Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua: ‘I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past’

Abstract

This whakataukī or 'proverb' speaks to Māori perspectives of time, where the past, the present and the future are viewed as intertwined, and life as a continuous cosmic process. Within this continuous cosmic movement, time has no restrictions -it is both past and present. The past is central to and shapes both present and future identity. From this perspective, the individual carries their past into the future. The strength of carrying one's past into the future is that ancestors are ever present, existing both within the spiritual realm and in the physical, alongside the living as well as within the living. This article explores Māori perspectives of the past and the models and inspiration they offer. In this way, it provides a critique of the practices in early childhood education, highlighting the importance of cultural concepts and practices, and discusses implications for both teaching and academic practice.

Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua: engaging Māori rural communities in health and social service care

“…In the present study, each theme was labelled with a whakatauki, a Māori proverbial saying. Whakatauki has been cited as reflecting “valued characteristics, personal virtues, modes of behaviour, life lessons and appropriate courses of action” (Patterson, 1992 cited in Rameka, 2016, p. 394). For the present study, the use of these proverbial sayings to reflect the experiences of participants provides a direct connection to KMR methodology, that is, connecting with original knowledge and teachings.…”

Living in and out of time: Youth-led activism in Aotearoa New Zealand

“…We argue that time is often taken for granted as a linear, chronological concept in the social movements literature, unless it is specifically conceptualised otherwise. An important source of alternative conceptualisations of time can be found in the literature by Indigenous scholars (Kidman et al, 2020; Mika, 2015; Rameka, 2016; Stewart-Harawira, 2005; Winter, 2019) although their work is yet to permeate the social movements literature.…”

“…Indigenous conceptions of temporality are diverse yet fundamentally different to the linearity of settler-colonial time (Awatere Huata, 1984; Bell, 2014; Mika, 2015; Nanni, 2017; Rameka, 2016; Winter, 2019). Māori 3 perspectives of time are encapsulated in the proverb ‘I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past’ where past, present and the future are intertwined (Rameka, 2016: 387). There is an ethos of ‘gifting to future generations’ to reciprocate what has been inherited from ancestors, where ‘ancestors are more than human, more than genetic, more than physical’ (Winter, 2019: 13).…”

Extending understandings of risk in organised sport

“…In part because Māori knowledge is often shared through oral traditions, including kōrero (narratives and stories) (McRae, 2017; Rameka, 2016), we present the evidence in the storied form of faction (also known as ethnographic fiction), which straddles fact and fiction in an attempt to make verifiable claims to truth and simultaneously engage readers (Bruce, 2019; Sparkes, 2002). Factionalisation is a creative form of storytelling that is based on the claim to have been there and gathered data in a systematic fashion while bringing research to life through a blend of observation and imagination (Bruce, 2019; Sparkes, 2002).…”

“…One story involves four characters. Each story is a blend of fact and fiction that attempts to respects Māori oral traditions in which the ‘telling and retelling of stories has always been critical to retaining knowledge of the past and transmitting it down the generations’ (Rameka, 2016: 392; also see Palmer, 2016).…”