Hawai’ian and Te Reo Māori: School as Hearth in Language Restoration

Abstract

In the broader global moment of Indigenous political and cultural resurgence, the revitalization and reclamation of traditional languages has emerged as an important facet of these decolonial efforts. While there are many ongoing language restoration projects around the world, Maori and Hawai 'ian feature prominently in this field as two success stories of seemingly commensurate standing. However, closer scrutiny reveals not only nuances in the language restoration targets of each, but differing success rates for those respective goals. Despite developing parallel to each other, the Hawai'ian language movement has had greater success in its language revival efforts due to its prioritization of schools as centers for strong culturally diffused language networks, while the competing biculturalist and neotraditionalist ideological frameworks of the Maori language movement are paired in such a way that undermines the effectiveness of its linguistic revitalization efforts.