Games: The social tools handed down by our tūpuna

Harko Brown is an expert on traditional Māori games and play. He has written several books including Ngā Taonga Tākaro II: The Matrix (2016), and Te Mara Hupara (2017), co-authored by his teenage daughter Yves Tennessee Brown. In 2015 Harko was co-opted by the New Zealand Government to organise and lead the first Aotearoa New Zealand Māori delegation to the World Indigenous Games in Palmas, Brazil. Harko believes that if the educational and environmental propositions of ancestrally derived games were embraced by educators, social institutes and even incorporated into town planning, we would have a much more peaceful, loving and harmonious society. Harko responded to Set’s questions about his research and why he is so committed to the revitalisation and continuity of aro-tākaro.