Tūhoe people perform a haka, a traditional challenge, as government officials arrive for the 2014 Tūhoe-Crown Settlement Day ceremony where the government formally apologized for historical injustices. Tāneatua, New Zealand.
The Ngāi Tūhoe people of the Te Urewera region in New Zealand have maintained a staunch independence. Tūhoe have never lost their connection to their language and cultural identity, and in a groundbreaking 2014 agreement, the New Zealand government opened the way to Tūhoe managing their ancestral lands according to their cultural values.
Recent changes by New Zealand’s right-wing government are seen as reversals of such hard-fought progressive policies regarding indigenous peoples. Yet the Tataiwhetu Trust farm in Te Urewera offers a revitalizing model for a younger generation.
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