(also spelled ; ) is a
Māori language
Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...
term that is used in a similar way to LGBT. When speaking Māori, LGBT people of any culture are referred to as . In English, a person is a Māori individual who is
gay,
lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
,
bisexual
Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...
, or
transgender
A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth.
The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
(
LGBT
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
).
[Hutchings, 7–13.]
Traditionally, referred to a devoted
partner of the same
sex.
[Sears, 592-3.] In contemporary use, is used in response to the Western construction of "
sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
,
gender
Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...
, and corresponding identity expressions" (
gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...
and
sexual identity).
Māori gender identifiers (, ) and gender roles protocols, participation in warfare, delineated male and female modes of dress and placement of existed prior to and outside of Western influence. The term encompasses not only aspects of sexuality but also cultural identity.
[Hutchings, 15–16.] incorporates both a sense of indigenous identity and communicates sexual orientation; it has become an umbrella term to build solidarity among sexuality and gender minorities within Māori communities.
is not a new term, but the application of it is recent.
The ''Dictionary of the Māori Language''—first compiled by missionary Herbert Williams in 1832—notes the definition as "intimate companion of the same sex".
[Hutchings, 15.] After a long period of disuse there has been a resurgence since the 1980s for a label to describe an individual who is both Māori and
non-heterosexual
Non-heterosexual is a word for a sexual orientation or sexual identity that is not heterosexual. The term helps define the "concept of what is the norm and how a particular group is different from that norm". ''Non-heterosexual'' is used in fe ...
.
The word was found to have existed in pre-colonial New Zealand to describe relationships between people of the same sex.
The existence of this word refutes the conservative Māori argument that
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
did not exist in Māori society prior to the arrival of Europeans.
Hinemoa and Tūtānekai
The classic and earliest full account of the origins of gods and the first human beings is contained in a manuscript entitled ''Nga Tama a Rangi'' (''The Sons of
Heaven
Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
''), written in 1849 by
Te Rangikāheke, of the
Ngāti Rangiwewehi tribe of
Rotorua
Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. It is sited on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authorities of New Zea ...
. The manuscript "gives a clear and systematic account of
Māori religious beliefs and beliefs about the origin of many natural phenomena, the creation of woman, the origin of death, and the fishing up of lands. No other version of this myth is presented in such a connected and systematic way, but all early accounts, from whatever area or tribe, confirm the general validity of the Rangikāheke version. It begins as follows: 'My friends, listen to me. The Māori people stem from only one source, namely the Great-heaven-which-stands-above, and the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
-which-lies-below. According to Europeans, God made heaven and earth and all things. According to the Māori, Heaven (Rangi) and Earth (Papa) are themselves the source'" (Biggs 1966:448).
One of the great love stories of the Māori world is the legend of
Hinemoa and
Tūtānekai. The story remains popular and is retold in songs, films, cultural theatre and dance.
[Laurie, 1–3.] Hinemoa defies her family to claim Tūtānekai, her "heart's desire"—the love-child of a chief's wife who was not her social equal.
In reading Te Rangikāheke's original version in Māori,
Ngahuia Te Awekotuku found that Tūtānekai had a male friend, , named Tiki, and Tūtānekai was "nowhere near as impressed by Hinemoa as the romantic Victorian narrative had construed".
After Tūtānekai became united with Hinemoa, Tiki famously grieved for the loss of his . Tūtānekai, feeling grieved as well, arranged that his younger sister marry Tiki to console him. While no-one can say Tūtānekai and Tiki were sexually involved, their relationship was accepted to be intimate beyond mere friendship, and the story illustrates the concept that in traditional Māori life was not exactly the same as constructions of contemporary homosexuality in Western societies.
Uses
One of the first contemporary uses of was in a report to the Public Health Commission by Herewini and Sheridan (1994), which used the term to encompass Māori gay men as well as
men who have sex with men
Men who have sex with men (MSM) are men who engage in sexual activity with other men, regardless of their sexual orientation or sexual identity. The term was created by epidemiologists in the 1990s, to better study and communicate the spre ...
but who do not identify as gay. The historical usage of the term might not correspond with contemporary understanding of LGBT identities, while information on non-heterosexual sexuality and variations from
gender role
A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex.
Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gendered ...
s as we understand them today has been substantially eradicated by Victorian morality brought by colonisers and Christian missionaries. Although circumstantial, there remains some evidence that lived without discrimination in pre-European times. Some contemporary Māori LGBT people use the terms ''gay'' and ''lesbian'' as a convenience, while others self-identify as to resist the colonisation of their identities and bodies which would "deny access to important ancestral knowledge".
[Hutchings, page 19.] Some use both terms depending on the context.
Using to self-identify requires acceptance of oneself as Māori as well as being LGBT.
About one fifth of Māori are young people, but the state education system does not explicitly provide for exploring multiple identities.
The traditional spiritual and social roles that have played in historical Māori societies are not easily incorporated into teaching plans and despite a 2002 mandate from the Ministry of Education, there remains a "wholesale absence of culturally appropriate sexuality curriculum in schools for the Māori."
Derivatives of include for
bisexual
Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...
, for
lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
and or for
trans men
A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo Gender transition, medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with th ...
or
trans women
A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...
.
[David A.B. Murray, "Who Is ? Māori Language, Sexuality and Identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand", ''Anthropologica'', page 233-241, Canadian Anthropology Society, 2003, Vol. 45, No. 2.] serves as an umbrella term for all these identities.
See also
*
Aikāne, a similar concept in
native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiʻi was set ...
culture
*
LGBT in New Zealand
*
List of transgender-related topics
Notes
References
* Biggs, B.G., 'Maori Myths and Traditions' in
A. H. McLintock (editor), ''Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'', 3 Volumes. (Government Printer: Wellington), 1966, II:447–454.
* Ember, Carol R., ''Encyclopedia of medical anthropology'', Springer, 2004, , .
* Grey, G., ''Polynesian Mythology'', Illustrated edition, reprinted 1974. (Whitcombe and Tombs: Christchurch), 1956.
* Grey, G., ''Nga Mahi a Nga Tupuna'', fourth edition. First published 1854. (Reed: Wellington), 1971.
* Hutchings, Jessica; Aspin, Clive, ''Sexuality and the Stories of Indigenous People'', Huia Publishers, 2007, , .
* Laurie, Alison J., ''Lesbian Studies in Aotearoa/New Zealand'' (ed.), Psychology Press, 2001, ,
* Leap, William, Tom Boellstorff, ''Speaking in queer tongues: globalization and gay language'', University of Illinois Press, 2004, , .
* Sears, James Thomas, ''Youth, education, and sexualities: an international encyclopedia'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005, , .
* Tregear, Edward, ''Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary'', Lyon and Blair, 1891.
External links
Irawhiti transgender Māori
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takatapui
LGBTQ terminology
Gender systems
Transgender topics in New Zealand
Māori words and phrases
Māori mythology
Creation myths
19th century in LGBTQ history
Indigenous LGBTQ culture
Māori culture
*