Tikanga-ā-Iwi: tikanga, kawa and Māori community life
What this domain tests
Tikanga-ā-Iwi is the learning area in Te Marautanga o Aotearoa that examines Māori society on its own terms: how hapū and iwi organise themselves, how customary practice shapes relationships, and how identity is carried through whakapapa, reo and whenua. At Level 1 the standards ask you to describe and explain practices using evidence from a real context - a named marae, a hapū, a rāhui - not to recite definitions.
Core concepts
- Whanaungatanga - kinship relationships and the obligations they carry; the reason a marae fills for a tangihanga.
- Whakapapa - genealogy as record and as framework, linking a person to maunga, awa, marae and tūrangawaewae, and often deciding who speaks and where.
- Mana - inherited (mana tūpuna) and earned (mana tangata); manaakitanga is the hosting obligation that mana creates.
- Tapu and noa - complementary states, not "good and bad"; a rāhui is a temporary restriction on a place or resource, often after a death or to allow regeneration.
- Kaitiakitanga - guardianship of whenua and taiao, grounded in whakapapa rather than ownership.
- Kawa and tikanga - kawa is one marae's fixed protocol; tikanga is the wider body of custom that gives it meaning.
Worked example
Question: explain why a pōwhiri on a particular marae follows a set order. Move one: name the kawa - for example, whether manuhiri or tangata whenua deliver the last whaikōrero. Move two: explain what each stage achieves - karanga clears the way, whaikōrero establish purpose and acknowledge the dead, hongi and hākari draw people together and return the gathering to noa. Move three: anchor the answer in that named marae, not in "Māori custom" generally.
Traps that cost marks
- Swapping kawa and tikanga.
- Writing about "Māori" as a single group; marks reward iwi and hapū specificity.
- Defining tapu as merely "forbidden".
- Using past tense ("Māori believed") for living practice.
- Describing a practice without saying what it achieves - the relationship, the mana, the noa.