Mahika kai refers to the custom of gathering food and natural resources, the practices involved, and the places where they are gathered. Along with whakapapa, which provides the genealogical connection to resources, mahika kai explains the traditions of use associated with flora, fauna, and resources, from which springs mātauranga or traditional knowledge relating to these taoka (treasures). Mahika kai is the platform that weaves whānau and communities together, enabling Kāi Tahu’s core values to be passed down from generation to generation.
Associated with mahika kai is the custom of ‘kai hau kai’ (the exchange of food and resources), one of the major economic institutions in traditional life, as the means by which food, resources, and knowledge is traded and exchanged between iwi, hapū, and whānau. Kā ara tawhito (traditional trails) are the traditional highways along which these economic, social, and cultural exchanges take place, linking mahika kai sites to nohoaka (camps) and pā (settlement sites), while promoting the dispersal of mātauranga across the whenua (land).
Sadly, environmental degradation, brought on by colonialisation with industrialisation, agriculture intensification, and deforestation, has damaged or destroyed mahika kai sites and kā ara tawhito trails, impeding the dispersal of mātauranga. This intergenerational loss has weakened takatā whenua (‘people of the land’) connections to traditional customs, practices, and way of life, which has led to takatā whenua, particularly rakatahi (youth), becoming disconnected from their Māoritaka (Māoriness).
However, Hokonui Rūnanga Kaupapa Taiao, working within both Te Ao Pākehā (the ‘Western’ worldview) and Te Ao Māori (the Māori worldview), is actively empowering indigenous-led Māori freshwater management through community engagement, outreach, and mātauranga-informed environmental management, as illustrated herein. This mahi (work) is revitalising takatā whenua connections to their Māoritaka while bringing awareness to the importance of mātauranga incorporation within ‘Western’ institutions to ‘bridge the divide.’