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AGM & Presentation to the Papatoetoe Branch of the NZSG - 1st Aug 09

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Last Updated on Sunday, 22 November 2009 02:48 Written by Administrator Tuesday, 21 April 2009 20:49

Whakapapa / Genealogy Research

‘The pitfalls of research with Maori/European ancestry’
 
“In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep to know our heritage-to know who we are and where we come from . Without enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness and the most disquieting loneliness.”
(Haley, Alex; Roots.1976)
 
It is this hunger that warrants all of us here today to search out our ancestors and to know who we are and from whence we have come, to have an anchoring in a given place and time.
 
Whakapapa
Whakapapa is genealogy and is the basis on which an individual or a group of people determine their identity. The meaning of whakapapa is ‘to lay one thing upon another’ for example, to lay one generation upon another.
 
The variances and challenges of thought and the understanding of perceived divisions and yet commonalities in whakapapa will be discussed along with Maori marriages to European
 
Genealogy
From the Greek words genea ‘descent’ and logos, ’knowledge’ is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. The discussion here will look at those Europeans and where they came from and who married into Maori families.
The late Anne Bromell wrote, “If you don’t learn some social history you won’t know why things happened, why these people decided to emigrate. Otherwise it becomes just like a pedigree of dogs or cats, just a listing of dates and names”
 
As you can see these two words of whakapapa and genealogy link together and yet the understanding is different and this is where we have confusion, a cloud, a mist in accessing Maori and European Maori research.
 
One of the principal sources of material on the activities of genealogy and to a degree material on whakapapa is the New Zealand Society of Genealogists Inc- the main official body responsible for orchestrating and implementing genealogical pursuits within New Zealand and internationally through their journals which assist members in research of their families. The Maori Interest Group of the NZSG upholds the whakapapa of Maori and European Maori families in search of their Maori and bicultural ancestry.
 
 
Nau te rouru             with your food basket
Naku te rouru          and my food basket
Ka ora te iwi             the people will be well
 
“This proverb is used to emphasise the importance of relationships and the motivations of the people who are engaged in active dialogue without extraneous considerations such as whether they are Maori first or European (Pakeha) first. Any ordering of indigeneity with regard to the question which comes first as a term of reference Pakeha/Maori or Maori/Pakeha is relevant only to the individual making links to their own turangawaewae.
A navigation of the perceived divide between genealogy and whakapapa is subject to and draws upon an analysis of the nature of individual reality as too is transcending cultural identity in genealogy and whakapapa are human and spiritual constructions of ’who I am and who I want to be” (Ormsby, O; Genealogical Heritage Research. 2009)
 
Discussion will centre a round a number of key points that will aid and prod memories of stories and tales from within family and associates of tribes, villages and home areas be they European or Maori.
 
1.       Tribal areas, dialects and boundaries
2.       European arrival and marriage with Maori women
3.       Churches, respective faiths that changed whakapapa and genealogy
4.       Transliteration
5.       Land Wars
6.       Maori Renaissance
7.       Acknowledged in either one or the other culture – where do I fit?
8.       Knowing who I am and establishing my turangawaewae
9.       Where to from here?
10.    Resources
 
 
 
 
Owen Ormsby is of Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Pikiao and Waikato descent. He is also a member of the Ormsby family of Lincolnshire and Ireland and an Englishman of Kent, Sussex, Devonshire and Cornwall. He operates his own research in private practice, the Genealogical Heritage Research Centre which assists his respective branches of Maori, Ireland and England in genealogical research as well as holding whakapapa research hui on tribal marae.
 
 He is the Convenor for the Maori Interest Group of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists and is also the Programme Leader for the Diploma in Pacific Rim Tourism at Manukau Institute of Technology where he trains and prepares students for study and eventual employment with the tourism industry.

 

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