Coming in to Whānau
Takatāpui and Irahuhua Relationships and Decolonisation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22098765 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maia Berryman-Kamp (0009-0000-3513-8833, Victoria University of Wellington, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 73 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Genealogy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2313-5778 • E-ISSN: 2313-5778 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/genealogy10030073 |
| OpenAlex | W7167615738 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
Whānau (family) is a foundational unit of Māori social organisation, and the replacement of Māori family structures with Western nuclear models is widely regarded as among the most significant tools of colonisation. As Māori move toward decolonisation and re-Indigenisation, approaches to family and identity are shifting from imported structures. However, takatāpui and irahuhua (LGBTQ+ and gender-diverse Māori) are rarely explicitly included in these movements. Contemporary framings of whānau within Māori discourse can inadvertently reiterate colonial talking points, particularly regarding binary gender roles, divisions of labour, and the boundaries of what constitutes whānau. Building on takatāpui scholarship and the findings from three separate wānanga (targeted collective conversations) across a 1.5-year period with 18 irahuhua participants, the article examines the contrasts and connections between “coming out” and “coming in” to tradition and whānau. These conversations revealed that when participants enact self-determination and “come in” to their whānau, they demonstrate pathways to strengthen and restore Māori understandings of whānau and challenge the role of historic inquiry in modern Māori politics. Grounded in one wānanga participant’s understanding that “family pressures that make you feel divided [are] just what the coloniser wanted,” this article explores how takatāpui and irahuhua strengthen their communities and demonstrate sovereignty in settler contexts
Co-construction · Colonialism · Decolonization · Scholarship · Social constructionism · Sovereignty · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Interdisciplinary Cultural and Social Studies · New Zealand Economic and Social Studies
Tapu and noa as negotiators of Māori gender roles in pre-colonial Aotearoa and today
Female Masculinity
Undoing Gender
“My Poppa, He Was One of My Biggest Role Models
‘Coming In’ as Indigenous, Queer, and Urban – Utilising Indigenous Queer Standpoint Theory as Methodology
Hegel and Colonialism
Assisted Human Reproduction
‘You will always have to “out” yourself’
Is “Gender Ideology” Western Colonialism
You’re the One That Was on Uncle’s Wall!”
Queer Resilience
Trans* - Gender Transitivity and New Configurations of Body, History, Memory and Kinship
Transsexual prostitution in New Zealand
Parental Responses to Coming out by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Pansexual, or Two‐Spirited People across Three Age Cohorts
Tackling Maori Masculinity
You Can Have My Brown Body and Eat It, Too
The Routledge International Handbook of Indigenous Resilience
Who Is Takatāpui? Māori Language, Sexuality and Identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand
Hegemonic Masculinity
Indigenous Autoethnography
Bodies Don't Just Tell Stories, They Tell Histories
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |