New Zealand Studies

This course examines Maori and Indigenous development. It covers both historical and contemporary developments and the factors which have affected Maori and Indigenous engagement with globalization, including economic development and education and health.

This course offers an introduction to Māori analyses of topics that are often discussed and sometimes controversial, and that continue to shape contemporary life in New Zealand. Topics include aspects of world view, philosophy and social organization; the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Waitangi and European immigration; and contemporary issues including Treaty claims, ownership of the foreshore and seabed and constitutional issues.

This course examines the Maori language for those with no previous background in Te Reo Maori. It covers basic informal and formal greetings, introductory songs, proverbs and idiom, introductions, and family relationships.

This course examines the historical background of the different migrant communities which have made up New Zealand society and their relationships with each other. It covers the different experiences and perspectives of iwi, English, Scots, Welsh and Irish migrants and those from Europe and Asia arriving before the 1980s, and of new migrants since that time.

This course is an entry level course for those who wish to develop writing and speaking skills in Maori. Students learn an array of sentence constructions and vocabulary that will enable them to talk and write in several contexts about a wide variety of relationships and events in the present and the past. Students are exposed to cultural elements such as mihi, whakatauki and kiwaha, including a variety specific to Ngai Tahu. The course blends academic study of the language with a range of teaching techniques including language games, waiata and group activities.

This course explores the basic skills of performing and expressing the meaning of songs through actions, as well as the settings in which they are performed. Students perform a complete bracket of kapa haka items in front of an audience consisting of a haka powhiri, waiata, action song, poi, and haka. Furthermore, students introduce each item; name the composer(s) and history of the item; and demonstrate the individual compositions, appropriateness in powhiri (ritual encounter of welcome), and knowledge of Maori protocols. The course also examines the Maori creation story, significant Polynesian ancestors, and constituent parts of the marae and wharenui.