Whakapapa and biotechnology

Te Ira Tangata by Prof Sidney Hirini Mead

English version

As new developments in biotechnology occur, Māori are beginning to engage in discussions concerning the use of these technologies and their effect on tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori.

Traditionally Māori had many terms, such as ira tangata, which means human or mortal being: ira means life principle and is also the word Māori use to identify a gene.

There is a saying that our very existence began as a seed from a place called Rangiātea.

E kore au e ngaro, te kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea
I shall never be lost, the seed which was sown from Rangiātea.

This shows that the beginnings of our people go back in time and place to the distant past.

From te kore (the nothingness), came ira atua (the gods). In tikanga Māori terms, ira tangata (human beings) came from ira atua.

These cosmological beginnings are mirrored in the processes of conception and birth. From the kākano (seed) develops the koi ora hou (a new life), which - while within the whare tangata (womb) - possesses mauri, whakapapa, wairua, hau and pūmanawa (natural talents). It is then born into the world of light.

Each koi ora hou is unique and a new part of the flax bush (te pā harakeke). The flax bush represents whānau, the family.

As biotechnology develops new techniques which can remove particular cells and genes, Māori are using tikanga as a basis to assess these new technologies.

Tikanga Māori gives clear cultural guidelines about how we treat one another and how the human body is regarded.

Every part of a human person or ira tangata is treated as tapu (sacred) and comes complete with the attributes of that person. Nowadays all body parts, even severed limbs, are buried at the urupā as each body part includes the human gene - it is a part of ira tangata and therefore tapu.

As descendants of ira atua, Māori are a part of an inter-related universe. Tikanga shows that we have to respect all forms of life and take some responsibility as kaitiaki (guardians) over te ao marama (the world of light).

Maori version

Ka whakaputahia ana ngā mea hou o roto i te kaupapa hangarau-koiora, ka timata te iwi Māori ki te whiriwhiri i ngā take e pā ana ki nei hangarau, a, me te titiro mehemea e takahi ana i nga tikanga Māori me te mātauranga Māori.

He nui tonu ngā kupu o te ao tawhito mo te āhua o te ira tangata, me ōna matapono e pā ana ki te oranga o te tangata, a he kupu anō hoki tēnei mō te mea hāngaiti e kiia nei he 'gene'.

E kī mai ana tētahi whakatauki, i te tīmatanga i heke mai tātou i te kākano i whakatōngia i Rangiātea, "E kore au e ngaro, te kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea". E whakaatu ana tēnei whakatauki, i tīmata mai te tangata mai raano, i te wā o te orokohanga i ngā rā o neherā.

Nō Te Kore, ka puta mai ngā ira atua, a, e ai ki ngā tikanga Māori, mai i ngā ira atua ka puta te ira tangata. E whakaritea ana te kunenga me te timatanga o te ao ki te āhua o te hapūtanga me te whānautanga o te wahine.

Mai i te kākano ka puta mai te koiora hou, me tōna ake mauri, tōna ake whakapapa, tōna ake wairua, tōna ake hau me ōna ake pūmanawa, i a ia i roto i te whare tangata, i mua i te wā ka whānau mai ki te ao marama he tamaiti. He taonga te koiora hou, he wāhanga hou o te pā harakeke, koia nei te tohu o te whānau.

I te wā e piki haere ana ngā mahi hangarau-koiora hou pēnei i te tango pūtau me te ira tangata, e whakamahia ana e te iwi Māori ana tikanga hei wānanga i ngā hangarau hou nei.

E mārama ana nga huarahi i roto i nga tikanga Māori hei whakatakoto matapono mō te āhua o te noho tahi a te tangata i waenganui i a rātou me ngā ture e pā ana ki te tinana o te tangata. Ko te tangata te mea tino tapu rawa atu , a, ka whānau mai me ona pūmanawa katoa. I ēnei rā, e tanumia ana nga wāhanga o te tangata, pērā i nga kaupeka momotu tinana, ki roto ki te urupā.

Ko tēnei anō hoki te tikanga mō te ira tangata. He tapu anō hoki te ira tangata, me te ira i tangohia mai i tētahi atu tangata, ka noho tapu tonu.

Nā te mea he uri ngā Māori o te ira atua, ka noho whānaunga te iwi Māori ki ngā wāhanga katoa o te ao, a, ka taka mai hoki ki tēnā ki tēnā te tūranga kaitiaki me nga mahi manaaki i ngā āhuatanga katoa o te ao marama.

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