What it means to identify as takatāpui today

Thursday, 15 September 2022

essa may ranapiri is a takatāpui poet living in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton. For them, the term takatāpui felt like it connected them with their ancestors.

They spent their childhood not having “much of a relationship” with te reo Māori, growing up in a Pākehā household.

Identifying as takatāpui, transgender and non-binary, essa may ranapiri’s experience of learning te reo thus far had been “harrowing”, they said.

Example conversations in class were “blatantly transphobic” and gendered traditions on the marae could mean “sacrificing some things about yourself – maybe just for the hour, but it can be quite hard”.

It wasn’t until a conversation with a lesbian kuia at university that ranapiri (Ngāti Wehi Wehi, Ngāti Raukawa, Te Arawa, Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Pukeko, Ngāti Takatāpui, Na Guinnich) first came across the term takatāpui.

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It “felt like it led me back to my ancestors”, they said.

The term encapsulated both the Māori and queer parts of their identity, leaving nothing behind. “It feels the closest to, in terms of language, representing how I feel I am in the world.”

As a poet, it helped them feel comfortable in their Māoritanga and to play with te reo in their writing.

“Takatāpui felt like the way into my culture in a way that a lot of other things felt a bit alienating.”

Green Party MP Dr Elizabeth Kerekere has done extensive research into takatāpui identity, identifying as takatāpui herself.

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Today, the term takatāpui is about an identity that encompasses all the different ways Māori want to express themselves and how they want to identify, Dr Elizabeth Kerekere said.

The Green Party MP, rainbow activist and scholar, describes takatāpui as an umbrella term that embraces all Māori with diverse gender identities, sexualities and sex characteristics including whakawāhine, tangata ira tāne, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer.

But the term is not new, with written records dating back to the 1830s telling the story of Hinemoa, Tutānekai and his less known lover Tiki. The term was rediscovered in the 1970s by academics Ngahuia Te Awekotuku and Lee Smith, and reclaimed over time.

Writer and activist Kahu Kutia says identifying as takatāpui has in itself been part of the work to decolonise her identity.

Kerekere has also been a part of that process and through extensive research – including her PhD on takatāpui identity and well-being – found evidence of takatāpui being accepted and being a normal part of Māori society, pre-colonisation.

“Part of the way we know that, is when the colonisers and missionaries came here, they were very upset about it and they wrote about it,” Kerekere said.

Though historically, takatāpui was described as an intimate partner of the same sex, not as a label for an identity, Kerekere says the reclaiming of the word and pulling it from the past, was a way to honour their ancestors and “all the different ways they loved and lived”.

“We lost a lot of knowledge about our culture - not by accident but because it was forced on us.

Kerekere says takatāpui holds a broad space in its meaning and the term is about an identity that encompasses all the different ways that Māori want to express themselves and how they want to identify.

“Being able to reclaim a word like that … it's a powerful thing. It says this is the type of Māori that I am and it brings with it, all our culture, all our spirituality, and the power that comes from having the support of your ancestors – it’s everything.”

Kahu Kutia, a writer and activist based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), always saw queerness as a Pākehā construct and identifying as takatāpui had become part of decolonising her identity.

Kutia said she found herself often feeling uncomfortable as Māori in mainstream queer spaces and struggled to articulate herself “within the realm of being queer and Māori”.

Identifying as takatāpui and bringing te ao Māori and tikanga to mainstream queer spaces allowed them “to make sense for us a little more”, she said.

Kutia felt safe and connected to the term that was brought from the past to the present by her elders and that resonated with the way Māori identified through their whakapapa.

ranapiri says they still make sacrifices to be a part of Māori spaces.

”There’s a lot of Māori who don’t yet see spaces for queerness within te ao Māori … that just means that decolonising and reinvigorating our ways of being Māori are going to take a while,” she said.

“I think the label of takatāpui tanga in itself and bringing queer histories and Māori histories together is in itself decolonial work.”

Not every Māori in the rainbow community identified with the term and Kerekere hoped to meet with language experts to come up with traditional-based words for other identities such as non-binary and intersex.

“We want to support people having the right language that describes who they are and what they associate with,” Kerekere said.

“The development of te reo Māori is critical to us being able to define ourselves increasingly as Māori, to be able to think in our language, to be able to think inside our concepts and having keywords that help us come into a different world, it’s always going to be transformative.”

For ranapiri, takatāpui says: “We were here, and we are still here.”

In spite of the challenges that still existed, the term was the closest word to representing how they felt they were in the world.

“Words can seem so small but when you find the right ones, it’s a really significant thing I think,” they said.

“It can be the difference between fumbling around lost and actually the word can be the light that you’re guided by.”