How did you come to be an expert on He Whakaputanga?
Prof Manuka Henare: How I came to do a PhD on it is really quite by accident. I had taken Sir James Henare to a cup of coffee in Kawakawa, and I was urging him, in a polite way that a young person tries to urge a rangatira of his status, that maybe he should put all his things down in writing, so that we could all remember it.
And so he said, “I’ve got a better idea.” He said, “You go and do a PhD on He Whakaputanga, and do the scholarly side of the oral tradition.” So he saw himself as an oral tradition person. And he said, “We need some scholarship, because,” he said, “there will be a day when He Whakaputanga becomes a political issue again.”