Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Whakapapa
Summary
Whakapapa (ˈfakapapa, 'ɸa-), or genealogy, is a fundamental principle in Māori culture. Reciting one's whakapapa proclaims one's Māori identity, places oneself in a wider context, and links oneself to land and tribal groupings and the mana of those.
Experts in whakapapa can trace and recite a lineage not only through the many generations in a linear sense, but also between such generations in a lateral sense.
Raymond Firth, an acclaimed New Zealand economist and anthropologist during the early 20th century, asserted that there are four different levels of Maori kinship terminology that are as follows:
Some scholars have attributed this type of genealogical activity as being tantamount to ancestor worship. Most Māori would probably attribute this to ancestor reverence. Tribes and sub-tribes are mostly named after an ancestor (either male or female): for example, Ngati Kahungunu means 'descendants of Kahungunu (a famous chief who lived mostly in what is now called the Hawke's Bay region).
Many physiological terms are also genealogical in 'nature'. For example, the terms 'iwi', 'hapu', and 'whānau' (as noted above) can also be translated in order as 'bones', 'pregnant', and 'give birth'. The prize winning Māori author, Keri Hulme, named her best known novel as The Bone People: a title linked directly to the dual meaning of the word 'iwi as both 'bone' and 'tribal people'.
Most formal orations (or whaikōrero''') begin with the "nasal" expression - Tihei Mauriora! This is translated as the 'Sneeze of Life'. In effect, the orator (whose 'sneeze' reminds us of a newborn clearing his or her airways to take the first breath of life) is announcing that 'his' speech has now begun, and that his 'airways' are clear enough to give a suitable oration.
Whakapapa is defined as the "genealogical descent of all living things from God to the present time. "Since all living things including rocks and mountains are believed to possess whakapapa, it is further defined as "a basis for the organisation of knowledge in the respect of the creation and development of all things".
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.