Comparison Study of Terms of Genealogy, Whakapapa, and Family Chronicles of New Zealand and Taiwan

Abstract

There is a close racial relationship between Taiwan’s aborigines and New Zealand’s Māori people. During process of immigration from Taiwan to New Zealand, revealing the two races connected. Through evidence of the words “Genealogy”, “Whakapapa” “Family Chronicles” which have similarity but also differences. The language differences existed but in what extent the differences are. The major objective of this study is to compare the differences among these concepts of whakapapa, genealogy and family chronicles to explore the meanings beyond these three words. Authors retrieved Māori and related literature to find out the differences. The difficulties came from that aborigines did not have archives or written records of the history. However, there are not sufficient information available. With limited information, authors extract valuable concept worth further exploration. Authors suggest that public libraries of these two area should systematically collect related information. The other suggestion is to produce oral history of local aborigines in order to maintain the language heritage and cultural development.