Kupenga
= Kupenga means net in Maori
Description
Sally Jane Norman:
"Like any culture, Maori culture is permeated by a wealth of more-or-less ritualised protocols that structure community living. Compared with many people, the Maori people have a particularly strong culture of the net, understood both literally and figuratively. Moreover, as accredited inventors of surfing, as inveterate ocean-goers and navigators, their mores and traditions and legends offer some strikingly original tacks on cyberspace. As a Pakeha (white, of European descent) born and raised in Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud, the Maori name for New Zealand, I shall call on this legacy in an attempt to spin a yarn, tangle some story lines, weave an intertwined mesh of words and images. Maori culture impregnates New Zealand life, the musicality of its words resounds throughout our language. Paramata, Paekakariki, Raumati, Paraparaumu -the landing places that stretch up the coast from my home beach at Titahi Bay, meandering round Mana and Kapiti islands, are places where we swim, surf, cast our lines and our nets. The thread that follows is a tenuous line between real physical ocean surfing, an essential part of Pacific culture, and surfing on the net. Between certain aspects of traditional Maori culture and of new planetary infoculture.
These parallels are not drawn lightly. Maoritanga is steeped in notions of mana and tapu which endow it with unique life and weight, and the desirability and opportuneness of disseminating elements of Maori culture should be gauged carefully here, as with any culture one pretends to respect. Then again, the question of how, whether, and when to recontextualise specific cultural knowledge in a broader environment remains an ethically central question in today’s so-called information society." (http://intercreate.org/view/kupenga-knots)
Details
Sally Jane Norman:
"Some years ago, in the course of readings which craved the musicality of Maoridom, I stumbled across a word that seemingly evoked Polynesian net culture, and began to embroider it with meaning to the extent that it has since become a very intimate part of my thinking. Yet this word, «kahenga», has resisted all my recent attempts to track it down. Off-and online Polynesian dictionaries do not mention it, although Charlie Tawhiao, a correspondent met on the net, has kindly provided the following indication as to its etymological plausibibilty : «I do not know the word ‘kahenga’ but it looks and sounds like a real word. It is possible that the word is used by a particular hapu (clan) but was not picked up by the dictionary makers in the old days. There are many words in current local use but these are being lost as young people increasingly acquire their language not from their parents and old people but from a school or university (…).One possible explanation is that it is actually two words_ ka and henga. Henga is the name of the board along the side of a canoe that joins the hull to the sides. Ka-henga could thus refer to the bringing of something (a fishing net?) alongside, and against the side of, a canoe.»
However reassuring, this response does not dispel all doubt, and misgivings about the use of an untraceable term are far from alleviated by the fact that negligent use of words is severely looked upon in Polynesian culture, where the power of the word is extremely strong. According to an old saying, «He tao rakau e taea te karo, he tao kupu e kore e taea te karo»/ «A wooden barb can be parried, but a verbal barb cannot» (as Sam Karetu points out, an interesting twist on the Pakeha saying «sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me». Consequently, this hapless drift-word «kahenga» is hereafter replaced by the word «kupenga», a widely recognised term that designates the net.
Another frequently used word is «hao», which refers to the net itself as a physical object, and to the act of fishing. The Maori Senior Public Servants network in Aotearoa is called «Te Hao Roa», which literally means «the long net». Among recent net terms, «kotuitui» means interlace or interlacing. One poetically potent designation for the Internet is «Ipurangi». Rangi in Maori means the heavens or the sky (Rangi is the Sky God and primal father), and «ipu» means a vessel or container. Internet, the vessel of the heavens. Charlie Tawhiao, who elucidated these terms for me, sees network language as follows : «I prefer the metaphor approach, so I consider a network of people such as that presented by the internet to be a weaving together of people similar to how a mat is woven: raranga or whiriwhiri refers to the weaving of a whariki (mat) or kete (basket). The internet community could therefore be described as raranga tangata or similar to describe the weaving together of people.»
Maori language data bases show a recent proliferation of terms to designate the net – at least a dozen refer specifically to networking. This activity should be set in the context of a culture traditionally characterised by powerful community structures and activities, seeking to renew this cohesion via new communication tools. In parallel, Polynesian net culture is battling for its place in the real world : after much controversy, the 1996 New Zealand Fisheries Act formalised concessions to and management by Maori of taiapure, local fisheries of customary or spiritual significance. Maori participation in fisheries management decisions has likewise been prescribed by law. This is a belated but significant rectifier to prolonged injustice, and hopefully augurs a more equitable future (by virtue of its strategic position, Aotearoa’s coastal jurisdisction extends over a large area of the South Pacific). Thus, at literal and metaphorical levels, Maori networking is growing fast. In keeping with the traditional saying, «Ka pu te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi»/ «The old net is cast aside, the new net goes fishing.» (http://intercreate.org/view/kupenga-knots)
More Information
- Raranga Tangata: Polynesian expression, used to designate the Internet and meaning: "the weaving together of people"