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In a special episode of Mata, Mata o te Arero, Stacey Morrison speaks with Te Mātāwai’s Crown representative Penetaui Kleskovich and researcher Dr Awanui Te Huia about whether Aotearoa’s reo infrastructure is still fit for purpose.
“I’d like to think that we’ve moved past the revitalisation stage now,” Kleskovich said.
“We’ve got a lot of experience, Māori do, but also important for us to bear in mind that conservative estimates suggest that over 50 per cent of languages won’t survive this next century.
“The way that the language was transmitted to me was in the home. And I’m a firm believer that the survival of the Māori language is not at a corporate board table structure, but at the kitchen table.”
Te Huia said there has been a shift in who speaks te reo - rangatahi are now its most prominent speakers.
“So if we think about, you know, what’s happening with te reo, we do have this great emphasis on what’s happening for our rangatahi, but also how do we shift the language outside of the classroom, outside of managed language environments, where we have kura kaupapa who are doing a really fantastic job at creating those environments, solidifying our cultural identity in those spaces.
“But those kura students, they eventually graduate, they become raukura, they become members of the community - and so what is in our hapori that is allowing that reo Māori to continue post-managed language environments?”
Kleskovich said for the language to flourish, it should be readily available and accessible to young people, but that’s not the reality. Te reo might be a priority for them, but it’s far down the list.
“The things that our young mothers and fathers and strugglers gully are thinking about, how can we pay for our petrol? How are young people going to get to school? Who will pick them up from sports? Can we pay the rent this week? The power is 800 bucks a month.
“Those are the things they’re thinking about, and until we address some of those issues, really pressing issues - especially in the north - then we can’t get down to the issue of language revitalisation and ensuring that it’s enduring for the next hundred or next thousand years.”
Te Huia said the things that take rangatahi away from the language are directly tied to socio-economic conditions and representation.
“So during a time where our rangatahi are forming ideas about who they are, who they want to become, if they are seeing examples of themselves as thriving, you know, ka kite rātou, koia, koia taku anamata. So, you know, if we think about what we require is seeing ourselves as valued members of our community in a cultural way.”.
When Māori are represented poorly, it contributes to the thinking that Māori culture and language should be put to the side and the focus put on bread and butter, she said.
Should there still be a Maihi Māori and Maihi Karauna?
The current institutions charged with upholding te reo Māori include Te Taura Whiri, Te Mātāwai, Te Māngai Pāho and Whakaata Māori.
Te Ture mō te reo Māori 2016 created a partnership for the revitalisation of te reo Māori between the Crown and iwi and Māori. On one side is the Maihi Karauna, which is implemented by Crown agencies and coordinated by Te Taura Whiri.
The other is the Maihi Māori, implemented by Te Mātāwai, with a focus on revitalisation within the community.
“That really frustrates me, the Maihi Māori and the Maihi Karauna and the fact that four Māori entities can’t come together and give the minister a frank and clear answer about what Te Whare o te Reo Mauriora actually mean? What does that mean? $170 million and they can’t figure it out,” Kleskovich said.
“So the question is, are those four entities... going to facilitate the circumstances for change, or will change be shaped around them?”
Te Huia said that when we hear these big sums of money, it can distract from the large task that each of these entities has been charged with.
“So when we invest in our hapori through these Crown pūtea, we see changes that are not just economic changes, we see changes that for our hapori, we see intergenerational wellness... If we think about Te Mātāwai, for instance, you know, some years we get a letter saying whether you’re successful or you’re not successful, and they tell you how many whānau were wanting to seek that pūtea and how much money was given out, and usually it’s about a quarter.
“So that’s telling us that within our hapori, we are seeing a lot of people who have interest in investing in kaupapa; however, the pūtea is not matching that level of aspiration.”
But Kleskovich said that if a structure exists primarily to preserve itself, rather than to increase language fluency, then that structure is not fit for purpose.
Institutions need to ensure there is no duplication and that they have people who not only understand tikanga and te reo Māori, but also technology, AI platforms and economics, he said.
“Because currently, when I look at where we are placing a lot of our Māori language strategy and content, it’s online. And those large platforms that facilitate and hold that data in the future are going to attain that knowledge, they’re going to monetise that knowledge, and they’re going to teach that language back to your mokopuna at a cost.”
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