Maori Society's Use of Social Media to Preserve Indigenous Knowledge - Literature review Example

Maori society’s use of Social Media to Preserve Indigenous Knowledge Maori society’s use of Social Media to PreserveIndigenous Knowledge Indigenous knowledge used to be static in the past when societies aimed at maintaining their identity by not sharing their information with other communities. However, this is changing in the modern world because of the development of technologies and the increased movement of people from their homes to new locations. The Maori society of New Zealand is an example of a society that struggled and it still struggling to maintain its cultural identity. This society believes in maintaining the cultural heritage while remaining relevant in the contemporary world that is characterized by technological changes. This paper aims at analyzing how the Maori community is utilizing social media and the internet: in conserving its indigenous knowledge in the contemporary world and the effects of this conservation, for example, passing their culture to other societies in the modern world. The paper will focus on education, communication, planning, hazard management, environmental conservation, and relationships. Relationship Management The Maori society utilizes social media sites such as Face book, Twitter, and Skype to manage their relationships with one another. The community has adopted the use of these sites because numerous people who belong to the community have moved to various parts of the world. These individuals have moved in search of jobs, education, and marriages (Sully, 2007). Since the society believes in maintaining relationships between various individuals, it had to adapt to the use of these sites to continue supervising contact with those who relocate to different locations. This is as opposed to the past when all individuals belonging to the community used to live together. During this time, the community managed its relationships through the word of mouth because involved individuals used to stay together (Hokowhitu, 2010). The society uses social media to maintain relationships between parents, friends, and siblings who live in different locations. An example is when children from the community move from New Zealand to other countries such as the United States, they start using social media to communicate with their friends, parents, and siblings (O’Carroll, Hond, & Wirihama, 2014). The children communicate with their parents by chatting and sending messages on Face book. These individuals also use Skype to video call their parents; this enables them to see one another face to face. The community, however, has trouble while using these sites; for example, one person may be online while the other one is offline. This means that the two individuals cannot have a one on one communication. This also means that the person has to leave a message for the other one who is offline (Christine, Driessche, & Elizabeth, 2013). The Maori society maintains relationships because they believe in a structure known as Whakapapa; this structure unites both living and non-living things. The older generations have to pass the knowledge of Whakapapa to the young ones so that the relationships between all things in the society may remain firm (Christine, Driessche, & Elizabeth, 2013). For example, by using Tararere, a form of Whakapapa, individuals belonging to the same ancestor identify each other online. The members of a common ancestral origin then teach one another their ancestral beliefs to keep the spirit of their predecessors alive. Another form of Whakapapa known as Tahu helps various ancestral groups to identify their tribe (King, Goff, & Skipper, 2007). Other forms of Whakapapa include Tatai Hikohiko, Taotahi, and Whakapiriri. The community manages the difficulty of one person being online and the other offline by planning when to meet on a certain site. For example, individuals may send messages informing the others when to meet online and have a live chat. This helps them to overcome the online-offline challenge. The community also manages this challenge by communicating through the mobile phone and planning a time when they will be online at the same time. However, despite this planning, these individuals sometimes face network problems, which may hinder their live communication (Sully, 2007). Political Engagement The Maori community also uses social media for political engagement. Politicians in various parties have created face book pages where they post information about their associations. These parties, for example, post information about events, elections, and party leaders on these sites. An example of parties that have created face book pages and twitter hurdles include Mana ki Manawatu, Mana Rangatahi, and Mana Wairarapa (In Johnson, 2012). These parties engage with their supporters who are both in New Zealand and those who live overseas. This is beneficial because it enables individuals to participate in politics directly through social media. This also enables politicians to measure their level of popularity by counting the number of likes and followers on their social media sites. A major challenge that the Maori face by using social media for political awareness and engagement is the lack of respect and theft of personal information. This is against the indigenous values of the community that required members to respect one another. The values also argued that the young people should respect their elders by using courteous words when talking to them and letting them speak first. However, this has changed because the youths who are the main users followers of politicians on social media use disrespectful words when presenting their views. Some youths even insult politicians on social media arguing that they have failed to provide them with their needs. This has led to the opposition of the use of social media by elders who believe that online sites are disregarding the distinctiveness of the society (Hokowhitu, 2010). Education The people of Maori also use social media to learn their language and the social values of the community. When using face book or twitter, some individuals post updates and tweets that are written in Maori language. The others who reply to the tweets and updates also comment in the language (Tapari, 2014). This enables the individuals who are not conversant with the language to learn from others. The people who do not also know the meaning of various words ask from others so that they may sharpen their skills. Since most of the users of social media are the youths, it means that they will learn their language so that they may pass the same to future generations. Some users of social media sites such as you tube post videos that teach others the basic of Maori language. These persons post videos that also teach others how to pronounce certain words. This ensures that those who learn the language from social media learn how to pronounce words in their indigenous language in addition to identifying their spellings (O’Carrol, Hond, & Wirihama, 2014). Apart from language, users of social media also learn the indigenous cultural values of the Maori community. For example, they learn etiquettes, cultural beliefs, and practices such as farming and art (Christine, Driessche, & Elizabeth, 2013). This indicates that children who are born of Maori parents who live away from New Zealand, for example, may learn all the indigenous values of their community while abroad. This enables such children to relate with others in the society when they go home. The major challenge with social media education is that an individual may not be able to learn everything about the community (New Zealand, 2010). This is because even those who teach others online may not be fully conversant with the basic values of the culture. Environmental Conservation According to the indigenous knowledge of the Maori, the health and well-being of the community originates from the environment. This belief enabled the community to develop customs that help in the conservation of the environment. The customs include mauri, kaitiakitanga, rahui, Kaupapa Maori, whakapapa, and taonga (Selby, Moore, & Mulholland, 2010). Whakapapa belief argues that human beings were created to protect the environment because it is fragile. Kaupapa Maori, on the other hand, argues that there should be a balance between the well-being of human beings and the safety of the environment (King, Goff, & Skipper, 2007). Individuals who are on social media pass these beliefs to others so that they may protect the environment wherever they live. This means that the Maori aim at conserving the whole environment instead of concentrating on a certain section. The use of social media to spread the indigenous knowledge of conserving the environment has enabled the Maori to educate other communities about this topic. This is because the users of social media connect with people from other regions in addition to their community’s friends. This means that the topic of conserving the environment will spread to the whole world through social media. This will help the world to shun from environment degrading activities such as deforestation, green house warming, and excavation of the ground. Control of hazards The indigenous knowledge of the Maori helps the society in learning about the causes of natural hazards such as tsunamis and landslides. This information is spread through the internet where there are numerous stories about the Maori and their beliefs about natural calamities. Muteatea for Te heu is an example of a story on the internet about a landslide. This story argues that Muteatea who was a leader of Te Rapa village perished together with his followers following a landslide that was caused by mud volcano (King, Goff, & Skipper, 2007). The volcano erupted on the slopes of Mt. Kakaramea. Numerous individuals from different parts of the world read this story and realize that landslides may occur near mountains when there is an eruption of a volcano. This warns individuals not to build and live at the foot of mountains so that they may not perish like the people of Te Rapa village. Another story on the internet is the one that indicates that two adults and sixteen children from Omaio School drowned in River Motu in 1900 (Selby, Moore, & Mulholland, 2010). The narrative argues that these individuals died while they were crossing the river the wide river. This story teaches people to be careful when crossing rivers to save themselves from drowning. This also teaches that schoolchildren should be guided whenever they are crossing wide rivers to ensure their safety. When individuals read this story from the interne, they spread the word about the causes of drowning and the measures that may prevent the catastrophe. This means that the indigenous knowledge of the Maori becomes common knowledge to the whole world. This is beneficial because it helps in controlling hazards from taking place anywhere in the world. Spread of Religion The Maori community also uses social media to spread religious messages. The community mostly consists of believers who belong to the Anglican Church that was introduced to the society by missionaries. The community adapted to Christianity in the 1830s after opposing it for a long time (Hokowhitu, 2010). This is because the Maori used to have their own religious leaders who led the community during services. Nowadays even churches are opening pages on face book and twitter where they communicate the gospel to their online followers. This helps to maintain religious beliefs among the members of the community. The use of social media also helps to spread the gospel to other communities so that they may adopt Christianity (New Zealand, 2010). Anglican churches and other religious groups in New Zealand also use social media so that they may reach out to other churches that are in different locations. This helps them to learn about upcoming rules in the church faster than they used to do before the advent of social media. Implications of the use of Social Media among the Maori The use of social media in the Maori society has numerous positive and negative implications. The first implication is that the community will adopt upcoming technology faster than before. The new technology will help to develop the community and lead to the increased well-being of the society. The society will also adapt knowledge from other communities around the world. The use of social media will also help researchers to collect information from the Maori. The information that may be helpful to researchers includes that of environmental conservation and hazards such as landslides. This data will help researchers to develop techniques of managing hazards and preserving the environment. A negative implication of the use of social media is that it contributes to the loss of the identity of the Maori. This is because their indigenous knowledge will spread to the whole world and will no longer be unique. The identity of the community will also degrade because members will adapt values from other societies that use social media. Conclusion In conclusion, the Maori community of New Zealand has adapted to the use of social media to utilize their traditional knowledge in the modern world. The community uses this medium for various purposes that include managing relationships, learning language and social values, conserving the environment, controlling hazards, political engagement, and spreading religion. Through this, the indigenous knowledge of the Maori will spread to the whole world and become common knowledge. This creates a threat of the community losing its unique identity because its unique knowledge will no longer be distinctive. However, the community will also acquire technology and knowledge from other communities. This will lead to development and it will ensure that this society fits in the contemporary world. References Christine, H., & Driessche, V., & Elizabeth, R., 2013. Indigenous knowledge : a look at the Ma?ori in a modern day education system. University of Wisconsin. Hokowhitu, B., 2010. Indigenous identity and resistance: Researching the diversity of knowledge. Dunedin: Otago University Press. In Johnson, S., 2012. Indigenous knowledge. Cambridge: White Horse Press. King, D., Goff, J., & Skipper, A., 2007. Maori environmental knowledge and natural hazards in aotearoa-new Zealand. Journal of the royal society of new Zealand, 37, 2. Pp. 59-73. New Zealand., 2010. Te reo pāho =: Use of broadcasting and e-media, Māori language and culture. Wellington: Te Puni Kōkiri. O’Carrol, D.A., Hond R., & Wirihama, R., 2014. “Maori research focus by Taranaki Scholars.” University of New Zealand. [Online]. Available at http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle=mori-research-focus-by-taranaki-scholars-16-05-2014 [Accessed 14th Oct 2014]. Selby, R., Moore, P. J. G., & Mulholland, M., 2010. Māori and the environment: Kaitiaki. Wellington, N.Z: Huia. Sully, D., 2007. Decolonizing conservation: Caring for Maori meeting houses outside New Zealand. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press. Tapari, G., 2014. “Tap into te reo maori on social media.” Hawke’s bay today. [Online]. Available at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11298414> [Accessed 14th Oct 2014]. Read More