Maori Socio‐Political Organization in Pre‐ and Proto‐History

Abstract

ABSTRACT At present it is widely assumed that the socio‐political organisation of Maori society is made up of four structural levels: the ‘extended family’, the ‘sub‐tribe’, the ‘tribe’ and the ‘super‐tribe’, each of which, in turn, corresponds with a certain type of Maori leader. It is rarely realised that a consensus about this framework for understanding Maori socio‐political organisation did not emerge until the 1930s, approximately 150 years after colonial contact had begun. This raises the question to what extent the standard model of Maori socio‐political organisation is based on the same a‐historic and objectivist assumptions that were held around the turn of the century when it was developed. The extent to which these assumptions may have influenced the ethnohistorical and ethnographic analysis of Maori society in past and present also requires examination. It is argued that an essentialist model of Maori tribal organisation hampers the understanding of the dynamics of socio‐political practices in Maori society.

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