Whakapapa: relationships beyond a family-tree diagram
An AI can draw a family tree without knowing whether its connections are true or shareable. This guide starts with that difference.
Pasifika AI / Kanaky Tech ·
Original editorial diagram: Recorded / Remembered / Unknown. This is a reading aid, not a reproduction of traditional knowledge.
Pasifika AI / Kanaky Tech · Image record · CC BY 4.0
The documented starting point
Rāwiri Taonui’s Te Ara account explains whakapapa as a framework of relationships linking people and the wider world. Genealogy is part of that framework, but it also organises and transmits knowledge. A family-tree diagram therefore captures only one possible aspect of the concept.
Different ways of setting out relationships
Taonui’s account describes several forms of whakapapa, including approaches that present a single line and others that include marriage connections. The form chosen has a purpose; not every account attempts to list every possible family relationship.
A closer reading
Research guidance · Pasifika AI
When researching your own family, separate confirmed records, remembered accounts and unanswered questions. Keep private names out of a public worksheet. Ask relatives what may be recorded, who may see it and whether it may be put online. For an academic discussion, describe the concept through the named author rather than inventing an example genealogy. A useful comparison asks what information a tree diagram leaves out; it does not ask an AI to fill the missing relationships with plausible names.
Make uncertainty visible
Research guidance · Pasifika AI
For private research notes, use explicit labels such as “confirmed in this record”, “recalled by this relative” and “not yet checked”. Do not connect two people merely because their names resemble each other. An attractive diagram can make an uncertain connection look authoritative, especially when copied outside the family. Keep access conditions beside the information itself. If you publish a discussion of the method, remove private identities instead of using a real family as an illustrative dataset.
What this guide does not establish
Research guidance · Pasifika AI
This page cannot establish anyone’s whakapapa, identity or entitlement. Public accessibility of a record does not settle whether a family wants it republished. Do not upload private genealogies to an assistant to have gaps guessed.