Strange environments provide ecological niches where remarkable creatures can evolve and thrive. New Zealand is just such an environment, and Dr Karaitiana Taiuru is just such a creature.
Offensive Kupe Beer Depictions
I discovered Karaitiana Taiuru in the course of investigating a recent decision of New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Our ASA is an incorporated society, funded by the advertising industry, which decides on complaints about ads. It judges complained-about ads against its Advertising Standards Code.
I discovered Karaitiana Taiuru in the course of investigating a recent decision of New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Our ASA is an incorporated society, funded by the advertising industry, which decides on complaints about ads. It judges complained-about ads against its Advertising Standards Code.
The ASA decision intriguing me concerns cans of beer and associated packaging produced by a craft beer brewer, Te Aro Brewing. You can read the full decision here https://cdn.asa.co.nz/backend/documents/2024/08/13/24133.pdf
The offending ads depict Kupe, a legendary Polynesian explorer who probably wasn’t an actual human being. In upholding the complaints, the Board “agreed the use of Kupe on alcohol packaging and in the advertising was likely to cause serious offence, and the naming and packaging of the product was in breach of the required high standard of social responsibility”.
The ASA received two complaints about the Kupe beer ads. According to the ASA’s written decision, the first complainant:
- alleged that “the advertising…exploits, degrades, denigrates, and demeans the mana of Kupe [and] In doing so, the same is done to the persons, peoples, and places associated with Kupe, including all his descendants”
- “Referred to a comment…from Dr Karaitiana Taiuru on RNZ that “Depicting and using a famous Māori and Pacifica ancestor such as Kupe for alcohol is highly offensive.””
Who is this Dr Karaitiana Taiuru?
Mr Taiuru (together with his supposed “Associates”) maintains his own website:
https://taiuru.co.nz/
The website reminds me of the Beautiful Mind and Matrix movies, without much in the way of a beautiful mind or matrix. According to Taiuru’s website, describing himself in the third person as boxers and egomaniacs do [the square bracketed bits are my additions/”sic” indicates original wording that’s crappy]…
Dr Taiuru is a leading authority and a highly accomplished visionary Māori technology ethicist specialising in Māori rights with AI, Māori Data Sovereignty and Governance with emerging digital technologies and biological sciences.
He brings extensive expertise in mātauranga, tikanga Māori, te Tiriti and advocacy for digital Māori rights and a profound understanding of the intersection between Māori knowledge and emerging technologies…
Dr Taiuru acknowledges his loss [sic] reo and of traditional syntax, but remains well versed with the poetic and allegoric stories that veiled traditional knowledge via te reo Māori. This was a beginning point for a lifelong passion for social justice…
Dr Taiuru began his is [sic] career in the IT industry in 1995 after being disillusioned with a law qualification…
A prolific writer, presenter, author of a number of guidelines and frameworks, and media commentator for more than 30 years, Dr Taiuru explores how traditional knowledge and emerging and current technologies align and meet current day ethics and modern day Māori needs.
After spending several years part time studying New Zealand Intellectual Property Rights and Indigenous Knowledge Rights in Geneva with the intention of sitting the exam to become a Patent Attorney specialising in Māori Property Rights, Karaitiana remained upskilling and advocating for Māori with in [sic] the IT/tech/digital industry after noticing Māori were being colonised and loosing [sic] their sovereign rights.
After gaining a Master’s Degree of [in?] Indigenous and Maori Leaderships with Distinction at the University of Canterbury, he completed a PhD Doctorate “Tikanga Māori Sovereignty with Genetic Research” where he exposed both non Māori and Māori researchers for cultural unsafe practice’s [sic]
Taiuru’s Meal Ticket
It's not altogether clear how Taiuru earns a crust. That said, his sociological habitat is rich in food sources and his diet appears to includes native plants. According to his website, Taiuru’s “recommendations for safe engagement for Māori with heath [sic] and new Māori Data Sovereignty Principles which he used in the successful Waitangi Tribunal WAI 2522 claim (TPPA) against the Crown arguing the Māori Data is a Taonga and in the Plant Varieties Regime WAI 2522 Claim”.
The plethora of Aotearoan-plants-&-animals Waitangi Tribunal claims include WAI 262, also known as Ko Aotearoa Tēnei or (in the English language) the Flora, Fauna and Intellectual Property Rights claim. The claim, lodged in 1991, has operated as perhaps the biggest carriage in the Waitangi Tribunal gravy train. The sprawling but ill-defined claim is basically that the “treasures” guaranteed to Maori under Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi (tino rangatiratanga) include intellectual property rights in all native New Zealand living things, including Māori but excluding Pakeha.
In 2022, after 10 solid years of ardent investigation, the Tribunal delivered its final report on WAI 262. The Tribunal’s “presiding officer” was current Supreme Court judge Joe Williams.
In 2019, then Māori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta issued the Government’s first formal response to the claim, proposing three new ministerial groups to cover taonga works, taonga species and the protection of taonga internationally, and foreshadowing legislation to bring WAI 262 to fruition.
The Government’s response to the Māori grab for all living things in New Zealand (except Pakehas) has stalled and it appears people with Māori ancestry are still some way off snaring intellectual property rights in all those things. But we can still expect Dr Karaitiana to continue to make his unique contributions to the debates and Waitangi Tribunal pronouncements. And to continue his education…in more of his own words from his website:
Dr Taiuru has completed numerous international ethics course [sic] including from the University of Edinburgh, University of Michigan, Georgia Tech, Georgetown University and a myriad [of?] others. Combining western ethics and Māori traditional knowledge allows Dr Taiuru to [talk?] about and practice Māori AI and Data Ethics which are unique to and benefit Māori.
New Zealand sustains no more fascinating human biodiversity than the likes of Dr Karaitiana Taiuru.
John McLean is a citizen typist and enthusiastic amateur who blogs at John's Substack where this article was sourced.
4 comments:
It is interesting how many Maori people fail in their professions, despite all the positive discrimination (Dr Tauru can't have been too disillusioned with law if he then tried unsuccessfully to become a patient attorney), they can't spell or put together a coherent sentence, even on their own websites, yet they somehow can end up with PhDs, become experts, and the Waitangi Tribunal and Courts then rely on their expert evidence.
The ASA says "It judges complained-about ads against its Advertising Standards Code". In theory, yes; in practice, no. The ASA complaints board has resident Maori that judge complaints on racial lines. Anything that the complainant says offends Maori, is considered a breach of ASA standards! ASA is an excuse so the industry can say they are upholding standards.
Until recently, Kariatiana seems an unlikley name for one so obviously only trace maori. How long has he used it? iIam going to get ne of those neck ornaments. Partly to reduce the risk of race based assualt from maori, and to store my car keys, a function not offered by the green plastic shoe horn i currently wear..
I vaguely recall various products with the John Bull logo. I wonder if there was ever a Heke brand axe?
Waiting for someone to have a go at Tui for cultural appropriation. After all, Maori wouldn't be seen drinking the stuff, would they?
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