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This chapter describes and examines how Iwi (tribe)-led projects in Higher Education settings might advance Iwi aspirations and lead to authentic collaboration. Two recent developments in higher education, Mau ki te Ako – Culturally responsive professional learning and development for teachers and He Toki ki te Rika – a Māori trade training initiative, are discussed. Both initiatives are Iwi-led partnerships facilitated by Te Tapuae o Rehua between partner tertiary institutions. These projects or sites in which Iwi engage with tertiary institutions can be seen to reflect society at large as sites of struggle where power is negotiated, aspirations are articulated and values inherent in the way in which projects are progressed.

Polynesian settlers arrived in Aotearoa (in te reo, or Māori language, “Land of the Long White Cloud”) about the 10th century. Aotearoa was visited briefly by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in 1642. However, it was not until 1769 that the British naval captain James Cook and his crew became the first Europeans to explore New Zealand’s coastline thoroughly. The word Māori meant “usual or ordinary” as opposed to the “different” European settlers. Before the arrival of Europeans, Māori, or indigenous Polynesian inhabitants of New Zealand, had no name for themselves as a nation, only a number of tribal names. The original meaning of Pākeha, the settlers, was a person from England. With time, Pākeha became the word to describe fair-skinned people born in New Zealand. We use the word Pākeha here in the sense of the New Zealand census as a European New Zealander.

This chapter focuses on exploring social innovation among Māori entrepreneurs. The notion that social entrepreneurship (SE) has always been a core part of Indigenous entrepreneurship is supported by existing literature. However, the role of Indigenous worldviews and the entrepreneurial ecosystem within which the Indigenous entrepreneur operates has been overlooked. A Case Study method was used, Case 1 was a whānau (kinship)-based social enterprise and Case 2 was a trust-based social enterprise. Both cases showed similarities in terms of cultural integration of Māoritanga into their values and how they created social innovation. Case 1 models a social engineer by designing architectural works that integrated Māori designs, but with a contemporary style that changed how the community designed projects. Case 2 also exemplified similar characteristics, but with more focus on creating economic development through community-based enterprise with a social goal using very innovative means such as community volunteering and youth engagement. Case 3 stood for a more shared-economy approach to social innovation. The entrepreneurial ecosystem is perceived by the cases quite similarly because they felt government policies were irrelevant because they did not integrate the core values of Māori. The implications of these findings are mainly policy-based because the Crown needs to re-evaulate how it engages with Māori social entrepreneurs.

This chapter chronicles an international inter-institutional Māori-led small-scale tertiary intervention that has potential for larger scale future implementation. The educational intervention, Optimising Māori Academic Achievement (OMAA), is based in Te Puna Wānanga (The School of Māori Education) in the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland (UoA). It aims to increase the completion rates of Māori students enrolled in the Bachelor of Teaching Māori-Medium Specialisation (Huarahi Māori) at the UoA and the Bachelor of Nursing at Waiariki Institute of Technology, Bay of Plenty. The OMAA initiative is based on the adaptation and implementation of a tertiary intervention that has a research-based track record in North America and has also been successfully adapted for use in Australia. Authors of this chapter are Māori and Indigenous women working as primary investigators, programme directors and leaders facilitating the international inter-institutional intervention among the UoA, Waiariki Institute of Technology (Waiariki) and Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. Adaptation of the North American tertiary intervention by Māori for Māori is at the heart of the initiative. Māori and Indigenous projects such as OMAA can attract potential postgraduate students from within New Zealand as well as from other countries where there are Indigenous communities of people. Implementation details, implications, lessons learned and future directions will be described in this chapter.

Purpose – The chapter compares gift and market exchange in Hawaiian and New Zealand fisheries.Methodology/approach – The chapter draws upon a combination of original ethnographic fieldwork and literature pertaining to fisheries in both New Zealand and Hawaii.Findings – The privatization of fishing rights in New Zealand, in conjunction with a social policy directed toward Maori addressing colonial dispossession, has resulted in the dominance of market exchange, the creation of a purified version of indigenous gift exchange, and the attempted elimination of any hybrid activities. This has not been a positive outcome for the majority of coastal Maori. Fisheries development in Hawai’i has taken a different path. The flexibility that inheres in Hawaiian fisheries enables ongoing participation in both gift and cash economies.Originality/value – Over the last few decades western economies have witnessed a rapid extension of market approaches to many commonly owned environmental goods, a movement which has been entrenched as global policy orthodoxy. The social consequences of this development have been under researched. This chapter challenges the neoliberal model of using market mechanisms and property rights as “the way to do” natural resource management.

When two regional institutes of technology merged in 2016, it created a singular opportunity for disruption to business-as-usual and for organizational transformation. The new entity’s strategic intent is to be regionally relevant, learner-centric, sustainable, and innovative in delivery. Overarching all these considerations is an emphasis on relationships with our community, and demonstrating leadership in the re-positioning of culture at the heart of everything we do. Aotearoa New Zealand is a nation that prides itself on our dual heritage (Māori and European), and the way in which this is reflected in all public sectors in a commitment to a contemporary, bi-cultural framework. The core principles of partnership, protection and participation (Ministry of Justice, 2016) are the means by which legislation, public policies, and curriculum development should be judged. Yet Māori educational achievement lags behind that of non-Māori by 9.5% in degree completions (Marriott & Sim, 2014). Boosting achievement of Māori is a key government priority (Tertiary Education Commission, 2016) and organizational imperative.This chapter describes our cultural milieu and institutional vision, discusses the ways in which core values from Māori culture have informed curriculum development, and offers a pathway toward organizational sustainability. We outline how these different ways of thinking are being communicated to our students, staff, partners, and stakeholders, and how we expect to add value to the learning experience, and relevance to our own society and the wider global community. We emphasize that leadership and strategies directed toward sustainability, must and should begin with an understanding of organizational cultural identity - who we are, where we stand, and what we stand for.

Wānanga are Indigenous educational institutions that encompass a diverse approach to education. Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, an ‘Indigenous University’, is an environment where innovative thinking and culturally based teaching practice enhances student experiences in an Indigenous Māori environment. It is in this space that Māori ideology and epistemology are practiced and viewed as normal. This diverse environment accepts without qualification that education and knowledge will be provided to the highest level through an Indigenous Māori lens. Culturally responsive environments are conducive to learning experiences for Indigenous Māori students. Pedagogy that is underpinned by cultural values and philosophy enhances the reciprocal learning experiences that are shared between lecturer and student. A positive learning environment promotes a distributive action, where the student experience is further shared with whānau (family), hapū (sub-tribe), Iwi (tribe) and communities in which they interact and engage.

Purpose − In the 1990s, the New Zealand government began returning land and other natural resources to Maori ownership in compensation for their dispossession in the nineteenth century. This chapter examines the impact of the settlement of the Waikato-Tainui claim on the socioeconomic development of the tribe since the compensation agreement was signed in 1995.Design/methodology/approach − The ethnographic analysis is focused on the tribal debate that seeks to balance the corporate demand to maximize profits of commercial investments and the increasing demand of tribal beneficiaries for social services. This debate is situated within the broader discussion about the balance between ownership and (re)distribution, and between historical justice and social justice.Findings − The analysis demonstrates that the restoration of land to Maori ownership does not automatically result in an improvement of socioeconomic conditions for most Maori. Instead, it seems to facilitate a gradual transformation of tribal hierarchies into class distinctions.Research limitations/implications − Further research is required as this chapter shows that the settlement of Maori grievances does not immediately resolve all socioeconomic problems as was originally expected.Practical implications − The settlement of colonial grievances is inherently complex since each solution seems to create new problems, also because the sociopolitical organization of indigenous societies has changed fundamentally since the beginning of colonization.Social implications − It will be necessary to continue to negotiate historical and social justice in postcolonial societies.Originality/value − Ownership of natural resources does not automatically entail socioeconomic developments or improvements. Additional policy strategies are required to obtain the socioeconomic outcomes that people desire from their engagements with capitalism.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to consider the (re-)emergence of the sport waka ama (outrigger canoe) in light of the broader historical, social, political, cultural and economic landscape of ‘post-colonial’ Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Design/methodology/approach – The chapter draws upon a micro-ethnography of the 2011 Waka ama national competition to elucidate the ways in which the sport serves as an important site for sharing Māori identities and culture. The empirical aspects of the chapter utilise observations and semi-structured interviews with key gatekeepers of waka ama in Aotearoa/New Zealand and participants in the sport.

Findings – The key findings of the study offer new insights into the relationship between the (re-)emergence of waka ama and the wider context of ‘post-colonial’ Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Research limitations/implications – The restricted timeframe that the research took place within could be viewed as a limitation to the research project.

Originality/value – The chapter provides an alternative reading of the sport waka ama within ‘post-colonial’ Aotearoa/New Zealand. To date there has been little research conducted on the role sport has played within the process of colonisation in Aotearoa/New Zealand. There has also been limited research that illustrates the role of waka ama, as a uniquely indigenous sport, as a vehicle of social change within indigenous communities. The authors highlight the unique nature of waka ama and provide an alternative commentary on the colonial/neocolonial forces that have impacted waka ama in its emergence.

In February 1840, Māori co-signed the Treaty of Waitangi with the British Crown. Partnership, protection, and participation are the fundamental principles provided in the Treaty. In April 2010, the New Zealand government endorsed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These two instruments provide indigenous peoples with the right to participate fully in decision-making that will affect their legal, social, economic, cultural, and political rights. Having endorsed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the New Zealand government is morally obliged to comply with the intent of the Declaration. The focus of this chapter is on the right of Māori to participate and be represented on the governing councils of local government. It will be demonstrated that the refusal by the New Zealand government in 2010 to provide dedicated Māori wards on the Auckland Council is contrary to the intent of the Declaration. The principles of the Treaty of Waitangi require the government to act with integrity toward the indigenous people of New Zealand. It will be argued that the failure of local government to utilize electoral options that will enhance Māori representation in local government breach obligations inherent in both the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Treaty of Waitangi.