Paper short abstract:

The Waitangi tribunal has adopted a cultural strategy towards claims in its attempts to advance biculturalism in New Zealand. This paper examines how the concept of culture has served as a powerful rhetorical device for the tribunal. It focuses on current developments in Wai 262, the intellectual property claim.

Paper long abstract:

When the Waitangi tribunal finds an item of property or other aspect of a claimant's way of life to be a treaty protected taonga it recommends that government act to protect that taonga. This approach has enabled Maori groups to successfully advance claims that they have rights additional to those of ordinary citizenship to a variety of specific resources and less tangible things. Ten years ago I said that this "cultural strategy the tribunal adopted would, if taken up effectively incorporate Maori culture into the public domain and give its interpreters considerable power (as "partners" in a bicultural state) to frame governmental policy." (Levine 1997). Culture and Property in the Waitangi Tribunal, examines the situation today as the cultural approach is being applied to intellectual property claims. The paper particularly looks at parallels between anthropology and the Waitangi tribunal as organizations with a interest in ownership and control of the concept of culture.