The Personification of Maori Culture

Maori culture is a victim of cultural flattening. If I were to ask a New Zealander what he thinks Maori culture is, I believe the answer would be confined to a very narrow set of identifiers.

Tattoos. Haka. Marae. Koru.

There is no doubt that these things are an important part of Maori culture, but if I were to ask for their cultural meaning I wonder how many would have an answer at all.

When one takes out the context, history and values associated with those cultural icons, they lose the nuances that make them cultural icons. They then lose their unique associations to form a broader representation of ‘Maori Culture’.

The tattoos have great style but did you know that they have deep meaning related to power, social status and prestige? Did you know that tattoos on the face/head have a greater spiritual significance? Or perhaps you might find it interesting that no two tattoos are alike. There is in fact significantly more data on Maori tattoos and the meaning behind them, but the point being made is that the true cultural meaning has become secondary. Instead the Maori tattoo is a stylish imprint that represents someone who is Maori and sometimes not even that.

Now the same can be argued for the other 4 identifiers that I mentioned early.

What I want to consider now is whether the personification of Maori culture is good in any way. On one hand we can see the exploitation of cultural symbols for profit, such as the questionable Mike Tyson tattoo. On the other hand we have a greater awareness of Maori culture which provokes conversation and chance for the true cultural significance to be discussed.

The Haka is powerful and fierce (when done correctly) and if it sparks interest then perhaps people will learn about its role as a war dance, or about the Maori Battalion, or about the Maori Pa from the colonising years. At least there is an opportunity to learn the true significance, even if it means personifying it for the sake of the masses.

Now I can say this from my Pakeha perspective but it doesn’t mean that it is necessarily the right option. There is a sacredness to some of these cultural symbols that I am sure shouldn’t be disrespected in the way that they are. Is it truly worth destroying the sacredness of something for the sake of awareness? I don’t believe so.

Unfortunately we must leave on the point of choice in that the Maori now have very little control over the way these icons are perceived. They have evolved now through cultural flattening where they are Maori Culture. Not representations within the culture but a broad identifier that the world, Pakeha and even Maori people are used to in its non-sacred sense.