Abstract:
This thesis examines the nature of violence as perpetrated on Maori women as a result of colonisation. Violence as an outcome of colonisation includes physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological layers, and as a consequence affected Maori women and whanau in a multitude of ways, and, by association, Maori society. For Maori society, colonisation and the subsequent effects of colonisation brought about
an imbalance in their natural world and society. Colonisation as a causative of
violence is defined as that imbalance. This thesis begins with a discussion of the role
of Maori women according to the definitions of whakarite evident in Maori society. It
argues that whakarite or balance was a necessary imperative of Maori society and
Maori tikanga, and its customary practices and law. In seeking definitions of
whakarite, Williams offers the following:
balance by an equivalent, make like, compare liken fulfil, perform, put in order, arrange'
The argument presented in this thesis as it applies to whakarite includes William's
definitions, however, it goes further and states that the embodiment of whakarite
originates from the early cosmogenic accounts and narratives. These cosmogenic
accounts are reflected throughout the iwi, the tribes of Aotearoa.