Gabriel Baron (Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi) loves where she comes from and is heading back there now she has finished her masters thesis on her Whanganuitanga, her dialect, and the ways in which her people live.
Baron, 23, has just graduated from AUT Te Ara Poutama with a masters in arts and Māori development with first-class honours.
Asked what is most important to Baron, she says her whakapapa and where she is from. She says she often feels full of pride when talking about her 'Wanganuitanga' and it was the reason she strived to complete her MA. "Growing up, my whānau were proud people and always acknowledged our 'Wanganuitanga' our dialect, the river and our people. Although I live in Auckland, I take that sense of pride with me."
Baron's research paper for her masters was based on Whanganui from a holistic point of view, making reference to Whanganui methodology, the teachings, the way people from Whanganui think, act and feel and their outlook on the world.
Wanganui world view
"I will return home with my thesis and offer it to my people, as perhaps a reminder to those who are still living at home the importance of whakapapa and the beating heart of our people, which is our river."
Baron says regardless of her living away from home, "I am the river and the river is me," "Although I am currently living away from home I never forget where I'm from and some of my 'wanaunga' would much rather just stay at home where they know it's safe. But you need to venture out and experience the world," she says
Baron created a diagram of what she thinks is the 'Wanganui world view' or the life cycle in Whanganui, from the top of the river and its depth to where the river and the ocean meet and venturing out to the rest of the world. She uses the common saying of her iwi as a reference of support for people to understand the concept more clearly. "Mai te kāhui maunga ki Tangaroa" - "The great river flows from the mountains to the sea."
"Our journey starts at home or at kohanga with our kaumātu. Wwe're on the ground, we're real solid just as the proverb states 'he maunga tū kaha, kāre he nekeneke'. The top of the river is our 'rangatira', those who represent and stand on behalf of Wanganui; the depth and width of the river is our 'wāhine' and then you get to the puaha where the river meets the Tasman Sea that is the unknown or things we don't know yet. Once you are out into the sea that is what I called my diaspora and those are the ones who are living and learning away from home, so that's me."