Takatāpui (also spelt takataapui) is the Māori word meaning a devoted partner of the same sex.[1][2][3] In modern terminology, a person that identifies as takatāpui is a Māori individual that is queer, in other words gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or transsexual (LGBT).[4][5] Takatāpui is used nowadays in response to Western construction of "sexuality, gender, and corresponding identity expressions." (Gender identity and sexual identity]).[5][6] The term encompasses not only aspects of sexuality but one's cultural identity.[5][7] As a result of heterosexism from internalized colonialism within Māori communities" and colonialism in its racist forms in non-Māori LGBT communities, indigenous identities which are "living entities that are fluid, transformative, collective, deeply personal and, at times, intentionally ambiguous" have also been subject to homonormative and tribal normativity.[5][8] Takatāpui incorporates both a sense of indigenous identity and communicates sexual orientation, it has become an umbrella term to build solidarity among sexuality and gender minorities within Māori communities.[9]
Takatāpui is not a new term, but the application of it is recent.[5] The Dictionary of the Māori Language first compiled by missionary Herbert Williams in 1832 notes the definition as "intimate companion of the same sex".[10] After a long period of disuse there has been a resurgence since the 1980s for a label to describe an individual that is both Māori and non-heterosexual.[5][11] The word takatāpui was found to have existed in pre-colonial New Zealand to describe relationships between people of the same sex.[5] The existence of this word defies the conservative Māori argument that homosexuality did not exist in Māori society prior to the arrival of Europeans.[5][12]
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The classic and earliest full account of the origins of gods and the first human beings is contained in a manuscript entitled Nga Tama a Rangi (The Sons of Heaven), written in 1849 by Wī Maihi Te Rangikāheke, of the Ngāti Rangiwewehi tribe of Rotorua. The manuscript "gives a clear and systematic account of Māori religious beliefs and beliefs about the origin of many natural phenomena, the creation of woman, the origin of death, and the fishing up of lands. No other version of this myth is presented in such a connected and systematic way, but all early accounts, from whatever area or tribe, confirm the general validity of the Rangikāheke version. It begins as follows: 'My friends, listen to me. The Māori people stem from only one source, namely the Great-heaven-which-stands-above, and the Earth-which-lies-below. According to Europeans, God made heaven and earth and all things. According to the Māori, Heaven (Rangi) and Earth (Papa) are themselves the source' " (Biggs 1966:448).[13]
One of the great love stories of the Māori world is the legend of Hinemoa and Tutanekai, The story remains popular and is retold in songs, films, cultural theater and dance.[14] Hinemoa defies her family to claim Tutanekai, her "heart's desire" - the lovechild of a chief's wife who was not her social equal.[15] In reading Te Rangikāheke's original version in Māori Laurie found that Tutanekai had a male friend, hoa takatapui and Tutaneka was "nowhere near as impressed by Hinemoa as the romantic Victorian narrative had construed".[16]
One of the first contemporary uses of takatāpui was in a report to the Public Health Commission by Herewini and Sheridan (1994) which used the term to encompass Māori gay men as well as men who have sex with men but don't identity as gay.[17] The historical usage of the term might not correspond with contemporary understanding of LGBT identities and information on non-heterosexual sexuality and variations from gender roles as we understand them today have been eradicated by Victorian morality brought by colonizers and Christian missionaries.[18] Though circumstantial there remains evidence that takatāpui lived without discrimination in pre-European times.[19] Some use the terms gay and lesbian as a convenience while others self-identify as takatāpui to resist the colonization of their identities and bodies which would "deny access to important ancestral knowledge".[5][20][21] Some use both terms depending on the context.[5][22] Using takatāpui to self-identify requires acceptance of oneself as Māori as well as LGBT.[23] About one fifth of Māori are young people but the state education system does not explicitly provide for exploring multiple identities.[24] The traditional spiritual and social roles that takatāpui have played in historical Māori societies is not easily incorporated into teaching plans and despite a 2002 mandate from the Ministry of Education there remains a "wholesale absence of culturally appropriate sexuality curriculum in schools for the Māori."[25]
It also figures in Derivatives of takatāpui include takatāpui kaharua for bisexual, takatāpui wahine for lesbian and takatāpui wahine ki tāne or takatāpui tāne ki wahine for transmen or transwomen.[5][26] Takatāpui serves as an umbrella term for all these identities.[27]
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