He Putake: He Kohinga Kōrero na ngā Tohunga o Te Tairawhiti

Abstract

Whakarahia i te aiahi, whakarahia i te aiahi. Ka tata whitu e, ka tata waru e. He manu tawhaitari e. Ka tata whitu e, ka tata waru e. He a iki, a iki e. He turoua whetu, whiti nuku e, whiti rangi e. Ka hikitia i tona ure, ka hapaingia i tona ure, ure, iaia, iaia.

In Te Tairāwhiti since the colonial era, whare kōrero and their tohunga have largely disappeared, and the teachings emanating from them have diminished accordingly. The purpose of this exegesis and the accompanying artefact is to explore ways in which reassembled Tairāwhiti whakapapa atua and kōrero tuku iho have the potential to contribute to indigenous identity-formation in the Tairāwhiti, and a revitalisation of knowledge, particularly the kōrero of the Horouta district. This research presents an innovative methodological approach to the reassembly of this traditional knowledge relating to the kōrero atua of the kura of Irakaiputahi and Paikea. Through the research and reconstruction of tohunga manuscripts, traditional compositions and other archival materials, multiple kōrero and whakapapa have been recreated and reprinted for the first time in more than a century, enabling tangata of Te Tairāwhtiti to begin a process of reconnecting to their kōrero and whakapapa atua. The resulting pukapuka kōrero atua has synthesised texts from the last of the Tairāwhiti tohunga of the 1800s with other Tairāwhiti materials to create the largest single collection of kōrero and whakapapa atua of Te Tairāwhiti ever produced. This focused synthesis approach can also serve as a model that can be adopted by other iwi as a means of fostering the reconstruction of traditional knowledge systems.