Chapter 3 - Te Kete Aronui

Summary

This chapter presents a case study of kaupapa Māori theory applied to the leadership perspectives of ten Māori women leading “mainstream” (i.e., non- Māori) early childhood education services in Aotearoa New Zealand. The chapter recounts how, as the research progressed, it became increasingly clear that the perspectives of the participants had been, and continued to be, shaped by continuing traces of the colonial history of Aotearoa New Zealand. The chapter portrays the participants’ acute awareness of a variety of mechanisms of racism and white privilege, including self-silencing, appropriation of cultural knowledge, and, for some, shame at not being able to speak the Māori language. These mechanisms of erasure are traced back to key initiatives and legislation in the country’s colonial history. The later part of the chapter recounts how the participants were able to draw on their cultural knowledge as a source of strength and to to exert resistance to ongoing oppression. The chapter ends with a call for the early childhood field to recognize and respond to the ongoing harmful effects of colonization for Māori.