Thana-technology and māori grieving protocols: mapping changes and forecasting disruption in Aotearoa New Zealand

Aotearoa New Zealand possesses distinct death cultures that include introduced norms of European burial customs and the preservation of Māori tangihanga. This research set out to explore the impact that emergent grief and bereavement practices mediated and performed online are having on customary values and practices (tikanga). Set against traditional wisdom and knowledge that values connection as manifested through shared experiences, physical presence, and mutual vulnerability, Aotearoa has observed an increasing post-pandemic tolerance and acceptance of digital participation and virtual presence, representative of global cultural adjustments to grief and memorialisation practices. Our project sought a barometer of small nation attentiveness to the creep and coloniality of death tech and thana technological advances for the challenges they pose to domestic and digital sovereignty. This paper explores how thana-tech promotes practices that for tangata whenua (people of the land), alter and relax what has traditionally been considered tapu (sacred and subject to strict protocols).