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Eileen Clarke
School of Education, The University of Auckland

'The Taniwha's Exile: The Exclusion of Maori Women from Environmental Policy
and Decision-making in Aotearoa/New Zealand'

In Aotearoa/New Zealand, the status and positioning of indigenous Maori women and their whanau/families in the post-European contact period, is widely considered to be one of exclusion and marginalisation from 'mainstream' policy and decision-making, indeed, some might argue, from society in general.

This discussion outlines the work of a group of Maori women who are located across a range of professional, academic, artisan and latterly activist contexts, but who are as well firmly embedded in whanau, hapu (sub-tribe) and iwi (tribe) settings. A common thread linking this inter-generational group of women, apart from whakapapa (shared ancestry), is their engagement in environmental issues. In the early 1990s, major environmental law reform was instituted in Aotearoa/New Zealand in order to streamline previously cumbersome environmental law statutes, and to recognise and provide for the relationship of Maori and their culture and traditions with all of their physical and natural resources.

The women's work encompasses a number of issues such as the pollution of resources, the extraction of resources and the dumping of waste products. This discussion however, focuses specifically on the construction of a large prison for male inmates on a unique (geothermal) tribal resource, which is also regarded as a wahi tapu - a traditional sacred site. Moreover, while this resource is internationally renowned for its healing powers generally, it has particular significance for women because a tupuna whaea/ancestress - Kareariki - is credited with its discovery and because of its efficacy in the healing process of women in the post parturition stages of childbirth. In their struggles to protect the resource however, the women have not only been confronted by the economic and political might of the State and the judiciary, as well as big business and local government interests, they have also faced the misappropriated cultural 'authority' of self (or State) appointed tribal leaders.

One strategy utilized by the women to counteract the double juggernaut of dominant society regimes and tribal tyranny, has been the appropriation, where possible, of environmental statutory fora. Where the 'audience' (i.e. judges and/or commissioners) are able competently to receive these testimonios, this strategy has been most effective. However, when whakapapa, the genealogical 'texts of testimony' which connect the narratives of contemporary community struggles to whenua (land) and tupuna (ancestors) is denied by a disinterested and dismissive judiciary, then the women must seek alternative fora and modes of expression in the form of more public protest and land occupation. These actions have been necessary in order to fulfil their cultural obligations of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) responsibilities and their communities' aspirations of social and economic justice.
The Taniwha is a guardian spirit

Bio: 1993-1996 Lecturer: Pukenga Faculty of Maori Studies, UNITEC, Mt Albert Auckland New Zealand; 1997- 1998 Research Consultant, Centre for Maori Studies and Research; University of Waikato, Hamilton New Zealand; 1999-2000 Assistant Lecturer, Te Aratiatia, Department of Maori Education, School of Education, The University of Auckland. New Zealand.

Currently enrolled for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Education, The University of Auckland. Thesis title: 'How an "exilic consciousness" has influenced and shaped the educational choices of some Maori women and their whanau.'

<e.clarke@auckland.ac.nz>