Potentially, this unlocks the wisdom of the past to build sustainability and capability in future generations. If we begin to think of pūrākau as timeless pieces of wisdom, we will then appreciate the potential this approach has for growing the next generation a gift from the past to the future. These pūrākau are sourced from the footprints of Tūwharetoa ancestors who framed the way we can connect to sacred sites and ancestral wisdom sites that contain a corpus of enduring knowledge for Māori today, enacting the philosophy and practice of resilience. It is the digital environment that offers opportunities for converging technology, traditional and innovative approaches to disseminating Mātauranga through time and geographical space. Embedded within pūrākau is the traditional ancestral scholarship that has the potential to foster academic leadership, paving the way for the emergence of excellence and engagement in the digital environment. The analysis thereof systematically unraveled the key values of connection, belonging, resilience in identity, sustainability, and leadership that preface inter-generational transmission of cultural knowledge germane to Māori identity. Framed by kaupapa Māori theory, this thesis privileges Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge systems and ways of knowing and being) as an umbrella research methodology to re-capture, re-tell and re-interpret five Ngāti Tūwharetoa pūrākau. And all this can be found in the extant stories of yore - the pūrākau. It is this sense of belonging couched in the ethos of tangata whenua, firmly rooted in the sacred geographies that is at centre of this thesis. Key messages that strike the heart of Indigenous and Māori resilience grounded in connectedness to sacred and significant sites. This thesis explores the key values and key messages contained within pūrākau messages that connect Māori to who they are and to where they derive their sense of belonging. The challenge of connecting our people to this body of knowledge and the ethos of inter-generational transfer of this cultural knowledge is a responsibility and obligation fostered by this thesis. Cultural knowledge contained in pūrākau is an integral part of conveying the mauri, the living force, of the tangata whenua ethos through time. Integral to the survival of cultural identity in my generation is the experience of home wrapped in the ethos of tangata whenua. This thesis argues that there is a resilience in identity which has survived since the arrival of my ancestors to this land. Lastly, the piece questions the position of Britishness within Aotearoa New Zealand and asks key philosophical questions for all about the need to find common understandings or māramatanga about our collective future as a society. It provides a key theoretical analysis regarding the nature of white patriarchal sovereignty in Aotearoa and the need of the state to appear virtuous, to continue the legacy that started with the Treaty of Waitangi to maintain this whenua (land) as a white possessive. In particular, it highlights the racist nature of the law and planning systems and their inadequacies to provide for hapū and iwi (indigenous nation/s). It seeks to find the relevance of Aboriginal academic Aileen Moreton-Robinson's white possessive doctrine to the Aotearoa New Zealand context. This practice-research based article explores the relationship between mana motuhake (indigenous sovereignty) and white patriarchal sovereignty in Aotearoa New Zealand, focusing on Ngāti Tūwharetoa as a case study.
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