I te taha o tōku māmā, nō Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Ranginui, Ingarangi, Parani me Kōtirana ōku tūpuna. I te taha o tōku pāpā, nō Ingarangi me Aerana ōku tūpuna.
Ko Stevie Courtney tōku ingoa.
Me pono tāku kōrero | Let me be honest, I have no idea where this kaupapa is will take me. I have no idea what this kaupapa truly is and yet here I am giving it a go anyway. All I know is that I am sick of being stuck in the same old technological loop of endless scrolling and depleting curiosity. I want to be curious again. I want to ask pātai, and I want to find meaningful answers, not just regurgitated slop from AI that seems to be everywhere these days. And ideally, I want to combine that curiosity with my love and passion for Te Ao Māori. Essentially, I want to know the whakapapa of things.
Whakapapa
1. (verb) to like flat, lay flat
2. (verb) to place in layers, lay one upon another, stack flat
3. (verb) to recite in proper order (e.g. genealogies, legends, months), recite genealogies
4. (noun) genealogy, genealogical table, lineage, descent…
If there is one word that binds Māori together and connects us to all things seen and unseen it is whakapapa. The idea that we don’t just end up where we are by chance, but rather the layering of those who came before us and their mātauranga that carried them through.
Unfortunately due to colonisation, a lot of this mātauranga was systematically oppressed or lost due to the passage of time. And as someone who is wanting to know more about our tūpuna, about our kōrero, hītori and mātauranga, this leaves a whole lot of pātai and a whole lot of room for whakautu.
So here’s my answer to wanting answers. A blog to capture the journey of researching the rabbit holes left behind by our tūpuna.
I’m not delusional enough to believe that anyone will ever stumble across this blog, so I guess future Stevie, if you manage to make this last, good luck and stay curious.
– Stevie
Whare Hurahura 
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