Aloha mai kakou,
I
really enjoyed reading this paper in regard to advancing economically and
socially as Indigenous people in a Western influenced society. I find it very interesting
the approaches to finding a middle ground between cultural practice/tradition and
capitalism/economic gain.
I was very drawn to the Maori
article as I saw many similarities between the Maori and Hawai’i.
Where
ever development is implemented, there is a need to look at all factors that
may have causative affect on the place, and on it’s people. When this does not
happen, there is conflict due to outside forces coming in with a “top down”
approach. That is, they believe that the most important thing is getting the desired
result in the best way THEY see fit. However this results in more negative complications
then positive. When going into a place that has an Indigenous people living
there you have to incorporate the people and their culture or else it won’t
work. The outcome or goal might have good intentions behind it but if the
people and culture are not taken into consideration, and their
valuable mana’o is not incorporated into the plan, the plan will fail.
This
is supported by the quote “For this to happen, the models that we use to teach
and encourage entrepreneurial activity must take cultural dynamics seriously
and acknowledge the complexities and paradoxes that will exist.” Because of
differences in cultures there has to be a “bottom-up” union and collaboration
when implementing a new idea, concept, or way of life, as they acknowledge in
this new concept of “Indigenous Entrepreneurs.”
We see
in the Maori issue that as a result of colonization the Indigenous communities
have suffered economically and socially because of the said “top down”
approach. There was a miscommunication between the Crown and the Indigenous
people because of different objectives, different motives, and different
cultures. That of the Crown was to move itself forward a$ a large nation, to
conquer. Whereas the Maori’s sole initiative was to move itself forward as a
people in promoting the well-being of the collective Maori society. Because of
these differences in objectives the Maori’s state of economic and social being
shifted from that of a thriving people, rich in resources and in communal
relations, to one of dislocation and loss of culture, a lot like that of Hawai'i.
In the examples we can see that it is the conflict of
interests that cause any attempt of advancement to fail. In example 2 on Venture B where Maori performed in a
Pakeha-controlled environment, the intentions to set up the institution were
valid but were swayed when true(differing) motives came to light.“Not anticipated was the
lengths to which the pakeha institution was willing to undermine its Maori
relationships to increase revenue…management that was no longer required to
demonstrate any rangatira-sanctioned
accountability to the local tribal group.” Because of the conflict of interest
between the Pakeha and the Maori and the lack of incorporation of Indigenous
consult, the Maori ended up not benefiting from the program at all.
In contrast when we look at the new Venture C, they are seeing success because it is the Maori who are
setting up the framework of this program to be a “premier New Zealand Maori
cultural experience.”
By the Maori taking the
position of power they go back to their cultural and genealogical ties and they
can now be moving forward as a people economically and socially all the while
staying true to their beliefs.
We Hawaiians have done quite a lot of modeling after the
Maori people in relation to language and cultural resurgence, this perhaps is
another venue to consider in moving forward as Kanaka Maoli in a modern, and Western
influenced Hawai‘i.
Therefore
what I took from this reading is that in order to advance, we kanaka have to
move into seats of power, where we can make informed decisions that will
influence change and shape the society that we would like to live in. We will
incorporate our culture into making programs and occupations that benefit ourselves
as well as our people in attempting to reverse the economic and social
dislocation that we too are suffering from.
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