Summary
Whakapapa is the Māori principle of genealogy – the word literally means ‘layering’ – through which people, and everything else, are known by their lines of descent and relationship. Reciting one’s whakapapa declares who one is, places a person in a wider context and links them to land, to tribal groupings and to their mana.
It reaches beyond people. All living things, and rocks and mountains too, are held to have whakapapa, which makes it a way of organising knowledge. It also carries obligations and protocols: whakapapa is privileged knowledge, and its misuse is a real concern for Māori.
Rationale
Not a term from our articles. Whakapapa shows one of the “relational ways of understanding and organising life” Part 1 points to: identity, knowledge and duty ordered by descent. That ordering belongs to Māori.