Price the pathway, not the concept
The method does not ask “what is mana worth?” It asks “what changes when mana is upheld?” Observable pathways — participation, reduced whakamā, restored hosting — can be evidenced and, where appropriate, valued.
The idea
By Dr Jay Whitehead ·
Valuation · Māori concepts · Evidence
Māori concepts are not abstract commodities. Assigning a price directly to mana, mauri, whakapapa or tikanga would strip them from the relationships and responsibilities that give them meaning.
A pathway account asks a different question: what observable change may arise when a concept is upheld in practice? Restored hosting might strengthen participation and reciprocal support. Reduced whakamā might make it easier to seek care. Those changes can be described and evidenced without claiming to price the concept itself.
Some pathways may later support quantification or valuation. Others should remain qualitative, operate as decision criteria, or be protected as boundaries that a decision must not cross.
A contribution to discussion
© 2026 Dr Jay Whitehead. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. Invited contributors retain copyright and agree the licence shown on their note before publication.