“Our ancestors always had their backs to the future and their eyes firmly on the past. That is what makes us different from the Pakeha (White New Zealander).”

Joe Williams (joh will-yumz)

Supreme Court justice

IMAGE SOURCE: Yvonne Tahana. “First Maori Supreme Court judge returns to his tūrangawaewae to be knighted.”1News TVNZ. 10 Apr. 2021. | TEXT SOURCE: Jo Maniapoto. “Local Action for Economic Development in Indigenous Communities” in “Proceedings of the Sixth International Permaculture Conference.” 2013.

IMAGE SOURCE: Yvonne Tahana. “First Maori Supreme Court judge returns to his tūrangawaewae to be knighted.”1News TVNZ. 10 Apr. 2021. | TEXT SOURCE: Jo Maniapoto. “Local Action for Economic Development in Indigenous Communities” in “Proceedings of the Sixth International Permaculture Conference.” 2013.

QUOTE CONTEXT: “When I was a teenager I remember speaking to one of the most knowledgeable kaumatua (wise old person)…. I asked why the word for the front of an object, mua, was the same as our word for the past and why was our word for the back of an object, muri, the same as our word for the future. The kaumatua must already have been thinking about the question because he answered without question.”

QUOTE QUESTION: How do you keep your eyes on the past?


IMAGE CONTEXT: “Aotearoa's first Supreme Court judge of Māori heritage has returned to his tūrangawaewae today to be knighted by Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy.”

IMAGE QUESTION: What do you wear to honor the ancestors at your back?


MEDIA LITERACY CONTEXT: The quote is from a speech to an international conference. The image is from a national television news post.

MEDIA LITERACY QUESTION: How do you use media channels to extend the work of your People?


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“The essence of the guarantee of Maori sovereignty is the right of self-determination, the right to control, administer and decide our own destiny.”

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We are massaging the ricked back of the land with our sore but ever-loving feet: hell, she loves it! Squirming, the land wiggles in delight. We love her.