Māori (and Indigenous) women engage in embodied relationship with the natural environment in a range of ways, such as raranga, rongoā, or physical activity.  This research will explore what these embodied relationships can teach us about the potential for reciprocal healing between wahine and whenua, person and place, by developing a network of Māori and Indigenous women and prioritising mātauranga wāhine. 

Extensive international scholarship demonstrates Indigenous people are particularly and uniquely affected by historical trauma through colonisation. Specific acts of oppression that remain unaddressed often result in the intergenerational transfer of trauma and trauma responses. In Aotearoa New Zealand, one such act of oppression was the forced removal of Māori children from their families to be placed in a range of state and church managed institutions often for spurious reasons.

Project supervisors: Professor Chellie Spiller & Associate Professor Jason Mika

Institution: Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

Project supervisors: Dr Kiri Edge & Professor Linda Waimarie Nikora

Institution: Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga

Raumati intern: Ashleigh Witehira (Ngāpuhi, Whakatōhea, Tainui)

Project supervisor: Associate Professor Karyn Paringatai

Institution: Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou

Raumati intern: Te Hau Ariki Gardiner (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāpuhi)

Project supervisor: Professor Melinda Webber

Institution: Waipapa Taumata Rau

Raumati intern: Kate Palmer-Neels (Ngāpuhi)

Project supervisors: Professor Denise Wilson & Dr Alayne Mikahere-Hall

Institution: Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau

Raumati intern: Hana Vause (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa)

Project supervisor: Dr Jeremy Hapeta

Institution: Te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou

Raumati intern: Hinemoa Watene (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Rongowhakaata)

Project supervisor: Dr Erena Wikaire

Institution: Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi

Raumati intern: Te Hirea Doherty (Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāpuhi)

Project supervisor: Dr Karen Wright 

Institution: Waipapa Taumata Rau

Raumati intern: Nadine Everson (Te Arawa)