My Masters focus of Māori Fatherhood is a piece of my heart. During this journey, I absorbed readings; some of which spoke to my heart, others tore at my heart, and the words of this Masters are written from my heart.

This needs to be experienced in conjunction with my blog posts that were also written from my heart.

Blog posts

Read about My Mama and about my journey to “motherhood”. Afterwards, read my reflections to the movie ‘Waru’. One is about being a solo parent, the other, titled ‘I Am Waru’ is about my similar upbringing portrayed in the movie.

Videos

Watch Waru the movie, check out the stories from The Hui and Stop The Bus’ about my life.

And finally, watch the mini doco my cousin made about me, also called ‘I Am Waru.’

Josh Wharehinga performing a haka at his graduation for his Masters in Traditional Māori Fatherhood.
Haka on at TWoA Tainui 2019 Graduations

Synopsis of the Thesis

This is first and foremost an academic piece of writing, but I have tried to write it in a way that honours the way I think, feel and write. Therefore the thesis is broken up into the following chapters.

Firstly, Chapter 1 – ‘Gang kid Father’ is about me, and where I’ve been and where I am.

Secondly, Chapter 2 – The Knowledge About Us is about what bodies of knowledge have to say about Māori males and our collective journey inter-generationally through fatherhood.

Thirdly, Chapter 3 – The Conversations About Us is about what society, through legislation and media, has said about Māori, fathers, solo parents and young parents. And thus the intersection of those groupings. This chapter is also about what we say about ourselves.

Fourthly, Chapter 4 – ‘Story is the taonga tuku iho’, is about how telling story heals and the process of story telling.

Lastly, Chapter 5 – And What? is a call to action. I’ve written something, and now you’ve read it, so what? And what? What next? What are we gonna do?

I hope you find at least a small part of it useful.

Josh Wharehinga and his daughters performing Hautoto at his graduation for his Masters in Traditional Māori Fatherhood
Hautoto Hautoto! The girls and their Mihi to me at our graduation.
#Blessed #Masters #BarefootGraduate

Abstract

Tāne Whakapiripiri: Matua is about Traditional Māori Fatherhood in a modern context. It discusses the forces that interrupted the transmission of knowledge of fatherly practice, intrinsic connection to traditional Māori practice and what that looks like in 2018 for Māori fathers. This exegesis also shows how this rangahau journey fed my story telling via my blog, social media, and on film via the discussions on The Hui, Stop The Bus and in the mini documentary ‘I Am Waru’.

Wharehinga (2018)

Exegesis

Tāne Whakapiripiri – Matua. Traditional Māori Fatherhood in Contemporary Times by Joshua Te Kaha Wharehinga.Download

Reference

Wharehinga, J. T. K. (2018). Tāne Whakapiripiri – Matua. Traditional Māori Fatherhood in Contemporary Times (Te Wananga o Aotearoa). Retrieved from https://josh.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Tane-Whakapiripiri-Matua.-Traditional-Māori-Fatherhood-in-Contemporary-Times-Josh-Wharehinga.pdf