Te Umutaoroa: A model for Patuheuheu hapū development

Abstract

Patuheuheu is a hapū located in Waiōhau in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. In 1886, following Patuheuheu’s loss of land at Te Houhi - now known as part of Galatea, the Māori prophet, Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki left behind a prophecy of hope that promised the return and restoration of the land. With land comes prosperity, spiritual connection, health and wellbeing, and mana (whenua). This article will canvass Māori development from 1900 to 2025, and community development theory, to set the scene for an exploration of the relationship between prophecy and hapū development. This will provide the wider historical and theoretical context for the Patuheuheu hapū development model that follows.

Towards an understanding of Io through Atuatanga

“…Tate (2012) commented on the importance of land for the provision of sustenance for all life on the earth. However, whenua is a term that means both land and human placenta; the double meaning of this word points to the significance of Māori connections to land (Rangiwai, 2015, 2018a, 2019a). This extra layer of meaning connects Māori to the land genealogically, physically, and spiritually, as whenua is a cultural concept and cultural reality that concomitantly names land and placenta, and addresses the links between Papatūānuku and Māori (Rangiwai, 2015, 2018a, 2019a).…”

“…Roberts (2005) opines, “It is often said that Māori are a people who ‘walk backwards into the future’, an aphorism that highlights the importance of seeking to understand the present and make informed decisions about the future through reference to the past” (p. 8). Through looking back to and referencing the past, Māori gain insights about how to deal with the present and navigate the future (Rangiwai, 2015).…”

“…When Māori were introduced to the Bible, we made connections between ourselves and the stories and traditions of the ancient Israelites (Rangiwai, 2015, 2019a). Our Māori prophets, who resisted colonisation and missionary Christianity by creating syncretistic religious movements, interpreted their situation through the lens of the Bible; Māori used the past—in this context, the biblical past—to make sense of their present and future (Rangiwai, 2011a, 2011b, 2012, 2015, 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2018e, 2018k, 2018l, 2018m, 2019a, 2019b, 2021f, 2021g).…”