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Iwi (IPA: [iwi]) are the largest everyday social units in Māori society. Iwi means 'people' or 'folk'; in many ways its meaning is analogous to that of tribe or clan, with the distinction that it may sometimes refer to a larger grouping of tribes. Anthropological research however, tends to indicate that in most cases, primary allegiance in pre-European times was to relatively small groups such as whānau (extended family) and hapū (sub-tribes).

Contents 1 Bones or roots 2 Problems with identification 3 Challenge from Urban Māori 4 Well-known iwi groups 5 See also 6 External links

In the Māori language, iwi also means bones. The Māori author, Keri Hulme, named her best known (1985 Booker Prize) novel The Bone People, a title linked directly to the dual meaning of bone and tribal people. Returning home after travelling or living elsewhere is known as "going back to the bones", literally to where the ancestors are buried. Many societies would use the word roots.

Iwi groups trace their ancestry to the original Māori settlers that arrived from Hawaiki according to tradition. In turn, some iwi may be conceptualised as clustering into even larger groupings based on genealogical tradition, known as waka (literally: "canoes", i.e. the original migratory canoes), but these groupings generally serve symbolic rather than practical functions. Each iwi can be divided into a number of hapū ("sub-tribes"). For example, the Ngāti Whātua iwi consists of four hapū: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te Taou, and Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei.

In modern-day New Zealand iwi groups may exercise significant political power in the recovery and management of land and other assets. A notable example of this is the recent settlement between the New Zealand Government and Ngāi Tahu, compensating that iwi for various losses of the rights that were guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840. Iwi affairs have a very real impact on New Zealand politics and society. A current claim by some iwi that they own the seabed and foreshore in their areas has polarised public opinion (see New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy).

However, increasing urbanisation of Māori has led to a situation where quite a large percentage have lost their connection with their iwi - they no longer 'know their iwi'; note that in this usage, knowing your iwi is synonymous with 'knowing your tribe'. The following extract from a recent High Court of New Zealand judgment (discussing the fishing rights settlement process) illustrates some of the problems:

• "... 81 per cent of Māori now live in urban areas, at least one-third live outside their tribal influence, more than one-quarter do not know their iwi or for some reason do not choose to affiliate with it, at least 70 per cent live outside the traditional tribal territory and these will have difficulties, which in many cases will be severe, in both relating to their tribal heritage and in accessing benefits from the settlement. It is also said that many Māori reject tribal affiliation because of a working class unemployed attitude, defiance and frustration. Related but less important factors, are that a hapu may belong to more than one iwi, a particular hapu may have belonged to different iwi at different times, the tension caused by the social and economic power moving from the iwi down rather than from the hapu up, and the fact that many iwi do not recognise spouses and adoptees who do not have kinship links."

In the 2001 census, 32.6 per cent of the 604,110 people who claimed Māori ancestry did not know their iwi, or only stated a general geographical region or merely gave a canoe name. It seems that the number who "don’t know" has remained relatively constant over the last three censuses, despite measures such as the "Iwi Helpline".

In recent years, "urban Māori" have challenged the established tribal (iwi-based) power base. Urban Māori form groups of people that, while unashamedly Māori, either choose not to identify with any particular iwi, or are unable to (typically because they do not know which iwi they are descended from). A particular Māori person may decide to support non-tribal structures because they believe the existing iwi do not give significant value to them, or that they believe that iwi are unable to understand their point-of-view.

They are typically urban bred, and probably identify with European culture to a much larger degree than rural Māori, and often feel that a non-iwi group best represents their needs. How the traditional iwi groups will respond to this remains to be seen. (As yet, some appear dismissive of these notions.) Notably, one such group has been created believing that urban Māori are not getting their fair share of "treaty settlements" between the Māori people and the New Zealand government.

Prominent iwi include:

• Ngāi Tahu or "Kāi Tahu" (based in the south of New Zealand - most of the South Island.)
• Ngā Puhi (the largest iwi, with over 100,000 people stating their affiliation to it in the 2001 census; based in Northland)
• Ngāti Kahungunu - Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa
• Ngāti Maniapoto (based in the Waikato-Waitomo region)
• Ngāti Porou - Gisborne-East Cape
• Ngāti Tama (based in Taranaki and Wellington)
• Ngāti Toa (based in Porirua, having migrated from Kawhia in the 1820s under the leadership of Te Rauparaha)
• Ngāti Ruanui (based in the Taranaki region)
• Ngāti Whātua (based in and north of Auckland - notably Bastion Point in Orakei)
• Tainui (based in the Waikato region)
• Te Arawa (Bay of Plenty) - with several subtribes
• Te Ātiawa - Taranaki and Lower Hutt
• Tūhoe (Urewera/Whakatane)
• Ngāti Tūwharetoa (based in the central North Island)
• Whakatohea (based in the Opotiki district)

Note that each iwi has a generally recognised territory (rohe), but many of these overlap, sometimes completely.[1] This has added a layer of complication to the long-running discussions and court cases about how to resolve historical Treaty claims. The length of coastline was one factor in the final (2004) legislation to allocate fishing rights in settlement of commercial fisheries claims.

• List of Māori iwi

• Map of tribal areas
• Profiled websites, including past and present iwi
• The home page of the Waikato tribe, one of the tribes of the Tainui waka
• Ngāi Tahu homepage
• Ngapuhi homepage
• Urban Māori article in The New Zealand Herald details the creation and rationale for the National Urban Māori Authority.