In previous posts I have mentioned the haka, an iconic symbol for New Zealand, and now I must expose its significance. The All Black rugby players perform a rugby-ized section of the most well known haka “Ka Mate!” As I have mentioned, there are many different types of haka: for rituals, physical conditioning, expressing a social message, intimidation, ect. The All Blacks perform a haka taparahi, or a haka without weapons used for conditioning. The context to this world renowned dance will reveal the misappropriation and translation that is used today.
Te Rauparaha, a warrior chief fleeing from enemies, in the 1820s, composed “Ka Mate!”. The first verse expresses the chief’s fear of being discovered by the war party that was searching for him. The second verse is the portion that is globally appropriated and performed. Here the chief starts to feel relieved when a woman saves him. The meaning of the song is that in a lifetime there are times of fear and danger, they come to pass and you move on to do great things. However, the majority of the world thinks of it as a war dance displaying ultimate fearlessness and strength.
This haka was appropriated time and again breading misconception and disrespect. Such an example is its appropriation for a photo shoot of a female British rugby team, who posed half nude in haka postures for a calendar.
Another misappropriation of the haka took place in New Zealand in Gingerbread Man form. Campaigning to find the best Bakery of New Zealand in 2007, the Baking Industry Association of New Zealand commissioned video showing gingerbread man performing the New Zealand haka. Many Māori were offended by the lack of respect and cultural disengagement that the commercial showed.
It was not until the 1970s with the Māori language revival that the meaning behind “Ka Mate” was understood. Action against such appropriations has been taking place since this time period. One of the earliest examples is of a Māori student “raiding party,” the He Taua, in 1979 who confronted graduating students from the Auckland Engineering School that were misappropriating the haka in culturally offensive ways. What started out as a Capping Day activity 20 years prior as a staged mock war dance, transformed into a dance using “…sexual gestures and bodily markings made with lipstick depicting caricatures of male genitals and sexist obscenities” (Ka’ai 185). The event went to court Due resulting in a national rallying of Māori from all facets of life (elders, presidents of the Māori Council, Māori Women’s Welfare League and many students) to support in the protest against disrespectful and false uses of the haka (Ka’ai 185).
In 2009, the New Zealand Government decided, within the context of larger settlements of grievances to multiple tribes for colonial alienation of land from Māori, to give intellectual property rights to the Ngati Toa tribe in the interest of stopping commercial exploitation. Te Rauparaha was the chief of the Ngati Toa and as his descendants they gained copyrights to “Ka Mate!”
It is unfortunate that such misuse of the haka has led to the need for Māori and specifically Ngati Toa to legally protect their performing arts. This leads to the bigger issue of the Māori, and other indigenous groups, needing to protect their culture from commercialization and disrespect. Since Māori are known globally for the haka, it is extremely important for this image to be accurately portrayed. Most foreigners interact with the Māori through the commercialized haka or via Māori cultural tourism.
To end I would like to post a section of the taping from my own cultural performance in my Māori Performing Arts class in New Zealand. Since haka taparahi are only performed by men I am not personally in this section of the footage, however my male classmates are.
References:
Gardiner, Wira. Haka: A Living Tradition. 2nd ed. Auckland: Hachette Livre, 2007.
Ka’ai, Tānia (2004), ‘Te mana o te tangata whenua: Indigenous Assertions of Sovereignty’ In: Ka’ai, T.M., Moorfield, J.C., Reilly, M.P.J. & Mosley, S. (eds) Ki te Whaiao: An Introductions to Māori Culture and Society, Auckland: Pearson Education, pp. 181-189.