Despair Turned to Hope: A Theoretical Reconsideration of the Maori As a Caste Minority‪.‬

Introduction In this article I consider the impact of research and theory on non-dominant minority groups (1) and the influence these have on shaping educators' understanding of the sociocultural, historical, and structural forces that impinge upon their work in the schools and communities they serve. Specifically, I will be reconsidering the constraints of John Ogbu's (1982, 1987, 1991; Ogbu & Simons, 1998) involuntary-voluntary minority typology as it applies to the Maori in New Zealand against the backdrop of R.A. Schermerhorn's (1970) comparative sequential interaction model and Kaupapa Maori research (Bishop et al., 2003; G. Smith, 2003; L.T. Smith, 1999; Tutta et al., 2004) to piece together a holistic image of the forces that have intertwined to bring about the changes leading to the Maori "revolution" (G. Smith, 2003). Further, I question the representation and categorization of the Maori within a grouping that delimits them to deterministic or static social locations in order to fit them within a rigidly defined dichotomous model. Mark Fettes (1998) articulates the importance of considering theory in light of whether or not it improves the lives of the individuals the theory is built around. "The ultimate test of [a] theory, however, will be whether it can be picked up and applied, criticized, revised, and extended as an evolving guide to practice. The most rigorous of critics is life itself " (p. 251). I have chosen to reconsider Ogbu's theoretical typology to the Maori in New Zealand because I believe the events of the past three decades provide a context to reconsider the theoretical categorization of the caste status historically applied to the Maori (Ogbu, 1978).