Impact Of Colonization On Hauora Maori

Tikanga, coming from the Maori word tika which means true or correct, has a wide range of meanings – culture, custom, ethic, etiquette, fashion, formality, lore, manner, meaning, mechanism, method, protocol, style. It can also be described as general behaviour guidelines for daily life and interaction in Maori culture. It is generally taken to mean “the Maori way of doing things” and commonly based on experience and learning that has been handed down through generations. It is based on logic and common sense associated with a Maori world view.

Kawa is the word used to describe the protocol or sequence of events which occur on the Marae particularly those related to formal activities such as pohiri, speeches and mihimihi, as well as working with Maori health providers and Maori committees who have Iwi and Hapu reps.

Stratified Random Sampling

In a stratified sample the sampling frame is divided into non-overlapping groups or strata, e.g. geographical areas, age-groups, genders. A sample is taken from each stratum, and when this sample is a simple random sample it is referred to as stratified random sampling.

Outcome 2

Task 2.1

Random Sampling

A simple random sample gives each member of the population an equal chance of being chosen. One way of achieving a simple random sample is to number each element in the sampling frame (e.g. give everyone on the Electoral register a number) and then use random numbers to select the required sample. Random numbers can be obtained using a calculator, a spreadsheet, printed tables of random numbers, or by the more traditional methods of drawing slips of paper from a hat, tossing coins or rolling a dice.

Quota Sampling

In quota sampling the selection of the sample is made by the interviewer, who has been given quotas to fill from specified sub-groups of the population. For example, an interviewer may be told to sample 50 females between the age of 45 and 60. There are similarities with stratified sampling, but in quota sampling the selection of the sample is non-random.

Systematic Sampling

In systematic sampling, the researcher first randomly picks the first item or subject from the population. Then, the researcher will select each n’th subject from the list. The procedure involved in systematic sampling is very easy and can be done manually. The results are representative of the population unless certain characteristics of the population are repeated for every n’th individual, which is highly unlikely.

Task 2.2

The researcher should take into account tikanga and kawa when doing Maori research. He should know how to interview the participants without causing cultural offence. It is very important that the researcher develops a cooperative working relationship with local iwi and hapu. The researcher should remember that the Maoris always give their time and effort when they take part in something. So it would be a good idea to give them an acknowledgment for this. For example, the researcher could bring food to offer to the participants or give them financial reward for taking part in the research being conducted.

Maoris believe in establishing, maintaining and nurturing reciprocal and respectful relationships. For Maori, the notion of relationships is a core value. The way that Maori interact with each other and the world around them is all based on the notion of inter-connectedness and the nurturing of reciprocal relationships. So it is very important for the researcher to respect their culture as well as establish a good relationship with the participants and their whanau.

A big consideration for Maori researchers is their role as an ‘insider’ or an ‘outsider’ of the community they intend to research. Whether you are a member of the community under research will dictate how participants relate to you, what they will disclose, how they will engage, where they will engage, and their level of comfort in participating. Whether you are an ‘insider’ or an ‘outsider’ will also impact on your own perceptions of what is happening, and on the analysis of the data being retrieved so the material gathered from the research should be used carefully, appropriately and correctly. After conducting the research, the information should then be shared to the participants and their whanau. Also, before reporting pertinent data gathered from Maori participants, the researcher should ask permission from them first and their whanau.

Outcome 3

Task 3.1

Maori Regional

Tauranga iwi and hapū continued to lose significant amounts of land after 1886, notably through Crown purchasing, public works, pressures caused by actual and potential rates debt, and the processes of urbanisation and subdivision. The tangata whenua could ill afford to lose any land at all, and the scale of the loss has compounded the prejudice they suffered from the raupatu and its aftermath. Particularly disappointing was the lack of adequate protection or assistance for those groups that were left landless or nearly so. Even where Maori managed to retain land, they faced considerable difficulty trying to develop it. To a large extent, the cause of this was the land tenure and administration system imposed by the Crown on Maori owners.

Along with their loss of land, Tauranga Maori suffered reduced access to and use of traditional resources from the rivers, sea, and forests of Tauranga Moana. The intensification of economic activity and the accelerating pace of urban development often led to degradation and pollution of those environments. Alongside that, development has endangered the cultural heritage of Tauranga Maori: despite some protections, many sites of cultural, spiritual, and historical importance have been modified or even destroyed. Where their environment and cultural heritage are concerned, the tangata whenua have had to fight hard to maintain even a faint shadow of the tino rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga they exercised at the time the Treaty was signed.

Maori National

The history of Maori grievance over Crown breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi dates back to the 1840s. As early as 1849 Ngai Tahu chiefs complained about the methods used in purchasing their lands. Around 1860, Maori still held onto most of their land, except for a few areas, particularly Wellington, Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay and parts of Northland. The 1860s saw confiscations of millions of hectares by the government and large areas of land lost through the effect of the Native Land Court.

On 5 May 1863, Premier Alfred Domett sent a memorandum to Governor George Grey, proposing that Maori in a ‘state of rebellion’ have their lands confiscated as a punishment. At first confiscation was intended to be relatively restricted, but it gradually became more and more elaborate. Land was confiscated both from tribes who had rebelled against the government, and those who had fought as government allies. It was envisaged that military settlers would be placed on confiscated land. Confiscations under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863 and its amendments took place in South Auckland, Waikato, Tauranga, ÅŒpōtiki-Whakatāne, Taranaki, and the Mōhaka-Waikare district in Hawke’s Bay.

Confiscations also took place in Poverty Bay under separate legislation. The period between 1890 and 1920 saw a boom in government land purchases, despite Maori protests. By 1937, very little land was left in Maori ownership. Maori were devastated by the effects of land confiscations, disease, and poverty. They also suffered discrimination in areas such as health, welfare, housing, military service, and sport. The pakeha laws and governance have excluded Maori from their land and culture and also afforded only marginal opportunity for Maori to participate in the economy or governance.

Other Indigenous

Native Americans Regional

Indigenous peoples of California were Native Americans who lived in California before colonialism. This group covered much the same area as present day California. They survived mainly on plant food including grasses and acorns. Along the coast they supplemented their food with fish and seafood, and in the interior with animals such as deer and rabbits. They lived in villages of about 100 people, not always related. Because the villages contained people who were unrelated, there was a form of society with relationships between villages.

Europeans first came to this area in 1542, and missions were established soon after. The missions would become the dominant economic force in Spanish colonial Alta California. By 1803 the population of nominally converted Native Americans was about 20,000. Using Native American labour, the Franciscans were developing the missions into physically impressive places with stone and abode buildings. The missionaries had legal custody of Native American people who had gone or been taken to the missions and regulated their lives in every detail. They were forced to labour in the mission fields, shops, and kitchens and took care of the thousands of cattle the missions owned. During this time the Native Americans had their land taken from them by force, and thousands were needlessly massacred. Although there are still groups present in the area today, much of their cultural identity has been lost.

Native Americans National

Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European Colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worst. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture.

A side effect of the Europeans greed and attitude is that they could take anything they saw. A determined effort was made to completely suppress the Native culture. This active suppression took many forms. Certain tribes were freely supplied with guns, so that they could wipe out their neighbours. Old problems between tribes were brought back into the open, causing wars. The army and many settlers treated the Natives as nothing more than pests to be got rid of. Laws were introduced that banned certain ceremonies, forced the children into the European education system, and tied whole groups to land that was useless and could not sustain them. The intention was to deny them of their cultural identity, which has the same effect as wiping them out.

Native Americans never came in contact with diseases that developed in the Old World because they were separated from Asia, Africa, and Europe when ocean levels rose following the end of the last Ice Age. Diseases like smallpox, measles, pneumonia, influenza, and malaria were unknown to the Native Americans until the Europeans brought these diseases over time to them. This triggered the largest population decline in all recorded history. Fifty percent of the Native American population had died of disease within twenty years.

They also brought guns, alcohol and horses. The effect of these was to change the way of life for the Native Americans. Horses and guns changed their way of hunting for food. Since the cultural groups had been based on their method of subsistence, changing this changed the groupings. Some major groups moved. Once they started to move fights over territory broke out. Groups who had had plenty of food, now didn’t have enough.

Task 3.2

Maori

Customs

Before colonization, Maori had their own unique identity. Tribes of Maori were called iwi and everybody belonged to one. Customs and protocols of the people influenced their way of thinking and way of living. Visiting tribes followed their hosts tikanga if they wished to return home safely and be welcomed for a return visit.

By the mid 1860’s, the Crown introduced legislation which began to enforce the growing assimilation attitude, with the Colonisers wanting Maori to be absorbed into the new colonial culture, and so the wearing away of the Maori people began.

The mana of the Maori was weakened with the loss of a major part of their sense of belonging. Their customs and traditions were being compromised as the language was diminishing. The less Maori language was used, the less the transfer and understanding of qualities that Maoris used to value. Hapu and iwi almost become nonexistent because tribes struggle to stay together. Many sub-tribes go back to the larger tribe and some become a forgotten people.

Lifestyle

Maori early settlements were often at harbours or the mouths of rivers – close to the sea, with good access to fishing and shellfish grounds. There was extensive hunting of seals and the large flightless bird, the moa.

Increasingly Maori developed horticulture. With careful techniques, often involving the use of stone walls, and fire embers to warm soils, they succeeded in establishing several plants, especially the kumara (sweet potato). They also turned inland, and over several generations encountered the great forests. It moved from being largely maritime to one which, in certain places, was dominated by trees and bird life.

Cannibalism was a feature, as was polygamy. Technology was limited to tools made of naturally occurring materials such as pounamu (the South Island’s greenstone) and tuhua (obsidian); flax was used for weaving and other purposes. There was extensive trade in these goods, usually in the form of gift exchange.

With the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, New Zealand became a British colony. This saw a great increase in the number of British migrants coming to New Zealand. Many had their passage paid for by colonial companies. The systematic colonial settlement of New Zealand was largely based on the ideas of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who believed the colonial settlements should be modelled on the structures of British society. Many New Zealand cities and towns were established and populated in this way. These settlements were intended to be civilised and self-sufficient, with small farmers cultivating their land, and living in peace with the native people.

After the first European whalers and traders came to New Zealand, Maori lifestyle in some areas changed dramatically, and never returned to the way it was. One of the most popular commodities the Maoris were interested in trading for were muskets. As Maoris had no long-range weapons, muskets were a valuable asset to tribes. The introduction of muskets made inter-tribal wars far more dangerous, especially if it was a tribe with muskets against a tribe without.

Language

Maori had a language unique to any other country in the world. The Maori language, te reo, is described as a taonga of the Maori people, a special possession or treasure. Although there were slight differences in the dialects among different tribes, the messages and meanings were never lost. Proverbs and genealogy were passed through prayers, chants and songs.

However, due to colonization English has been imposed as the mainstream language, causing a loss of the indigenous language. Initially, te reo was widely spoken by the Europeans particularly in interaction with Maori and by both Maori and European children. In the early 1860s, colonisers became the dominant population and English became the primary language. The Crown’s effort to assimilate their own culture had laws which imposed te reo to be confined to Maori communities. Speaking in Maori was officially discouraged and Maoris were punished for speaking their own language. Schooling was enforced, first in te reo for Maori but by 1910, in English only. It was then suppressed either formally or informally so that young Maoris would be able to assimilate with the wider pakeha-dominated community.

By the 1920s only a few private schools still taught Maori grammar as a school subject. Many Maori parents encouraged their children to learn English and even to turn away from other aspects of Maori custom. Increasing numbers of Maori people learnt English because they needed it in the workplace or places of recreation such as the football field. ‘Korero Pakeha’ (Speak English) was seen as essential for Maori people. This led to the decline of Maori speakers.

Spiritual Health

Mori had their own spiritual beliefs. There was a belief that humans were part of nature – the forests, seas and waterways. People saw themselves in a sacred relationship with the natural world, and the exploitation of natural resources was conducted under strict regimes of tapu (sacredness) and mana (spiritual authority) administered by tohunga (priests). They believed in a supreme being and also that each area of the universe was under the guardianship of a caretaker.

Colonisation by Europeans had a significant effect on traditional Maori healing. Tohunga had limited ability to combat the diseases brought by Europeans. Though Western medicine was also relatively ineffectual at the time, this failure still strongly affected Maori confidence in tohunga. Some pakeha missionaries attributed the spread of disease to a lack of Christian faith. As their own healers appeared impotent, many Maori accepted this explanation and turned to Christianity. Over time, the whare wananga (schools of higher learning) which had trained tohunga started to close. The tradition of the tohunga declined.

Psychological Health

The significance of whakapapa according to tikanga Maori, whakapapa is the glue that binds whanau, hapu and iwi together. Knowledge of one’s whakapapa is a vital aspect of being Maori. It has been pointed out that whakapapa defines both the individual and kin groups, and governs the relationships between them. It confirms an individual’s membership and participation rights within her or his kin groups.

Traditionally every adult person was expected to know and to be able to trace descent back to the tribal ancestor, or back to at least the common ancestor after whom the group with whom one lived was named. The rights and claims that an individual could make to the resources of the group she or he related to, or identified with depended on such knowledge.

When the Europeans came, family structures became dysfunctional. Oppression of Maori culture was predominant. The colonisers denied the Maori their whakapapa which is one of the worst things to happen to a Maori. This led to trauma and abuse and neglect of the Maoris especially the children who were often separated from their whanau.

Physical Health

Evidence suggests that Maori life expectancy at the time of Captain James Cook’s visits to New Zealand (between 1769 and 1777) was higher than that in Britain. Maori may have had a life expectancy at birth of more than 30, compared with less than 30 for people in Britain. After European contact, however, there was a major decline in Maori life expectancy. By 1891 the estimated life expectancy of Maori men was 25 and that of women was just 23.

Between 1840 and 1891 disease and social and economic changes had serious negative effects on Maori health and a significant impact on the population. Tribal dislocation from the traditional Maori environment was brought about by the land wars and the large-scale land confiscations that followed. There was widespread loss of land through purchase and the operation of the Native Land Court, and new patterns of land use and economic activity. Maori changed housing styles, water supplies, sanitation and diet. These affected standards of health usually for the worse.

Very large increases in the European population during this period meant Maori across the country were continuously exposed to new diseases. Many Maori children died in their first year of life, often from pneumonia and respiratory infections. In addition, many adults and older children suffered from epidemics of viral disease and typhoid fever, as well as from tuberculosis, a chronic disease that often ended fatally. Relatively high death rates combined with low birth rates saw a rapid decline in the Maori population between 1840 and 1878, with a slower decline from 1878 to 1891. Between 1840 and 1891 the Maori population may have halved. The population continued to decline until the century was nearly over.

There were humanitarian responses to Maori health decline. The earliest providers of medical care were the missionaries. Government hospitals were set up in a few places for Maori in the 1840s. As the non-Maori population grew, hospitals became increasingly pakeha-dominated institutions, built and administered by the local settler communities. Many Maori were suspicious of hospitals for cultural reasons, and were deterred from entering them by fees. From the 1840s the government subsidised a number of doctors (native medical officers) to provide medical care for any Maori who could not afford to pay for treatment.

Other Indigenous Group

Native Americans

Customs

In North America the continuous interactions with Europeans lead to mutual trading. Native Americans received European manufactured goods: cloth, beads, steel, guns etc. in exchange for animal hides. Native Americans became dependent upon European trading which in turn forced Native Americans to alter their cultural structure. They moved from a socialist egalitarian society to that with a class distinction, a disparity between that of the proletariat in the form of the Native American and that of bourgeoisie, in the form of the European. As a result of the increased demand in Europe for American animal hides, both Europeans and Native Americans began hunting more animals than they needed to sustain themselves in order to gain more material possessions. Consequently, some Native Americans began practicing polygamy in order to have the women cure the excess of hides that the men had hunted.

Many of the Native Americans had no such concept of land ownership. Native belief

essentially held that the land was a gift from the creator, to be used in common by all of the society for survival and sustenance. In many native societies, no single individual owned the land and no legal institution existed to exclude certain classes of persons from the land. Land ownership, then, was a fluid concept, especially among the nomadic tribes who moved from area to area with the seasons of the year. The native peoples lived off the land. They did not practice wholesale extraction of resources such as timber, fish, and wildlife as did their European contemporaries. In part this was because the land could sustain their small populations and because their needs were relatively simple by European standards of their day. By contrast, the European settlers wanted the creature comforts to which they had been accustomed in Europe. These comforts included commercially manufactured food, clothing, furniture, and so on. Additionally, the new settlers needed to transfer as much wealth as possible, and as quickly as possible, from the New World to their mother countries.

Lifestyle

Before they were colonized, lifestyle depended largely on the type and amount of food available, and how easily people could move around. The size of individual groups within each area was limited by the amount of food available and the ability to store food.

Native Americans took the roles of farmers, gatherers, fishermen, and hunters as the changing seasons and their environments required. They usually lived in relatively small villages, but large towns were common where resources could support them. They lived day-to-day in social systems resembling extended families and were governed mainly by tradition. People in the east and in the river valleys of the Plains, in continuity with the Woodland tradition, depended mainly on farming. Along the Pacific coast, people relied on fishing, and sometimes whaling, and in the south on acorns, in continuity with the societies of the Archaic period. In the arid country between Rockies and the Sierra Nevada, small groups travelled from resource to resource within huge territories, surviving by maintaining an exquisite knowledge of their environments.

When the Europeans came, they re-introduced horses to the Native Americans. This greatly impacted their lifestyle. This new mode of travel made it possible for them to expand their territories, exchange goods with other neighbouring tribes and easily capture game for their food. However, there were instances wherein the Natives were herded onto reserves rather than permitted to freely hunt and wander around their traditional homelands.

Language

There were almost a thousand languages spoken in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans. In addition, these languages showed tremendous variety between one another. A trio of individuals from three areas a hundred miles apart might very likely have been completely unable to communicate by speech. There was, however, a sign language used in some areas to allow communication between those of different tribes. The spoken languages were neither primitive nor simple and many had grammars as complex as those of Russian and Latin. None of the native languages of America had a writing system until the arrival of Europeans.

The arrival of European culture was not kind to the indigenous cultures of the Americas. The population of the native civilizations of the current territory of the United States fell from about 20 million to the present level of less than 2 million. Beyond the shrinking size of the ethnic populations, the languages have also suffered due to the prevalence of English among those of Native American ancestry. Most Native American languages have ceased to exist or are spoken only by older speakers.

Spiritual Health

The Native Americans believed in the Great Spirit. The Native Americans believed the Great Spirit had power over all things including animals, trees, stones, and clouds. The earth was believed to be the mother of all spirits. The sun had great power also because it gave the earth light and warmth. The Native Americans prayed individually and in groups. They believed visions in dreams came from the spirits. The medicine man or shaman was trained in healing the sick and interpreting signs and dreams. http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/00019/1×1.gif

When the Europeans came, many Christian missionaries tried to force Native American people to abandon traditional religious beliefs and practices. Missions were introduced, and Natives were aggressively encouraged to convert to Christianity. Christian missionaries would sometimes launch attacks on Native American religious institutions when forcing them to convert to Christianity did not work. These harmful attacks destroyed their beliefs. Most of the groups had had some form of ancestral worship and this enforced change in religion altered their culture identity. Also, when the European settlers took over land traditionally belonging to the Native Americans, this meant they were dispossessed of their own lands. For a culture that was linked inextricably to the land, it was a real tragedy to be separated from their spiritual roots.

Psychological Health

The Native Americans had never experienced anything like the deadly diseases before that wiped out almost half of their population. Soon after, they began to question their religion and doubted the ability of shaman to heal. They came to believe that Europeans had the power to kill or give life. Native Americans experienced trauma as a result of colonization.

Physical Health

Native Americans knew a lot about healing and natural medicine. The medicine included herbs but also spirits. Native Americans believed that people should live in harmony with the nature and you heal by returning people to that harmony. Most of the tribes had special “medicine” men and women who did the healing. Sometimes they are called shamans. They used lots of different herbs to heal. These herbs were often fixed as tea, but sometimes they were burned and the smoke was a healer. They also did cleansing or purification. They did this most often in the sweat lodge. This lodge is like sauna. They were small houses in which they burned cedar or willow. They were burned over the stones which would get hot. Then they would throw water on to make steam. Native Americans believed that the smoke and steam will clean them off diseases. Native Americans also had lots of ceremonies that were about healing. While they may seem strange, these traditions kept Native Americans healthy for centuries.

Europeans brought diseases against which the Native Americans had no immunity. Influenza, smallpox, measles, and typhus fever were relatively harmless to the European settlers, but these diseases wiped out huge numbers of American Native Americans. Not only did diseases cause a problem, but the introduction of new foods also caused problems. Foods containing wheat and sugar resulted in heart disease and obesity among the Native Americans. Europeans seeds and plants which were brought to North America spread and took over native habitat. Not only did these lead to the extinction of some species of native flora, but the break in the food chain also affected the native animals of North America. This in turn upset the balance of plants and animals on which the Native Americans relied for their food and other needs.

Task 3.3

Maori Contemporary Issues

In 2008 Treaty Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen signed a deed of settlement with seven central North Island tribes, transferring ownership of over $400 million worth of state forest land and accumulated rentals. The agreement contains only financial redress, on account against comprehensive settlements to be negotiated with each tribe. The agreement is the largest to date by financial value, at NZ$196 million worth of forest land in total (including the value of the Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu share). In addition, but not counted by the government as part of the redress package the tribes will receive rentals that have accumulated on the land since 1989, valued at NZ$223 million.

As of July 2008, there have been 23 settlements of various sizes. Settlements generally include financial redress, a formal Crown apology for breaches of the Treaty and recognition of the group’s cultural associations with various sites. In November 2008, Chris Finlayson, a Wellington based lawyer with experience in Treaty claims, was appointed Minister for Treaty Negotiations following the National Party victory in the 2008 election. As well as the much publicized land and financial compensation, many of these later settlements included changing the official placenames.

The Maori Fisheries Amendment Act 2011 has amended the Maori Fisheries Act 2004. It enables the transfer of Mandated Iwi Organisation status and fisheries settlement assets from an existing Mandated Iwi Organisation to another separate entity of the same iwi, and exempts the asset transfer from the protective provisions of the Act that would require their sale.

It requires that fisheries settlement assets (being income shares in Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd and fisheries settlement quota) held by an iwi must be held by a Mandated Iwi Organisation. Previously, if an iwi attempted to transfer the fisheries settlement assets to another separate entity of the same iwi, protective provisions of the Maori Fisheries Act required sale of the assets to the highest eligible bidder from other Mandated Iwi Organisations and Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd.

It enables the transfer of the status of a Mandated Iwi Organisation (MIO), and all fisheries settlement assets held by that MIO and its subsidiaries to another separate entity within the governance arrangements of the same iwi and exempts the transfer of assets from the provisions of the Maori Fisheries Act that would otherwise require the fisheries settlement assets that are associated with such a transfer to be offered for sale to other iwi or Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited.

The amendments improve the Maori Fisheries Act by giving better effect to the objective of the Act that an iwi retain its fisheries settlement assets. They also better enable iwi to consolidate and manage their assets under the most efficient and cost effective governance structure.

The Maori Trust Boards Amendment Act 2011 has amended the Maori Trust Boards Act 1955 to provide for direct accountability between Trust Boards and their beneficiaries.In the modern environment it is more appropriate for Maori Trust Boards to be directly accountable to their beneficiaries rather than to the Minister of Maori Affairs.

The Maori Trust Boards Amendment Act 2011 amends the Maori Trust Boards Act 1955 to provide for direct accountability between Trust Boards and their beneficiaries, the changes require each Maori Trust Board to hold an Annual General Meeting to report to its beneficiaries on its activities and plans for the future, including the presentation of audited annual accounts and budgets; replace the requirement for each Maori Trust Board to be audited by the Auditor-General, with a requirement that each Maori Trust Board have its financial accounts audited no less than five months after the end of the financial year to which they relate through private audit and remove the Minister of Maori Affairs’ direct role in holding Maori Trust Boards to account, including the requirement that the Minister approve Trust Boards’ annual budgets. Instead, each Maori Trust Board is now required to supply the Minister of Maori Affairs with its audited accounts for information only.

Other Indigenous – Native Americans Contemporary Issues

Native American Challenge Demonstration Project Act of 2011 was introduced on June 29, 2011.It directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish and implement the Native American Millennium Challenge Demonstration Project to provide coordinated and integrated federal economic development assistance to remote Native American communities.

It requires the Secretary to provide unified accounting, budgeting, and auditing standards to an eligible Native Americans tribe, tribal organization, or Native Hawaiian organization with whom a compact is executed for a maximum period of 5 years (extendable for up to 10 years). It also provides authority to integrate the services of various federal assistance programs into a single, coordinated program.

It directs the Secretary to develop an application and selection process for eligible entities to enter into such Native American Challenge compacts and requires that priority be given to rural and remote eligible entities located in census districts with high Native American unemployment or poverty rates.

The American Jobs Act 2011 are bills proposed by US President Barack Obama in a nationally televised address] to a joint session of Congress on September 8, 2011. The Act is supported by one of the largest American Native Americans organizations in the country – the National Congress of American Native Americans (NCAI).

According NCAI president Jefferson Keel, NCAI applauds the President for taking action and supports the very real impact of the American Jobs Act for tribal nations and Native people. Over 20,000 Native American-owned small businesses would benefit from tax cuts and 1.5 million Native American workers will benefit from the extension of the payroll tax cut.

In addition to the tax cuts to Native American small business and the payroll tax cuts, the Act will also provide an extension of unemployment insurance and will provide monies to help with community revitalization initiatives. The investments in infrastructure include a school construction initiative that will provide $125 million for schools funded by the Bureau of Native Americans Education and $12.5 million for tribal colleges and a new initiative to expand infrastructure employment opportunities for minorities, women and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals including Native Americans.

On July 17, 2012 the US Senate approved legislation called the HEARTH Act, or Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership Act of 2011 (H.R. 205). This legislation, passed by unanimous consent, would authorize tribes to lease tribal lands for such purposes as housing, community services, business, energy connections and roads without first having to obtain express approval for each project from the Secretary of the Department of the Interior. To participate in the program, a tribe would have to have in place its own regulations for the conduct of such leasing; the tribe’s regulations would have to be approved by the Secretary.

This measure has been a national priority bill for Native American tribes, tribal organizations, and FCNL (Friends Committee on National Legislation) this Congress. Since the House passed the same bill a few weeks ago, by an overwhelming vote of 400- 0, it now goes to the President to be signed in to law.

Outcome 4

Task 4.1

Maori

Education

Before the coming of Europeans to New Zealand, the education of Maori children was shared by home and community. From their grandparents and parents they learnt the language and standards of behaviour. In the community they developed skill in fishing, hunting, gardening, house-building, cooking, mat-making, and basketry. The more difficult arts of wood-carving and tattooing were taught by experts while instruction in tribal law was given to the sons of chiefs and priests in a building known as the whare wananga.

The arrival of the Europeans brought far-reaching changes in Maori social life. To meet the demands of the new culture, radical changes in the system of education became necessary. First to accept the challenge were the missionaries who set up schools with the object of converting the natives as quickly as possible to Christianity. The first school commenced under Thomas Kendall at Rangihoua in 1816. The Wesleyans followed in 1822, and the Roman Catholics in 1838. Mission schools rapidly increased in number and their influence spread to the most remote areas. While the instruction was mainly of a religious nature, the Maori language was taught through translations of the Bible and Catechism. There was practical needlework for the girls while carpentry and field work for the boys were taught.

Urban Migration

The Second World War brought about momentous changes for Maori society. There was plenty of work available in towns and cities due to the war and Maori moved into urban areas in greater numbers. Before the war, about 75% of Maori lived in rural areas. Two decades later, approximately 60% lived in urban centres.

The government made little effort to support urban Maori to adapt to this different way of life. They were expected to learn English and to abandon or alter their own customs. Maori had to find ways to hold hui where no meeting houses were available, to decide whether to hold tangi in their homes or back on rural marae, to learn how to make hangi in the backyard and to cooperate with other tribes. Younger urban Maori no longer based their cultural identity on their home marae and their whakapapa. Although some succeeded within the pakeha-dominated education system, many others became school dropouts, psychiatric patients, drug users and gang members.

Employment

Although Maori became British subjects on the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, and therefore subsequently New Zealand citizens, they did not always enjoy the rights and privileges to which they were entitled.

Before the Second World War the majority of Maoris were not fully involved in the European economy, although they undertook seasonal work, travelling in gangs to shearing, harvesting, forestry work or gum-digging, that is, digging up the gum of the kauri tree, which was used in varnishes; they also worked in road gangs or as fencers. But they still lived in their own villages and had extensive gardens where they grew sweet potato and other crops.

Due to urbanization, Maoris left their rural homes in search of employment however most of the time they were left unemployed. If Maoris were employed, they would receive smaller relief payments compared to pakeha under a government scheme during the depression of the 1930s. The justification was that Maori could provide for themselves from their subsistence land holdings. During this time, casual work was hard to find and very large numbers of Maoris were unemployed.

Housing

During the 1930s and 1940s, Maoris did not have access to mainstream housing assistance. The provision of housing to Maori in the post World War II era is one way of measuring the state’s concern for Maori and its willingness to extend to them the rights of citizenship. State intervention into housing post World War II was inextricably attached to Maori migration to the cities. However it also grew out of an official interest commented upon by officials throughout the first half of the 20th century in reforming Maori housing in rural communities.

By the 1930s housing officers through surveys positioned the western-style house as an important means through which Maori social and cultural practices, viewed as detrimental to Maori health, could potentially be transformed. Notably living conditions were connected with improvements in health and the erection of western-style dwellings, it was hoped would transform family and gender relations. While this process of “Europeanization” held that better health could be achieved through provision of western-style homes, it also meant that learning how to live in a home was essential to healthy living. The restricted nature of the native housing schemes due to poor funding, limited geographical reach and a lack of uniformity led to a fragmented housing policy which gave Maori room to develop houses that combined western structure with Maori needs and aspirations.

Other Indigenous – Native Americans

Education

After the Native Americans wars in the late 19th century, the United States established Native American boarding schools, initially run primarily by or affiliated with Christian missionaries. At this time American society thought that Native American children needed to be acculturated to the general society.

Boarding schools were established in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to educate Native American children and youths according to Euro-American standards. They were first established by Christian missionaries of various denominations, who often started schools on reservations and founded boarding schools to provide opportunities for children who did not have schools nearby, especially in the lightly populated areas of the West. The government paid religious societies to provide education to Native American children on reservations.

Children were usually immersed in European-American culture through appearance changes with haircuts, were forbidden to speak their native languages, and traditional names were replaced by new European-American names. The experience of the schools was often harsh, especially for the younger children who were separated from their families. In numerous ways, they were encouraged or forced to abandon their Native American identities and cultures.

Urban Migration

World War II changed American society and profoundly affected the lives of Native Americans. The U.S. was becoming much more urban. In the 1940 Census, a little over half of all Americans (56.5 percent) were living in cities but only around 8 percent of Native Americans were living in cities.

Government policy all through the 1700s and 1800s had been designed to make Native Americans into “yeomen farmers.” The lawmakers who wrote these policies were forgetting that the first European settlers would have starved without the benevolent help of native farmers. They also were forgetting that indigenous plant breeders gave the world corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, avocadoes, artichokes, chocolate, vanilla, tobacco and many other indigenous crops. In return, native tribes were given the worst land primarily in the semi-arid plains. Now, the 20th Century rush to the city was bypassing Native Americans, and reservation tribes suffered huge levels of unemployment and poverty.

During the 1900s, many Native Americans moved from reservations and other rural communities to Chicago in pursuit of jobs and other opportunities. This movement was fueled in part by the federal government’s controversial “relocation program,” which helped move thousands of people to major urban areas.

In 1950, the average Native American on a reservation earned $950. The average black person earned $2,000, and the average white person earned almost $4,000 – over four times more than Native Americans. So, in 1952, the federal government initiated the Urban Native Americans Relocation Program. It was designed to entice reservation dwellers to seven major urban cities where the jobs supposedly were plentiful. Relocation offices were set up in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Dallas.

Employment

The Native Americans are an impoverished people. Compared to Whites, Native Americans are dismally behind on all standards of income and occupational status. A 1995 national survey showed that overall unemployment is more than 30 percent. Among those who have jobs, a third earned less than $10,000. Those who are employed are less likely to be managers, professionals, technicians, salespeople, or administrators.

Native Americans generally find work in one of three areas: tourism, casino gambling, and government employment. Tourism is an important source of employment for many reservation residents, who either serve the needs of visitors directly or sell souvenirs and crafts.

A more recent source of significant income and some employment has been the introduction of gambling on reservations. Forms of gambling, originally part of tribal ceremonies or celebrations, existed long before Europeans arrived in the Western Hemisphere. Today, however, commercial gambling is the only viable source of employment and revenue available to some tribes.

Another major source of employment for Native Americans is the government, principally the BIA but also other federal agencies, the military, and state and local governments. In 1970, one of every four employed Native Americans worked for the federal government.

The dominant feature of reservation life is unemployment. A government report issued by Full Employment Action Council opened with the statement that that such words as “severe,” “massive,” and “horrendous” are appropriate to describe unemployment among Native Americans. Official unemployment figures for reservations range from 23 percent to 90 percent. The 1990 Census showed that the poorest county in the nation was wholly on tribal lands: Shannon County, South Dakota, of the Pine Ridge Reservation, had a 63 percent poverty rate.

Housing

There is a housing crisis in Indian country. Despite the Indian Housing Authority’s (IHAs) recent efforts, the need for adequate housing on reservations remains acute. One legislator deplored the fact that “there are 90,000 homeless or underhoused Indian families, and that 30% of Indian housing is overcrowded and less than 50% of it is connected to a public sewer.” (March 8, 2004, Indian Country Today).

In addition, many American Indians are living in substandard housing. About 40% of on-reservation housing is considered inadequate (2003, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights). The waiting list for tribal housing is long; the wait is often three years or more, and overcrowding is inevitable. Most families will not turn away family members or anyone who needs a place to stay. It is not uncommon for 3 or more generations to live in a two-bedroom home with inadequate plumbing, kitchen facilities, cooling, and heating.

Further increasing the concerns with reservation housing is the noticeable absence of utilities. While most Americans take running water, telephones, and electricity for granted, many reservation families live without these amenities. On a seriously stretched budget, utilities are viewed as luxuries compared to food and transportation. Overcrowding, substandard dwellings, and lack of utilities all increase the potential for health risk, especially in rural and remote areas where there is a lack of accessible healthcare.

Task 4.2

Maori

In a general review of the position of the Maori people in New Zealand today, what is noteworthy above all is the manner in which they have preserved their individuality. Increasingly they have entered into modern New Zealand life at every level and in every aspect. But they have not simply been assimilated – there is indeed no simple word which can satisfactorily describe their total place in the society. Apart from very few who have aligned themselves completely with the pakeha majority, the Maoris have retained a number of elements of their own culture, adapted and transmuted them, and fitted them into the general pattern of their living. Some of this adjustment has not been without strain and some of it is still imperfect.

But it is recognised that there are positive values in “being a Maori”. So far from tending to reject more and more of their cultural heritage, the Maori people of today see that much of this heritage can be used by them in a constructive way, providing them with standards and patterns of behaviour which help to give a richer meaning to their life, and to give them an individuality as a community within the wider framework of the New Zealand society. Symptomatic of this general cultural attitude is the growing tendency of Maori people to think at the national rather than the tribal level. This tendency for individuals to conceive of themselves as representatives of more than tribal interest has been fostered in recent years by a wide range of factors, from increased education to the accelerated pace of migration into the towns, with a necessary diminution of local traditional loyalties.

Other Indigenous – Native Americans

More than 200 years ago, the U.S. government viewed most Native Americans as enemies, and its policy was to remove tribes from their lands, often by force. Later, the government’s role shifted to assimilating Native Americans into mainstream American society as it became trustee for their tribal lands and monies. Part of the method to assimilate Native Americans was to remove native children from their parents’ homes and board them at schools where they were forbidden to speak their native language.

During the 1900s, the push to absorb Native Americans into American society gradually changed. In 1975, the U.S. government permitted Native Americans to become autonomous. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, tribes then were allowed to preserve their culture and reclaim their future. Since that time there has been a resurgence of interest in native studies at reservation schools.

However, the negative stereotyping, that began so long ago is still prevalent today and serves as an effective vehicle for discrimination and prejudice that inevitably leads to exploitation. Such wrong attitudes and unfair actions can be prevented or changed and corrected only through education. Although the government and people of the United States express outrage at oppression and abuse of indigenous people in other countries, Native Americans continue to be a dispossessed and disenfranchised minority in their own land. Most non-Native Americans admitted they rarely encountered Native Americans in their daily lives. While sympathetic toward Native Americans and expressing regret over the past, most people had only a vague understanding of the problems facing Native Americans today. For their part, Native Americans told researchers that they believed they continued to face prejudice and mistreatment in the broader society

Task 4.3

Maori

Political Structure

The twentieth century has seen a marked growth in the assumption of Maori responsibility for organised stimulation and control of Maori social and economic affairs. During the nineteenth century, public administration of Maori affairs was primarily a matter for Government initiative and nomination of administrators by Government. In 1900, however, a system of Maori councils was established in order to give Maori communities some form of local self-government. For this purpose the community unit was taken to be the village; the jurisdiction of these councils was extremely limited; they had practically no finance, but they were of some effect in the improvement of housing, sanitation, and public behaviour. In 1945, as a result of the experience of organisation of Maori effort in aid of the war, the Maori councils were replaced by tribal committees, which have a less localised basis, broader policy interests, and some financial provision. Work done by such tribal committees includes the setting up of community centres; the organisation of sports facilities and youth clubs; assistance to the education of local young people; and the promotion of Maori arts and crafts. Some tribal committees have also energetically stimulated the provision of better housing.

The tribal committees are integrated on an elective representative basis into a structure of tribal executives, these in turn furnishing membership to district councils. Finally, at the national level, the district councils send representatives to a New Zealand Maori Council of Tribal Executives, the first provisional meeting of which took place in June 1961.

Social Structure

The social structure of the Maori is closely related to their demographic position, their economic status, and their political relations in the New Zealand community. A minority group within the general population, showing differences of cultural interest from other New Zealanders and suffering at times from mild discrimination, the Maori people demonstrate considerable unity. Yet some differences in their structure occur according to whether they are in urban or rural situations, and tend to be related also to their educational level. Moreover, in major respects the modern Maori are increasingly regarded by themselves and by their fellow citizens as New Zealanders who, descended from early inhabitants, participate in and contribute effectively to the community life of the country.

Some modern Maori people dwell in nucleated settlements; but many live on individual farms, often interspersed among those of other New Zealanders, and many others, engaged in industrial employment, live in or near towns, sometimes with no marked local concentration. For a great number of those who live scattered in rural areas or in or near urban centres the marae of the home locality is still a powerful social magnet. Tribal names and tribal affiliations are still very important. The canoe link still has significance as a symbolic force of unity. The canoe name is cited to show relationship between people, or a model of the canoe, built in accord with traditional description, is prepared for presentation on a public occasion.

In the modern Maori scene the traditional principles of group structure have been considerably modified, and new forms of grouping have come into social prominence. The individual or elementary family has gained in significance against the extended family or the hapu. For the most part now Maori families live in separate dwellings, each housing a married pair with their children and perhaps some attached kin. This group may function as a single consumption unit, but in most economic contexts it is the elementary family with the husband and father as wage earner which is most significant.

Culture

Maori language and cultural studies are thriving in the universities. The most highly educated Maoris are often those most conscious of their Maoritanga , their Maori-ness. But among Maoris in general there has been some decline in the use of their language and practice of Maori customs and a high rate of intermarriage with Europeans that at once threatens Maori culture while promising that racial relations may improve.

European religion and culture have over two centuries had a massive influence on the Maoris. They are now mostly Christian certainly as much so as the pakeha. They have long worn European clothes, gone to European schools, lived in European-style family houses, spoken the English language, played English games. The Maori influence on European culture has been negligible. A good many Maori words have entered the English language tapu (taboo), Kiwi, the names of trees, like kauri. Rugby and other sports teams adopted the Maori war dance, the haka, as a national symbol. Some Maori foods, notably the sweet potato, kumara and some shell-fish were adopted by the pakeha. But little more. The cultural traffic was almost all one way.

It should not be thought, however, that Maoris adopted pakeha ways uncritically or completely. Their culture was and in the countryside still is recognisably Maori. They have their own customs, like the three-day burial gathering, the tangi, about which the Europeans know little and understand less. Maoris think pakeha burial services very perfunctory. They have their meeting houses and marae, the space in front of the meeting house where the orators declaim. There they speak their own language, sing their own songs, dance their own dances. They live communally to a degree scarcely comprehended by the Europeans. They value very highly Maori aroha, love.

Other Indigenous

Native Americans

Political Structure

Native American tribes had no hereditary chiefs. Instead, leadership was by ability and by consent of the group. For example, if a tribal member was especially skilled at hunting, he would become the leader of a group hunting effort such as a rabbit drive. In other instances, another individual may have been put in charge of warfare. Early Euro-American contact with Native Americans failed to recognize that a tribal spokesman was not a chief. A tribal spokesman did not represent the entire group. Spokesmen might have been chosen because they were skilled at communication with others or spoke English well.

Tribal constitutions and codes are the heart of self-government for over 500 federally recognized tribes, and is the lifeblood of Native Americans sovereignty. The Constitution of the United States specifically refers to Native Americans tribes where it says “Congress shall have the power to regulate Commerce with foreign nations, among the several states, and with the Native Americans tribes.”

Tribal governments were recognized as legitimate representative bodies of the Native Americans. During 1790’s and the first decade of the 19th century, the Americans took up an abstract frame of Government and put it into practice. In the process, they developed a host of innovations such as a two party political system and the principle of judicial review. There were 10 million Native Americans on the continent when the first non-Native Americans arrived. During the next 300 years all the Native American, population was wiped out due to disease, famine, or warfare imported by the whites. By 1840, all the Eastern tribes were forcibly moved to the West of Mississippi.

Social Structure

Native Americans family life was different from and changed by contact with Europeans, who misinterpreted, misconstrued, or simply misunderstood Native American customs. It was ordinary for a European man to be required by the prospective bride’s family to prove his ability to support her, but when a Native American man presented the bride’s family with skins or other goods, to prove the same thing, Europeans decided that Native American women could be bought. Divorce seems to have been relatively easy and sexual freedom was not inconsistent with marriage. Problems arose only when the spouse did not approve.

Most Native American cultures were matrilineal and descent was through the mother’s side. Among the Algonquins, a married man had responsibilities to his wife and children and to his mother’s family. Sometimes Native American women inherited positions as tribal rulers.

European men did not understand, nor approve the treatment of Native American children, on whom affection was lavished, especially by a maternal uncle who undertook their education. Native American children, unlike Europeans, were not spanked or beaten as punishment.

European men did not understand, nor approve the division of labour among Native Americans men and women. Women grew crops, erected houses, and did everything related to the home. Men hunted, fished, and made war. Since hunting and fishing were recreational in Europe, Europeans regarded Powhatan men as lazy idlers. In fact, the contribution of both sexes was about equal, until the European demand for hides and furs made the male hunters more important than the female farmers.

Culture

Native American life is different today than it was centuries ago, but there is still a great degree of pride and independence in Native American life. Pride in one’s tribe, care of the land and respect for nature characterize Native American life and many Native Americans share these principles today. Although the history of American Native Americans on the continent has in later years has included many sad events, Native American pride still remains and Native American life is ideally filled with pride for one’s roots and love of nature.

Many Native Americans today live on reservations, but in generations past, they spanned the continent and their lifestyles and traditions varied from tribe to tribe as they do today. Some Native Americans survived by hunting and gathering and lived in tents, while others lived in complex longhouses and had a very organized and complex political system. Before white settlers came to the continent, Native American life was free of European influences and Native Americans lived simply off the land. They were not yet acquainted with the serious diseases that would later claim many lives, as Europeans brought smallpox against which Native American populations lacked resistance. Although there was often cooperation between tribes regarding farming and trade, other tribes were continuously at war with each other, such as the Algonquin and the Iroquois. However, the Iroquois would often incorporated conquered tribes into their sophisticated political system and thus enlarge their nation. Many of these alliances and rivalries were exploited when white settlers landed on the American continent, and some tribes were pitted against others to serve the colonist’s designs.

Native American life also included a unique view of spirituality and health. The Native Ame