Māori concepts for animal ethics

This interactive provides an introduction to te ao Māori concepts within the context of animal ethics. Click on the labels for information about the concepts.

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Animal ethics from a Māori perspective is underpinned by six key concepts. This interactive provides a very brief introduction to these complex concepts. Some of the concepts feature contextual insights from Māori specialists who work with live animals.

Click on the buttons for more information about the concepts.

The text is from Exploring the Three Rs of Animal Ethics with Māori Ideas. (A version of the text is available as a PDF in te reo Māori only or a bilingual version.)

Transcript

Whakapapa

Whakapapa comes first as the base or ground on which the other Māori concepts are built.

The concept of whakapapa is mentioned repeatedly by our Māori animal practitioners as underpinning a sense of respect for animals that is part of their personal understanding of a Māori world view.

For example, behavioural ecologist Dr Leilani Walker explains how she has been brought up to understand that whakapapa affords mana to all animals, thus making them deserving of being treated with respect – an ethical dimension in Māori knowledge of animals that is absent from evolutionary theory.

Whakapapa is an expansive, generative concept and an important locus of difference between Western/scientific and Māori/indigenous thinking. The concept of whakapapa goes beyond genealogy, with which it is normally associated, in the sense of collections of ancestor names, specific lineages and family histories.

As a concept, whakapapa is a way of organising complex arrays of information likened to a mind map, a folk taxonomy and a cognitive gestalt.

Whakapapa in this more conceptual sense of organising information relates to the nature narratives, which collectively act as an indigenous paradigm to explain the world and how it came to be.

Whakapapa in this way fills a similar role for Māori knowledge systems as does the theory and philosophy of science in Western knowledge.

Whakapapa as a knowledge system explains how the world came to be, structures empirical knowledge about the natural world and guides ethical action in the Māori world.

The concept of whakapapa provides a basis for understanding human-animal relationships, which acts as a rationale for humans to respect the animals with whom we share our homelands and world.

The other concepts build on from whakapapa. Tapu and mana are basic ontological concepts that operate on whakapapa, and pono, tika and aroha are triadic ethical concepts to guide right behaviour towards other people and all living and non-living elements of the natural world.

Illustration by Isobel Te Aho-White from Connected article Te tapa ingoa by Priscilla Wehi and Hēmi Whaanga. Crown copyright.

Tapu, mana

Tapu and mana are closely related foundational concepts in te ao Māori without which nothing else would exist.

Both tapu and mana are related to spiritual power since ngā atua are the source of both tapu and mana.

In te ao Māori, all animals have mana by virtue of being loved descendants of ngā atua and must therefore be treated with respect.

As ancient indigenous concepts, the full meaning of these concepts cannot be understood by equating them with English words since even using several English words or phrases in combination does not give a complete meaning in context. Tapu has long been equated to sacred or holy, and the meaning of mana is generally reduced to prestige or dignity.

Tapu is a dynamic state of heightened spiritual charge, which applies to life-and-death situations as it does to the space between hosts and guests in the formalities of a pōwhiri (welcome ceremony).

Another example of tapu is when people are warned to stay clear of a place if, for example, whakairo (carvings) are being erected until they have been made noa (opposite of tapu – unrestricted) through karakia and whakanoa ceremony.

In some situations, an animal such as a mokomoko (gecko/skink) is considered tapu because it is a representative or intermediary of ngā atua.

Tapu and mana are key concepts in Māori philosophy but do not work like scientific concepts because they are ethically loaded and because they do not equate to precise, stable definitions in the terms required by science.

Tapu is mentioned in relation to the death of animals as crossing the divide between ora (life) and mate (death) such as the planned euthanasia of laboratory animals as in Dr Kimiora Hēnare’s cancer research involving mice.

Tapu is also mentioned regarding the premature deaths of animals seen in natural populations – for example, high death rates of sea lion pups in their breeding colonies on Subantarctic Islands, which Ngāi Tahu observers describe to Rauhina Scott-Fyfe in their sea lion research.

Mana is also frequently mentioned by the researchers – noting every animal has its own mana and thus deserves to be treated with respect, including animals being used for food. For example, Hilton Collier recalls growing up on his family’s farm when an animal ‘for the house’ (selected to fill the freezer and provide a season of meals for the farm family) would be gently walked into the killing house. The animal would be rested and watered then dispatched and dressed. Everything contributed to the meat being tasty and tender and the experience of having looked after the animal from birth through to fulfilling its purpose as food.

In contrast, Hilton explains, when tired animals are loaded hurriedly onto a truck in hot conditions, they arrive at the meatworks stressed with elevated glycogen levels. The meat will not set properly and the resulting steak will not be tender but chewy, dark-coloured and terrible. If an animal is respected, its meat could be presented in premium quality and the farmer would be justified in expecting consumers to pay a premium because they can guarantee that steak will be consistently tender.

Even in the business of food production, it is important to remember that all living things have mana, and if treated as such, they end up providing a much better food experience.

Image: Wellington green gecko by Rod Morris, Department of Conservation. Crown copyright 2009.

Pono, tika, aroha

Pono, tika and aroha are central values or ethical concepts of te ao Māori that provide guidance for right action and leadership. Pono is concerned with knowledge of reality, tika is concerned with the right response to reality and aroha is concerned with a loving response to reality.

Although each word can stand alone, when considered together, they encompass a sense of doing the right thing with integrity and love.

All our practitioners show aroha for the animals they told us about. Aroha can include interest, devotion to study and economic decisions.

For example, Te Winiwini Kingi made efforts to conserve the remnants of original bush in the gullies on his land, refusing to earn money by grazing cows, knowing how this would damage what was left of the natural forest ecology.

Based on holistic and relational concepts, Māori ethics are less likely to fall prey to anthropocentrism whereby only humans have rights that are not extended to non-human animals.

Taken together, pono, tika and aroha entail respect and a sense of responsibility for truth and the natural world of which both animals and humans are part.

These key Māori concepts also give rise to more elaborated concepts, such as whanaungatanga, which refers to the recognition of relationships based on whakapapa, and rangatiratanga, which refers to qualities of leadership and autonomy based on upholding cultural values.

Two more such concepts, kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga, feature prominently in discussions about incorporating Māori knowledge in environmental research and education.

Kaitiaki, kaitiakitanga

In the original sense, a kaitiaki is a spiritual guardian, often appearing as an animal that acts as an intermediary or messenger between people and the spirit realms of ngā atua and the deceased.

In some areas of the country, including among the Ngāti Wai people of Whangaruru, these spiritual intermediaries were known as mana, not as kaitiaki.

The kaitiaki (or mana) is a messenger from beyond the realms of the here and now. It is appearing in this place at this time because it is bringing a message for a specific person either from ngā atua or from a deceased loved one. A person who is visited by a kaitiaki (mana) must decipher the meaning of this tohu (sign) appearing in the animal world.

In 1992, a key paper was written for the Ministry for the Environment by Māori Marsden with Te Aroha Henare, Kaitiakitanga: A definitive introduction to the holistic world view of the Māori. Marsden and Henare took the elaborated concept of kaitiakitanga as a Māori metaphor for a notion of conservation of nature. This paper had long-term influence on the question of including Māori concepts into environmental policy but blurred the line between authentic and tokenistic expressions of culture.

Image: Whai (stingray) by Andrea McIntyre, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Manaaki, manaakitanga

Manaaki combines the two words ‘mana’ and ‘aki’ (to exert or encourage) so it refers to practices that uphold mana. Adding the suffix ‘tanga’ gives the meaning of a general quality of attention to mana in relationships.

The mana of a host group is maintained and enhanced through generous care of visitors, which is why manaakitanga has come to be equated with the modern notion of hospitality. Manaakitanga might include, for example, providing foods that visitors did not have in their home areas.

A more authentic understanding of manaaki as linked to mana extends its application to all forms of thinking and action that enhance mana. Taking responsibility for oneself, treating others with respect and caring about the non-human inhabitants of the Earth, including animals, are all aspects of manaakitanga.

The above ideas of kaitaikitanga and manaakitanga inform Professor Eloise Jillings’ ground-breaking work leading Māori veterinary education and equity.

Kaitiakitanga has become a metaphor for care of nature. This metaphor is easily extended to a notion of guardianship and care for animals in the veterinary sense, including non-native species (cats and dogs) that make up most of a typical vet’s daily work.

Kaitiakitanga, thus understood, connects veterinary practice to whakapapa and the webs of connection between people and nature, including animals. As Eloise explains, “There are actual whakapapa connections, ancestral connections in how Māori think about things, that are different from the way non-Māori would.”

Manaakitanga brings in the three key Māori ethical values of pono, tika and aroha summed up in combination as doing the right thing with integrity and love. Eloise uses manaakitanga to guide her work as a leader in opening up veterinary education to more actively include Māori people and knowledge.

Image: Pounamu pendant. Public domain.

Rāhui

A rāhui designates what can be done for a specified time in a particular place that may have become tapu for a time or be recovering from some adverse event. Rāhui is an example of a tikanga that arises from the principle of kaitiakitanga and helps to safeguard tapu and mana.

Rāhui is the traditional custom of placing temporary restrictions over particular foods or places when their mauri or hau (vitality) is reduced for whatever reason, including overharvesting, severe weather events or a death rendering that place tapu.

Rāhui is not about managing resources in the modern sense of resource management but rather about managing people’s behaviour in relation to the place, entity or resource. A rāhui is used to prevent food gathering in a place that has become tapu for any reason such as a drowning or finding kōiwi (human remains).

Another sense of rāhui is provided by the example of a rāhui kiore – a kiore reserve set aside to encourage and manage a population of kiore, a valued food source for inland Māori communities.

Image: Rāhui sign, Wildman NZ, CC BY-SA 4.0