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Years 7–10 Tikanga-ā-Iwi / Social Sciences
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Tūrangawaewae Mapping — Place-Based Identity

Tūrangawaewae Mapping — Place-Based Identity · Years 7–10

Year LevelYears 7–10
TypeStudent handout — classroom resource

Ngā Whāinga Akoranga · Learning Intentions

  • Investigate a significant question using evidence from multiple sources
  • Analyse and evaluate information to form and support a reasoned position
  • Connect learning to real-world contexts, including Aotearoa New Zealand settings
  • Communicate understanding clearly and accurately for a specific audience

Paearu Angitu · Success Criteria

  • I use at least two sources and can evaluate their credibility
  • My position is clearly stated and supported by specific evidence
  • I can connect my learning to at least one real-world Aotearoa context
  • My communication is clear, organised, and appropriate for the audience
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🏔️ Tūrangawaewae Mapping

He Mahere Tūrangawaewae — Exploring Your Place of Belonging

🌿 What is Tūrangawaewae?

Tūrangawaewae literally means "a place to stand" — the place where you have the right to stand, where you feel you truly belong. It is where your roots are, where your identity is grounded.

In this activity, you will map the places, people, and connections that make up your tūrangawaewae.

Te Kupu — Key Vocabulary

Tūrangawaewae (too-rung-a-why-why)

Place to stand; domicile; a place where one has rights of residence and belonging

Whenua (feh-noo-ah)

Land; placenta. The land that nourishes us, like the placenta nourishes the unborn child

Awa (ah-wah)

River. Often part of a pepeha, rivers connect communities

Maunga (mow-nga)

Mountain. Mountains are landmarks that anchor identity

Marae (mah-rye)

Meeting grounds; communal space where tikanga is observed

Kāinga (kah-ee-nga)

Home; village; the place where you live

Understanding Tūrangawaewae

For Māori, tūrangawaewae is deeply connected to whakapapa (genealogy). Your tūrangawaewae is often where your ancestors lived, where your whenua (placenta) was buried, or where your marae is located.

Multiple Places of Belonging

Many people today have more than one tūrangawaewae:

  • Ancestral tūrangawaewae — where your family comes from originally
  • Current tūrangawaewae — where you live now and have built connections
  • Emotional tūrangawaewae — places that feel like home, even if you weren't born there

Everyone Has a Place to Stand

The concept of tūrangawaewae applies to everyone, not just Māori. Every person has places where they feel they belong — whether that's:

  • A family home passed down through generations
  • A suburb or town where you grew up
  • A country your family emigrated from
  • A place you discovered that feels like "home"

📍 Activity 1: My Tūrangawaewae Map

Instructions

In the map below, place yourself at the center. Then fill in the branches with the places, features, and connections that make up your tūrangawaewae.

KO AU
(Me)
Maunga
My mountain / landmark:
_________________
Awa
My river / water:
_________________
Marae / Kāinga
My meeting place / home:
_________________
Whenua
My land / place:
_________________

✏️ Extend Your Map

Add more connections around your map:

  • 🏠 Physical places — streets, parks, schools, beaches you connect with
  • 👥 People — whānau, friends, community who make that place special
  • 🎵 Memories — events, sounds, smells that remind you of belonging
  • 🌍 Other places — ancestral homeland, place parents/grandparents came from

✍️ Activity 2: Reflection

Pātai — Questions to Consider

  1. What place do you feel most "at home"? Why?
  2. How did you come to be connected to your tūrangawaewae? (Through family? Choice? Circumstance?)
  3. Do you have more than one place of belonging? How are they different?
  4. What would you miss most if you had to leave your tūrangawaewae?
  5. How does knowing where you belong affect how you feel about yourself?

My reflection:

🔗 Connecting to Your Pepeha

From Map to Words

Your tūrangawaewae map can help you create or expand your pepeha (personal introduction). A pepeha introduces who you are by connecting you to place and people:

  • Ko [maunga] te maunga — [Mountain] is my mountain
  • Ko [awa] te awa — [River] is my river
  • Ko [whenua/rohe] tōku tūrangawaewae — [Place] is where I stand
  • Ko [name] tōku ingoa — My name is [name]

✏️ Draft Your Tūrangawaewae Statement

Using what you've mapped, write a short statement about your place of belonging:

🌏 Extension: Exploring Others' Tūrangawaewae

Interview Activity

Interview a family member, elder, or community member about their tūrangawaewae. Ask:

  • Where do you feel you most belong?
  • How did your family come to be in that place?
  • What makes that place special to you?
  • Have you ever felt you had to leave your tūrangawaewae? What was that like?

Record your findings and share with the class.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Notes

Curriculum Links

  • Social Studies: Identity, Culture, and Organisation — understand how belonging to groups is important for people
  • Te Ao Māori: Exploring concepts of whenua, whakapapa, and tuakana-teina relationships
  • English: Speaking, Writing — personal recounts and descriptive writing

Cultural Considerations

  • Some students may not know their whakapapa or ancestral connections — frame the activity broadly to include any place of belonging
  • Students from migrant or refugee backgrounds may have complex feelings about "place" — allow space for this
  • Some students may have tūrangawaewae in other countries — celebrate this diversity
  • Consider inviting a local iwi representative to share about tangata whenua tūrangawaewae

Differentiation

  • Support: Provide word banks; allow drawing instead of writing; pair students for discussion
  • Extension: Create a digital map with photos; research ancestral places; compare with historical maps

Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment

Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi

Level 3–4: Investigate social, cultural, environmental, and economic questions; gather and evaluate evidence from diverse sources; communicate findings and reasoning clearly for different audiences and purposes.

English — Communication

Level 3–4: Read, interpret, and evaluate information texts; write clearly and purposefully for specific audiences; apply critical thinking skills to evaluate sources and construct well-reasoned responses.

Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Write Your Thoughts

Reflect on your learning. What was the most important idea? What question do you still have?

Aronga Mātauranga Māori

This resource sits within a kaupapa that recognises mātauranga Māori as a living knowledge system with its own frameworks, values, and ways of understanding the world. The New Zealand Curriculum calls for learning that reflects the bicultural partnership of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which means every subject area has an obligation to engage authentically with Māori perspectives — not as cultural decoration but as substantive contributions to how we understand our topics. The concepts of manaakitanga (care for others), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), whanaungatanga (relationship and belonging), and tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) provide a values framework applicable across all learning areas, and all are relevant to the work in this handout.

Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Resources already provided

This handout is designed to be used alongside other resources in the same unit. Related materials are linked in the unit planner. All content is provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.

Curriculum alignment