Ō mātou mōhiotanga

Thesis on struggle and resistance

Morehu McDonald graduated with his PhD with a research focus on Māori Studies, and was the recipient of the Emeritus Professor Roger Green, ONZM Award for Top Thesis in 2018.

His thesis was entitled: Ko koutou e haere ko te ahi e kā mai nei e kore e taea te tinei: The resistance struggle and survival of the Ngāti Hinerangi hapū and iwi of Matamata and Tauranga who were labelled as 'hauhau and unsurrendered rebels and driven to the brink of cultural extinction through the process of cultural genocide by the crown and pākehā settler colonisers from the 19th - 21st century

Thesis abstract

This PhD thesis is a study of the resistance, struggle and survival of my hapū and iwi of Ngāti Hinerangi from Matamata and Tauranga. Ngāti Hinerangi was labelled as ‘Hauhau’ and ‘unsurrendered rebels’ and were driven to the brink of cultural extinction through the process of Cultural Genocide by the Crown and Pākehā Settler Colonisers in the 19th Century to the 21st Century.

Ngāti Hinerangi was reduced from a once powerful, self-sufficient and independent people to where, today, we are virtually landless, and socially, culturally, economically and politically marginalised and impoverished. For more than 177 years, Ngāti Hinerangi has been engaged in an intergenerational struggle of survival to protect and maintain our rangatiratanga, mana motuhake, whenua, whānau, spirituality, language and culture.

Ngāti Hinerangi resisted the Crown’s oppressive legislation, actions, processes and practices of cultural genocide to exterminate Ngāti Hinerangi as a separate and independent hapū and iwi Māori Nation. This thesis critically examines the different stages of resistance, struggle and survival that my Ngāti Hinerangi hapū and iwi have experienced since 1840.

Dr McDonald's thesis is available from Te Kōputu Kōrero a Tā Hirini Moko Mead