Best for
Comparison lessons in the global Indigenous solidarity unit, inquiry checkpoints, and source-based discussion about colonisation, resistance, and solidarity.
Unit 5 comparison inquiry • Years 10-13 • Global solidarity
Indigenous Parallels Mapping
Use this map to compare shared colonial patterns without flattening different Indigenous contexts into one story. The task is not “find sameness everywhere.” The task is to notice patterns, name local specificities, and build a more careful understanding of solidarity.
Free mapping sheet, premium adaptation path
This version is ready now. Te Wānanga becomes useful when you want a junior version, a localised iwi comparison, or a scaffold with differentiated source packs.
- Generate a shorter Years 9-10 version with partially completed examples.
- Create a teacher conference copy with exemplar answers and feedback cues.
- Save class variants into My Kete and refine them in Creation Studio.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 35-45 minutes after students have some historical or contemporary source knowledge.
- Grouping: Pairs or triads work best so students can cross-check claims.
- Prep: Pre-select the communities or let each group choose from a safe list of teacher-vetted examples.
- Teaching move: Ask “What is parallel here?” and then immediately ask “What is different here?”
- Support / stretch: Support with pre-highlighted examples; stretch with students sourcing their own current solidarity case study.
Resources already provided
- Comparison table with space for evidence and pattern-spotting
- Shared-pattern and local-specificity prompts
- Cross-border solidarity reflection prompts
- Visual mapping space for relationship lines and kaupapa links
- Teacher-only curriculum companion
Keep students away from vague “all Indigenous peoples are the same” claims. The quality of this task depends on precise comparison.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning how to compare Indigenous struggles across places without erasing local specificity.
- We are learning how colonisation often followed shared patterns of extraction, suppression, and control.
- We are learning how solidarity grows stronger when it is informed, respectful, and evidence-based.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can identify both one meaningful parallel and one important difference between Indigenous contexts.
- I can support my comparison with named examples, not vague generalisations.
- I can explain how solidarity should follow leadership and context rather than assume sameness.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
This handout supports social studies thinking about systems, justice, participation, and global relationships while keeping mātauranga Māori and tino rangatiratanga visible in the comparison frame.
Mātauranga Māori comparison note
Start from tangata whenua and place. Ask how whakapapa, whenua, wai, language, and collective responsibility shape each movement. Comparisons should deepen understanding of Māori struggles in Aotearoa, not turn them into a generic global case study.
Comparison reminder
Shared struggle does not mean identical struggle. Ethical solidarity notices pattern, context, leadership, and difference all at once.
Part 1: Comparison map
| Community / place | Issue or pressure | Resistance / revitalisation response | What rangatiratanga or sovereignty looks like here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Māori / Aotearoa | Land confiscation, language suppression, Crown control | Parihaka, Bastion Point, kōhanga reo, treaty justice movements | |
| Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples / Australia | |||
| Standing Rock Sioux / Turtle Island | |||
| First Nations, Inuit, or Métis communities / Canada |
Shared patterns
Name two patterns that show up across at least three contexts.
Prompt: Are you noticing shared colonial tactics, shared resistance strategies, or shared values?
Important differences
Name two differences that matter for how each struggle should be understood.
Prompt: Consider history, law, geography, leadership, or current political context.
Cross-border solidarity example
Find one real example of Indigenous groups supporting each other across borders. What happened?
Why did the solidarity matter?
Explain how support, visibility, or knowledge-sharing made the struggle stronger.
Extension: draw the solidarity network
Use the space below to sketch a network map linking communities, shared issues, values, and examples of action.
Include at least: one Māori connection, one shared issue, one difference that must be respected, and one future solidarity action.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Verified statements carried by the unit this handout belongs to (y11-13-history-social-studies-global-indigenous-solidarity):
- The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) · Social Studies · Level 8 (Years 12–13): “Understand how ideologies shape society and that individuals and groups respond differently to these beliefs.”
- And: “Understand how policy changes are influenced by and impact on the rights, roles, and responsibilities of individuals and communities.”
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
Social Sciences taught well in Aotearoa should be uncomfortable — because the history of this land is one in which Māori and other communities have faced injustice, and in which those injustices are not yet fully addressed. Mātauranga Māori offers frameworks for thinking about social change that go beyond Western political theory: the concept of tino rangatiratanga (self-determination), of kotahitanga (unity in purpose), of utu (reciprocity across time) — these are not abstract ideas but working tools for analysing how power has been distributed and how it might be redistributed more justly. Social Sciences that centres these frameworks gives students the analytical vocabulary to name what they see in the world and imagine what could be different.
Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Write Your Thoughts
Reflect on what you have learned today. What was the most important idea? What question do you still have?
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. This handout stands on its own; it is not part of a linked unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will investigate global indigenous solidarity movements through a historical lens, using whakapapa of resistance to trace how communities have organised across borders to assert tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake. This unit connects Aotearoa's struggle for sovereignty to broader international movements for indigenous rights and decolonisation.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ I can analyse and compare perspectives from multiple indigenous resistance movements globally.
- ✅ I can explain how solidarity across difference has strengthened indigenous rights campaigns.
- ✅ I can evaluate the significance of international indigenous solidarity for Aotearoa New Zealand.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide graphic organisers for comparing movements. Entry-level tasks focus on identifying key events; extension tasks require evaluating the effectiveness of solidarity strategies and writing a persuasive historical argument.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key historical terms (sovereignty, solidarity, colonisation, decolonisation). Provide bilingual glossaries where available; allow discussion in home language first.
Inclusion: Use structured note-taking templates and chunked readings. Neurodiverse learners benefit from visual timelines and choice in how they demonstrate understanding — oral, visual, or written formats all valid. Ensure content is presented sensitively given the potential for personal connection to histories of dispossession.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Centre whakapapa as a methodology — tracing the genealogy of resistance ideas across cultures and time. Frame the hīkoi as both a political act and a cultural expression of rangatiratanga. Connect to the whakataukī: "He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
Prior knowledge: Best used after foundational study of colonisation and the Treaty of Waitangi. Familiarity with basic historical inquiry skills is recommended.