the
> Partisan Defense Committee, the demonstration will be held
> Thursday, August 3, at 4:00 p.m. in Foley Square, across from the
> U.S. Federal Courthouse at 40 Centre Street in Manhattan.
> We are in a race against time--August 17 is set as the
> execution date for this renowned black journalist and champion of
> the oppressed, who is innocent yet sentenced to die for his
> political activities and beliefs. The courts and cops are intent
> on railroading Mumia to death. There must be thousands of trade-
> unionists, along with all fighters against the racist injustice
> system, at the protest on August 3 to say: Mumia Abu-Jamal must
> not die!
> For more information, and to get involved in this critical
> campaign, call the P.D.C. at (212) 406-4252.
>
>
>
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