ABSTRACT
This chapter offers views from a "source community" or a pre-Indigenous perspective to the cultural heritage (anthropology and museums) sector on what constitutes "being a Native of Aotearoa/New Zealand". It deals with thoughts on being pre-Indigenous, raising questions regarding today's widespread usage of the terms Iwi and Indigenous to pre- and/or proscribe ideological boundaries of ethnic/cultural difference in museums in New Zealand. Through the late 1980s into the 1990s the Crown, the Waitangi Tribunal, New Zealand courts and Privy Council ultimately redefined the customary concept of Iwi as a politically potent boundary marker of pan-tribal/ethnic difference. New Zealand's colonial history suggests obfuscation of our taonga, representing our once dynamic marae-based value system was no accident. The current generation of young Maori, including those who come to university are today's continuation of a sophisticated and still evolving colonization process.
