Aporia in Kaupapa Maori : Building tikanga Maori in the Midst of Globalization and Ethnic Diversification of Maori and the New Zealand Nation

Abstract

In New Zealand Maori-medium education has developed greatly under the Maori principle, kaupapa Maori promoting unique school systems such as Te Kohanga Reo or Kura Kaupapa Maori. The principle depends on the critical theory that awakens suppressed people by colonial western culture and leads them to the resistance and praxis for their liberation. However the progress of the Maori education appears to be less in the new millennium as ethnic diversity among Maori people as well as that in New Zealand society has become prominent. The decline of Maori education by kaupapa Maori comes partly from the limited application of critical theory to the decolonization but not to the post-colonization. The inspection of the Maori education at an early stage indicates cross-cultural elements in Maori initiatives without any influence of the critical theory. The innovation of kaupapa Maori and tikanga Maori could be attained through the cross-cultural struggles retaining intrinsic Maori values and protocols.