THE PRE-CONTACT

MĀORI ECONOMY
 ECONOMY OF MANA

• The traditional Māori economy was based on reciprocity, the exchange of goods
without money. This is sometimes called a ‘gift economy’, where people gift
items to each other:
 KEY TERMS

• Mana • Whānau

• Hokohoko • Hapū

• Koha • Iwi

• Takoha • Whanaungatanga

• Rangatira • Rangatiratanga

• Kainga • Kaitiakitanga

• Manaakitanga
 HOKOHOKO TO TAKOHA TO KOHA

• There was actually a spectrum of exchange types, from hokohoko (immediate

practical barter) to takoha (gifts with social obligations) through to koha (gifts of
aroha).
 HOKOHOKO TO TAKOHA TO KOHA

• Hokohoko usually occurred between distant groups who each had items the
other group wanted, say a coastal group trading fish for feathers from an inland
group
 HOKOHOKO TO TAKOHA TO KOHA

• Koha as a gift of aroha was an intimate gift that did not require a return gift and
was usually given by one person to another.
 TAKOHA

• The most important and common exchanges were takoha. The traditional
economy was one bound together by social obligations:
 TAKOHA

• Called ‘delayed reciprocal exchanges’ a takoha gift was not only expected to be
returned at a later date but the return gift was expected to be of greater ‘value’.
 TAKOHA AND MANA

• This is where mana comes into play. Mana regulated exchange, if the return
gift was not seen as having more ‘value’ this could see a loss of mana. Mana
was the ‘currency’ of the traditional economy.

MANA
 MANA

• Mana not only regulated exchange but served as the engine of the economy as
the increasing ‘value’ of the gifts encouraged productivity.
 CHIEFS AND MANA

• A chief acquired mana not from how much ‘wealth’ they held onto but how
much passed through their hands.

MANA
 CHIEFS

• This served to ensure ‘wealth’ was distributed relatively equally rather than
accumulated individually.
 SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS

• Social obligations could be hierarchical or horizontal.

 SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS

• These social obligations bonded whānau and hapū together into kainga.
 SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS

• And helped bond different kainga together as well.

 SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS

• The traditional economy was embedded in Māori society. Exchange of goods

and services help people get what they need but was a fundamental
expression of Māori values and was subservient to these values.

WHANAUNGATANGA MANAAKITANGA RANGATIRATANGA KAITIAKITANGA

 SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS

• Hapū rather than iwi were the fundamental social and economic grouping.

HAPŪ

WHĀNAU WHĀNAU WHĀNAU WHĀNAU

 GROUP FLUIDITY AS ECONOMIC NECESSITY

• Māori groups were fluid, splitting or joining out of economic necessity.

HAPŪ HAPŪ HAPŪ

WHĀNAU WHĀNAU WHĀNAU WHĀNAU

 GROUP FLUIDITY OVER RESOURCES

• While often political, this fluidity was also driven by resources

HAPŪ HAPŪ

WHĀNAU WHĀNAU WHĀNAU WHĀNAU

 HAPŪ AND TAKE WHENUA

• While rights to resources, and tools required to harvest them, went from the
individual up to the hapū level, they were all ultimately under the hapū chief’s
mana.

HAPŪ

WHĀNAU

INDIVIDUAL
 TAKE WHENUA

• The system of rights was layered and nuanced. They were ‘common’ in that the
chief’s mana underpinned them but ‘individualised’ in that they could be
exercised at different levels.
E.g. the kahora (Seine) net reached
2000m long. ‘Ownership’ was usually at
HAPŪ the hapū level as was the species/grounds
of fish caught with kahora

E.g. tītī rights were exercised at the

whānau level, who each had a manu.
WHĀNAU Whānau kaumatua may have divided the
manu up into individual sections.

E.g. an individual or several members of a

whānau might own both the hooks and the
INDIVIDUAL
fish/grounds used to catch them.
 INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AND WHĀNAUNGATANGA

• Ultimately, the traditional economy was decentralised, with a high degree of

individual and whānau freedom though when communal effort or sharing was
required, either because of food shortage or external threat, then
whānaungatanga was more important.

WHĀNAU

INDIVIDUAL
 ECONOMY OF MANA

• In the Economy of Mana exchanges could be practical or emotional but most

also served a social purpose.

• Mana was both a currency and an engine of the economy, regulating

exchanges and encouraging productivity.

• Chiefs’ mana came partly from their ability to distribute ‘wealth’.

• Resources also came under a chief’s mana, though were used at different
levels.

• Resources helped drive group fluidity.