ABSTRACT
This chapter speaks to the claiming of theoretical space by Māori women, that of Mana Wahine theory. Māori have been active in the creation of theoretical spaces to both assert our ways of being within the world, and to speak back to the imposed colonial gender constructions that continue to dominate within Aotearoa. Mana Wahine theory is a form of Kaupapa Māori theory that asserts the validity of te reo (Māori language), tikanga (Māori protocols and practices), and mātauranga (Māori knowledge and ways of knowing) from a distinctly Māori women’s approach. The chapter looks specifically at the theoretical pillars and principles, Ngā Pou Ariā, that frame Mana Wahine theory and the critical project of dismantling colonial heteropatriarchy has been imported to our lands and which continues to be reinforced through a range of colonising discourses and practices.
