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Paper short abstract

The death of the Maaori king in 2024 provoked a logistical nightmare for the hosts of his funeral: how to accommodate 100,000 mourners. In this paper, I examine the co-operation required of a workforce bound by kinship, and assess the extent to which kotahitanga, or unity, was achieved.

Paper long abstract

The death of the Maaori king—Tuheitia Pootatau te Wherowhero VII—in 2024 provoked a logistical nightmare for the hosts [hau kainga] of his funeral: how to accommodate an estimated 100,000 mourners. Though exceptional, an event of this scale is operationalised through kinship, and relies on the routine performance of collective, voluntary labour. These forms of labour, otherwise referred to as "mahi aroha" [work performed out of love] are often rallied in the midst of, or as a response to, crisis (Cram 2021). The current political landscape in Aotearoa [New Zealand] presents such a crisis, in which 'the most overtly racist government in decades' proposed or enacted sweeping, legislative shifts to existing Indigenous rights (Aotearoa Independent Monitoring Mechanism 2024). Indeed, as a response to the crisis, in January 2024, the late King Tuheitia convened the national unity forum, a pan-tribal gathering, premised on fostering kotahitanga, or unity, among Maaori. However, kotahitanga is a cultural principle—a lofty ideal—that is often pursued, yet rarely achieved. For example, the forum drew criticism for the purported lack of accessibility for Maaori in low-income households to attend. In this paper, while acknowledging the validity of such concerns, I draw attention to the co-operation required to sustain such events through the voluntary labour, the 'mahi aroha', of a workforce bound by the obligations of kinship to perform it. In doing so, I seek to assess the extent to which kotahitanga [unity] was achieved, however temporal, or whether it is indeed a 'mirage'.