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Iwi

Iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori populations. The word iwi means “people” or “folk”; in many contexts it may mean “tribe” or “clan”, and sometimes a larger grouping of tribes. Anthropological research indicates that most Māori in pre-European times gave their primary allegiance to relatively small groups such as whānau (extended families) or hapū (sub-tribes).

Bones or roots

In the Māori language, iwi also means “bones”. Māori author Keri Hulme named her best-known (1985 Booker Prize) novel The Bone People, a title linked directly to the dual meaning of bone and “tribal people”. Māori may refer to returning home after travelling or living elsewhere as “going back to the bones” — literally to the burial-areas of the ancestors. Many societies might use the analogous concept of “roots”.

Hierarchies of structure

Iwi groups trace their ancestry to the original Māori settlers who, according to tradition, arrived from Hawaiki. In turn, one can conceptualise some iwi as clustering into even larger groupings based on genealogical tradition, known as waka (literally: “canoes”, with reference to the original migration voyages), but these super-groupings generally serve symbolic rather than practical functions. Each iwi sub-divides into a number of hapū (“sub-tribes”). For example, the Ngāti Whātua iwi consists of four hapū: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te Taou, and Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei.

List of Maori Iwi

Map of Iwi Regions


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