Page 260 - Constructing Craft

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motivation to start once again.’ Other teachers felt that there were too many
distractions away from the marae: ‘I feel sorry for our kids trying to learn things
away from the marae because I feel that the madness of the Pakeha world
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bamboozles them’.

Diggeress Te Kanawa and Tini Wirihana. Photo: Gil Hanly.

Change, however, was inevitable. The question was how would it be managed and
how would traditional skills be protected and passed on? In the report researchers

suggested that there were four ways this could be achieved. First, they suggested,
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was socio-cultural training to reinforce Māoritanga . Second was the need for
vocational training to develop specific craft skills necessary in a European-style
market economy. Third, the researchers believed that young Māori craftspeople

needed artistic training. Finally, it was thought that personal development was as

important as skill training and should be a part of a programme that included
learning general living skills. The prescription offered by the report recognised that

the environment for Māori craftspeople was changing, that the old ways would need
to change, but that the changes should be managed so that the culture could

remain viable and perhaps be strengthened. The recommendations also clearly

demonstrated the commercial emphasis that played an important role in the
Eurocentric movement was having an effect on Māori as well.

Constructing Craft