This word had little meaning to the chiefs signing the treaty, since the concept of being governed by an overseeing authority was alien to Māori.
[5] At the time the Bible was one of few long printed texts in Māori enjoying wide distribution.
[6] The meaning attached to this word, and in particular how it relates to rangatiratanga is important to discussion of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Anthropologist Hugh Kawharu has made a contemporary translation of the treaty using the term ‘government’, rather than ‘sovereignty’, for ‘kāwanatanga’.
[4] Kawharu noted, ‘There could be no possibility of the Māori signatories having any understanding of government in the sense of “sovereignty”: ie, any understanding on the basis of experience or cultural precedent.’[7] Māori constitutional lawyer Moana Jackson has stated that, because the New Zealand Government (identified as "Kawanatanga" in the Treaty text) is the body politic enforcing the Treaty and making settlements, "Kawanatanga" is the actual party to the Treaty, not the Crown.