Enacting the Tikanga Context: A Multimodal Exploration of Māori Governance Meetings

My thesis examines how tikanga is enacted within Māori governance meetings. It is the first study to capture naturally occurring data from Māori organisations showing tikanga unfolding in real time. Māori organisational theory has largely relied on retrospective accounts of how people experience Māori values but has not demonstrated how those values unfold within interaction, nor has it explicitly connected tikanga as the framework through which Māori values are mutually reinforcing. I captured over 30 hours of naturally occurring governance footage across an iwi entity and a Marae organisation. Using a kaupapa Māori approach alongside Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis, I examined how tikanga was enacted multimodally within each meeting. My analysis shows that Māori governance meetings actively establish a Tikanga Context, functioning as a constitutional framework that decisively shapes expectations and behaviour, purpose, and how groups determine what is best for their community. The Chair plays a crucial role in activating this context, particularly through karakia and mihi at the start of the meeting. Decision-making was guided by this tikanga-based framework, influencing how issues were raised, discussed, and resolved. Across all meetings, tikanga was enacted multimodally. This is the first multimodal account of Māori governance meetings, and I theorise the Tikanga Context as a constitutional framework that advances Māori organisational theory and demonstrates how Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis can be paired with kaupapa Māori. The study also offers practical insights for strengthening tikanga-based governance.