Abstract

There is a general acceptance of the view that today—in the early part of the 21st century— Māori people experience diverse realities and live complicated lives that interact with or are formed out of a set of material, cultural, historical and discursive conditions, understood in its short form as colonisation. Diversity of realities does not mean equal realities in the sense of cultural, social and economic equity. There is continuing evidence that, as a minority indigenous group, Māori people are socially and economically disadvantaged in New Zealand and as a people are constantly vulnerable to the attitudes, perceptions, judgements and moral panic of the Pākehā majority. Challenging, resisting, mediating and negotiating the unequal relations of power in society have an impact on the ways in which Māori communities and Māori institutions—such as the marae or the whānau— function, develop and envision themselves.