Intern: Te Okahurangi Ngahana-Hartley

Supervisor: Drs Rangi Matamua and Hēmi Whaanga

The University of Waikato

 

This research will build upon the learning and research from ‘Ringihia i te kete – the language of the stars’ by building on Māori astronomical knowledge so it can serve as the basis for future Māori research. This will be done by continuing to develop and populate a Māori astronomy database that has been created to house Māori astronomical knowledge. This project is connected to a previous research project ‘Ringihia i te kete - the language of the stars.’ This initial project was undertaken in 2013 and explored how Māori astronomy is embedded within the linguistic record and linguistic landscape of Aotearoa.

Project commenced:

Research Lead(s) and Team

Associate Professor Matamua of Tūhoe, is a senior lecturer based in the School of Māori and Pacific Development at Waikato University. He has undertaken significant research in the areas of Māori language revitalisation, Māori culture, Māori astronomy and broadcasting. In his MA thesis Rangi focused on traditional Tūhoe weaponary, and his PhD examined the role of Māori radio in Māori language revitalisation.

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāi Tahu Ngāti Mamoe Waitaha

Dr Hēmi Whaanga is a research officer in Te Pua Wānanga ki te Ao (The School of Māori and Pacific Development) at the University of Waikato. Hēmi has been a project leader, writer and researcher in a range of linguistic, indigenous Māori knowledge and curriculum projects. He is the principal investigator on the NPM project The ethics, processes and procedures associated with the digitisation of the Pei Jones collection.