Participants were asked about transformation, what it meant, and how change might come about in terms of bridging the divide between Māori in privileged positions and those struggling on the margins. In short, participants overwhelmingly supported a micro-level approach to transformation starting with one’s own whānau. Although most participants acknowledged a range of strategies are needed at both a macro and micro level, the most fundamental and logical place to effect change was in the whānau because of one’s whakapapa (genealogy) and responsibility to contribute. Other sites of transformation identified were the community, marae/hapū and iwi.
A range of transformative strategies were identified situated at the whānau level. For example, all participants were involved in mentoring and leadership roles within their whānau, either voluntarily or because they were tasked with roles by senior whānau members for a range of reasons which included their credentials, status, occupation, resources, skills and knowledge.
The kinds of transformative strategies participants were involved in included
leadership development with rangatahi (youth), promoting the benefits of education and higher education, leading and contributing to whānau reo, tikanga and
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whakapapa wānanga (workshops), organising and facilitating marae-based events and wānanga – e.g. whānau and iwi strategic planning, and supporting whānau health days, to name but a few.
Most participants lived some distance from their traditional marae and papakāinga and acknowledged how their financial resource enabled them to return home to contribute as well as coordinate whānau-based activities within their local
community. Anituatua emphasised the need to never forget one’s roots and to use one’s material wealth to go home and support:
Do not forget whānau in all of your education / and / high-class living / don't forget where you come from / and / who your family are / make yourself available for them / for those tangihanga / and / those wānanga back home / because / we are the educated ones / because / I am the one with the good job / and / I can fill my car up easier than cuzzie can / it’s on me to go home / and / you know just chill out and just be there.
At a macro level, participants talked about the need for effective leadership to better coordinate and leverage collective knowledge, skills and resources. Central to this was the need to build an overarching transformative strategy which linked material wealth with individual efforts, as highlighted by Te Kepa:
Together / anything can be done as a collective / we can rule the world / It’s just whether or not we choose to act as a collective / That’s the challenge for leaders / and / leadership / to bring people together / I know there’s heaps of Māori middle class / and / they’ve got heaps of ideas / But / time’s a big factor / people start having families / and / all of a sudden they’ve less time to contribute to the collective / It becomes transformation at a micro level / i.e. their families.
Te Kepa is one of a handful of participants to talk about social class as a lever to build cohesion and accelerate transformation. While a few participants supported kotahitanga and the creation of a shared vision to inspire and mobilise the
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collective, most cautioned against creating a Māori middle-class cohort which had to give up what it means to be Māori (for example connections back home,
relationships, tikanga and reo) in order to ‘succeed’, as expressed by Pirihira:
It’s about using the skills and resources that we have to contribute to Māori development in the right way /…being really careful that we don’t want to just build up a Māori middleclass /…so we don't want people to have to give up their connections to home / We don’t want them to have to give up really important things in the name of education / what we really don't want is just to be creating a whole breed of / you know / Māori lawyers / doctors / whatever / that actually are giving up a lot of what it means to be Māori in order to achieve other benefits / It’s kind of a question that I struggle with / about how people can have both.
Summary
In relation to class consciousness as a potential lever for transformation, half of the participants rejected a social class identity and half accepted it as a relevant
concept in their lives. Only a handful talked about building and leveraging off a class consciousness to facilitate transformation. All, however, recognised the importance of social class structurally in terms of the benefits, opportunities and privileges that come with having a certain level of material wealth. Thus, social class was important structurally, but irrelevant socially and culturally.
Higher education qualifications and income differentiated participants from whānau in both positive and negative ways depending on the context. A variety of strategies were used to navigate through this sea of tension. However, being highly educated resulted in participants having a relatively high material wealth, access to networks and resources to better support and contribute to whānau transformation. While a few participants felt burdened and pressured by familial expectations, the majority acknowledged the responsibility to contribute to whānau was the trade-off for ‘success’ in te ao hurihuri. Higher education success therefore was an enabler which opened doors and provided the opportunities for participants to build material wealth to contribute to whānau-based transformation. This was, however,
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complemented by a deep-seated responsibility to also contribute to the collective in non-material ways.
The critical site of transformation was whānau and the data showed how, at present, transformation is occurring in an uncoordinated way as participants work within individual whānau to effect change. Participants acknowledged how a cohesive, coordinated and strategic approach was needed in conjunction with strong
leadership and a collective vision if transformation was going to become widespread and sustainable - whakapapa was the key lever to build consciousness.