Global Indigenous Solidarity: Transnational Movements | Te Kete Ako

Years 9–10 8–10 periods 5 Lessons Social Studies · Global

Māramatanga ā-Ao Global Indigenous Solidarity

Two routes, one kaupapa: this is the junior (Years 9–10) route. For senior students, the same inquiry runs at NCEA demand: Global Indigenous Solidarity (Years 11–13) →

Whakatūwhera About This Unit

A five-lesson Social Studies unit (8–10 teaching periods) for Years 9–10 that asks students to locate Māori in a global network of Indigenous peoples — not as a special case, but as one nation among many who share common experiences of colonisation, resistance, and the fight for self-determination.

Beginning with shared Indigenous worldviews, the unit builds outward to Standing Rock, West Papua, the Amazon, and UNDRIP — then returns home with the question: what does solidarity actually require of us?

Te Tiriti o Waitangi was not signed in isolation. Māori in 1840 were a globally-connected people who had travelled, traded, and corresponded with other nations. The impulse to stand with Standing Rock, to protest at the West Papuan consulate, to send haka videos to Indigenous youth on the other side of the world — this is not new. This unit recovers that global orientation.

🎬 Video: Māori Stand with Standing Rock

Gisborne Herald reports on Māori communities performing haka tautoko for the Standing Rock Sioux, spotlighting global Indigenous solidarity in action and the responsibilities that come with it.

Before: Map quick prior knowledge about the Dakota Access Pipeline and the iwi leading resistance. Set intentions: how do haka, karakia, and messages from Aotearoa function as solidarity tools overseas?

During: Notice the language used by rangatahi and kaumātua — what shared values link Standing Rock and hapori Māori? Track tangible actions (fundraising, travel, media) that build transnational movements.

After: Think-Pair-Share — which solidarity tactic from the video could be adapted for our own campaign? Plot Standing Rock on the Global Solidarity map and add two reciprocal actions possible from Aotearoa.

Kaiako Planning Snapshot Learning Intentions · Success Criteria · Differentiation

Ngā Whāinga Akoranga — Learning Intentions

Analyse how colonisation created shared structural experiences across Indigenous peoples globally — loss of land, language, governance, and economic autonomy
Examine at least two transnational Indigenous solidarity movements, identifying the tactics, values, and networks that sustained them
Evaluate the role of international frameworks (particularly UNDRIP) as tools for Indigenous peoples, and their real-world limitations
Design and execute a solidarity action — campaign, creative work, correspondence, or community event — grounded in specific kaupapa and targeted at a real audience

Paearu Angitu — Success Criteria

I can explain how colonisation in Aotearoa, North America, and the Pacific shares common structural patterns — and why this matters for building solidarity rather than treating each as an isolated story
I can evaluate a solidarity action (like the Standing Rock haka) and explain what made it effective or limited, using evidence from the unit
I can design a solidarity action and justify my choices — who I am standing with, why, what framework guides me, and what I am asking my audience to do

Entry / On-level / Extension

Entry: Focus on Lessons 1–3. Use a simplified shared-experiences matrix (compare Māori and one other group across 4 categories: land, language, governance, economy). Accept solidarity actions in visual or oral form. Provide pre-read summaries for UNDRIP articles.
On-level: Complete the full sequence. Produce an analysis of two solidarity movements and a designed solidarity action with written justification. Include reflection on what the action accomplished vs. what requires sustained long-term change.
Extension: Conduct an interview with a local iwi member about their connections to global Indigenous movements. Research the specific language of UNDRIP Article 3 (self-determination) and compare it to what tino rangatiratanga means in a Māori context. Where do Western human-rights frameworks align with te ao Māori, and where do they diverge?

Inclusion Guidance

ESOL / ELL learners: This unit is often deeply relevant for students from Pacific, Asian, African, or South American backgrounds with their own experiences of colonisation or solidarity struggles. Make explicit space for students to bring their own context. Allow solidarity actions in students' home languages.
Neurodiverse learners / ADHD: Use the "who / what / where / why / so what" framework consistently across all case studies so students can build a pattern before encountering new movements. Keep the solidarity design structured with explicit prompts for audience, kaupapa, method, and expected impact.
Cultural safety: West Papua content includes references to ongoing military violence. Preview with students (especially Pacific students who may have family connections to Melanesia) and give students agency over how they engage with disturbing material.

Hononga ki te Marautanga Curriculum Alignment — Years 9–10 · both curricula

Social Sciences / Tikanga-ā-Iwi

"Understand how people define and seek human rights."
The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) · Social Studies, Level 5 (Years 9–10)

"Human rights as protections of dignity, freedom, and equality. Protected through, for example: the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)."
Te Mātaiaho (2025) · Social Sciences, Phase 4 — Knowledge

Key Competencies

Thinking: Students critically analyse the structural patterns of colonisation across contexts — moving from case studies to systemic understanding
Relating to Others: Solidarity by definition requires understanding others' perspectives, needs, and agency — not projecting our own onto them
Participating & Contributing: The solidarity action asks students to do something real, not simulate it — connecting to actual movements and decision-makers
Using Language, Symbols & Texts: Haka tautoko, UNDRIP documents, social media campaigns, and activist speeches are all texts this unit teaches students to read and produce

Tūāhuatanga Akoranga Pedagogical Foundations

Solidarity education asks students to find themselves in the struggles of people far from them geographically. These theorists help teachers understand why that connection is not sentimental — it is structural. The same colonial knowledge systems that shaped Aotearoa shaped Standing Rock, Hawai‘i, and the Sami territories. The same decolonisation arguments apply.

Decolonising Methodologies

Linda Tuhiwai Smith

Her 1999 framework mapped how Western research had extracted knowledge from Indigenous communities without accountability or benefit. The same extraction logic applies to solidarity work done without genuine partnership — this unit teaches students to notice the difference.

Transformative Praxis

Smith argued that genuine transformation requires communities building new institutions on their own epistemological foundations — not reforming existing ones. Students comparing global Indigenous movements will recognise this pattern across each case study.

Holistic Wellbeing

Pere’s Te Wheke framework frames identity as relational and multi-dimensional — not just individual. Students encountering Sami, Lakota, and Hawaiian perspectives on land and identity will find Te Wheke’s eight dimensions a useful comparator across cultures.

→ Te Whare Ako — Teaching Theory

Raupapa Akoranga Lesson Sequence — 5 Lessons · 8–10 teaching periods

Lesson 1: Whānaungatanga Across Borders — Global Indigenous Networks Periods 1–2
Lesson 2: Standing Rock & The Water Protectors Periods 3–4
Lesson 3: UNDRIP & Rights of Indigenous Peoples Periods 5–6
Lesson 4: West Papua & Decolonisation in the Pacific Period 7
Lesson 5: Being a Global Indigenous Citizen — Action & Advocacy Periods 8–10

Periods	Lesson	Big Question	Key Activity
1	Whānaungatanga Across Borders	Where in the world do Indigenous peoples live, and what connects them?	Jigsaw research in groups of five — Sámi, Sioux/Lakota, West Papuan, Aboriginal Australian, Māori — reassembled to build a class solidarity map.
2	Standing Rock & the Water Protectors	Why did Māori travel to Standing Rock?	Source analysis of three primary sources — a Lakota elder’s statement, a Māori kaitiaki solidarity speech, a pipeline company press release. Perspective, evidence, purpose, and whose narrative is missing.
3	UNDRIP and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples	What does a declaration change, and what does it not?	Case-study comparison in pairs — how UNDRIP is implemented in Aotearoa against one other signatory nation (Canada or Australia). What works, what the gaps are, what explains the difference.
4	West Papua & Decolonisation in the Pacific	What makes a claim to self-determination legitimate?	Diplomatic simulation — a Pacific Forum role-play in which West Papuan representatives, NZ diplomats, Indonesian officials and MSG delegates each argue their position, ending in a class vote on a resolution.
5	Being a Global Indigenous Citizen	What can I actually do, specifically?	Draft and rehearse a two-minute advocacy speech for a school assembly, opening with a whakataukī and closing with a specific call to action.

Aromatawai Assessment Guidance

Comparative Analysis

A structured piece comparing colonisation's impact on Māori and one other Indigenous people — not to rank suffering, but to identify the shared structural pattern and what it reveals about how colonial systems work. Must include evidence from at least two sources and a clear analytical claim.

Solidarity Action

A real solidarity action designed and, where possible, executed by students. Could be: a social media campaign, a letter to a decision-maker, a community event, a haka learning session, a fundraiser, or a creative piece shared publicly. Assessment focuses on kaupapa clarity, audience awareness, and reflection on what the action can and cannot achieve.

Related Handouts & Resources

Arguments of Tino Rangatiratanga
We use this Aotearoa-specific example to support comparison with other Indigenous struggles. Tino rangatiratanga arises from its own Māori and Te Tiriti context; comparison can illuminate similarities and differences, but these concepts and traditions are not interchangeable.
Environmental Literacy — Kaitiakitanga Inquiry Framework

Ngā Kōrero mā te Kaiako Teacher Notes

The Standing Rock haka (Lesson 3): The video at the top of this page shows Māori performing haka tautoko for Standing Rock. Use it as a case study in what makes solidarity meaningful vs. performative. Ask: what did this action cost the people doing it? What did it ask of the audience? What did it not ask of them? This question sets up the assessment beautifully.

West Papua content: Handle with care. The material on West Papua includes references to ongoing state violence — preview all content before use. If you have Melanesian students, check in with them individually before beginning Lesson 3. Their knowledge is valuable; their safety matters more.

UNDRIP (Lesson 4–5): UNDRIP is not law — it is aspirational framework. Students should understand both its value (naming rights, providing language for advocacy) and its limitations (non-binding, depends on good faith from colonial states). New Zealand initially voted against UNDRIP in 2007, endorsing it in 2010 — a useful case study in the gap between aspiration and practice.

The solidarity action (Lesson 5): Make it real. A social media campaign that actually posts, a letter that actually sends, a haka learned and performed — not a hypothetical. The learning is in the doing, and the reflection that follows.

Pedagogical Foundations | Ngā Tūāpou Akoranga

Global indigenous solidarity is built on the recognition that colonialism produced structural conditions — land dispossession, knowledge suppression, legal exclusion — that connect Māori to First Nations, Aboriginal, and indigenous peoples worldwide. Three researchers explain why studying this at Year 9‑10 requires a rigorous analytical framework, not just empathy.

Decolonising Research

Linda Tuhiwai Smith

Smith’s comparative framework — that indigenous peoples worldwide share not cultural similarity but structural similarity (what colonialism did to them) — gives Year 9‑10 students the analytical tool to compare Māori, First Nations, and Aboriginal rights movements without flattening their differences. “What did colonialism take and how are communities rebuilding it?” is the question Smith’s framework allows students to ask across different contexts with genuine precision.

Critical Pedagogy

Freire’s distinction between solidarity and charity — between standing with those who are struggling and feeling sorry for them from the outside — is the political education this unit provides. Solidarity as Freire understood it requires understanding the structural conditions producing the injustice, not just the human cost. Students who reach the end of this unit understanding WHY indigenous land rights are contested — not just that they are contested — have achieved the Freirean goal.

Smith’s Kaupapa Māori framework gives Aotearoa-based students the home-ground case they need to read outward. Students who understand tino rangatiratanga as a political demand — not just a cultural value — understand what Native Title in Australia demands, what UNDRIP means for Sámi people, and what Standing Rock was about. The local is the lens for the global; the global confirms that the local struggle is structurally connected, not merely similar.

→ Explore all theorists at Te Whare Ako — Teaching Theory