The history of te reo Māori literacy

https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-tai/te-mana-o-te-reo-maori-chapter1

Te reo Māori is the language of the Māori people of Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Te reo Māori was made an official language of New Zealand in 1987. 

In 2018, 20.6% of Māori and 4.0% of the total population could hold a conversation in te reo Māori. 

Historically, Māori embraced modernity. 

They were open to the technologies of the visitors to NZ, (including literacy) . They were more literate than some of the general population of the settlers. https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/collections/topics/early-19th-century-maori-literacy

Russell Bishop in Leading to the North-East reports that Māori were part of the written literacy world since the 19th Century - and agrees that Māori were amongst one of the most literate cultures in the world. 

Listen to EP 2  Ngā Here  (podcast) for more in this topic. 

Excerpts: from He Awa Whiria give more context to the nature of Māori ways of knowing and the impact of literacy on a largely oral tradition. Macfarlane, A., Derby, M., & Marfarlane, S. (2024). He awa whiria: Braiding the Knowledge Streams in Research, Policy and Practice. 

Prior to the arrival of Pākehā in New Zealand, Māori society was oral in nature – knowledge, customs and history were transmitted from generation to generation in oral form (which) acted both as a knowledge repository and as a vehicle for passing on knowledge to future generations. 

The importance of talking about the past also remains a prominent contemporary feature in Māori culture.

Literacy, in the form of the written word, had a profound influence on Māori society, changing its exclusively oral nature. 

Māori actively embraced print culture, reading and books. (There was a ) shift in power from resting with those who were masters of oratory to those who possessed the ability to read and write. At the same time, younger generations of Māori actively sought to acquire and master literacy 

Traditionally, Māori children received their early education within the confines of the whānau, where they learned genealogies, tribal history, customs, and good language and behaviour through songs and storytelling. The wider whānau unit also played an integral part in the education of children; it further fostered the growth and development of early skills by encouraging children to learn through play, telling stories and mimicking elders, who would use songs and storytelling to recall historical figures and events 

• 1924: Te reo Māori becomes a subject for the Bachelor of Arts degree in the University of New Zealand (the actual teaching of courses begins at Auckland University College in 1951)

• 1936: Radio broadcasting of Parliament begins – a world first. The status of English is highlighted

• 1939: Second World War begins. te reo Māori used in recruitment. 3600 Māori fight overseas in 28 (Māori) Battalion. Six hundred and fifty die, the vast majority native speakers. Te Reo Māori enters its post-war decline

• 1940s: Migration of Māori to cities begins.