Projects

Tangi is the ultimate form of Māori cultural and community expression. Addressing the dearth of scholarly information, this study considers tangi practice, whakapapa, changing environments, community values, sharing knowledge, ritual and what it means to be Māori.

Lead Researcher: Professor Chellie Spiller (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa) University of Waikato

Research Team:

Professor Jarrod Haar (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngaati Mahuta) AUT University

Dr John Reid (Ngāti Pikiao, Tainui) University of Canterbury

Dr Jason Mika (Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Whakatōhea, Ngāti Kahungunu) University of Waikato

Savannah’s research aims to compile mātauranga of whare tikanga (Māori building practises) to understand the processes and practices involved in customary whare Māori (Māori buildings) construction.

The research considers our whanaungatanga relationships and whakapapa connections to ngā rākau and ngāhere. This has led to the creation of a plant-based 16mm film developer, replacing the environmentally damaging Kodak D-76 chemicals.

Ahinata’s project engages with the experiences of wāhine and gender diverse Kāi Tahu, informed by iwi and gender specific contexts, in order to answer the question: How do we as wāhine and gender diverse Kāi Tahu learn about, become, and take care of ourselves, specifically in the areas of gender, sex, sexuality and body?

Arianna’s project demonstrates that connecting to the practice of pīkau where our tipuna carried their babies on their backs provides an active place to reclaim the strengths of our earliest parenting traditions as a metaphor for flourishing whānau. Through the metaphorical values framework and practice of pikau, Arianna’s research follows the collective postnatal and parenting journeys of whānau Māori living in the Otago region.

This research will increase our understanding of the sexual and reproductive journeys of taitamawahine to make clear recommendations to improve the provision of abortion healthcare so it’s accessible and culturally relevant to taitamawahine.

Simon’s research is concerned with the imposition of Western thought on Māori which has displaced our ways of knowing and being. Colonisation is most visible in the political and biophysical spheres, however, less apparent is the damage to the less tangible – a Māori metaphysics – which underpins relation to the world, and importantly, our ways of existing.

While the terms racism and equity are increasingly commonly used, action that meaningfully addresses racism and eliminates inequities is less common. This programme seeks to uncover how commitments to equity and ending racism are undermined, ‘non-performative’ or symbolic only, and how they may need to be reconfigured in the context of Aotearoa to align with rangatiratanga.

Currently, the New Zealand Education system is failing Māori in almost every measure of educational progression. A significant part of the problem is the lack of cultural competence of the non-Māori majority teacher workforce.

PhD Candidate: Ms Emily Bain (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Toarangatira)

Primary Supervisor(s): Dr. Esther Willing

PhD Candidate: Mana Mitchell (Ngāti Maniapoto)

Primary Supervisor(s): Dr Esther Willing

Project supervisor: Associate Professor Anne-Marie Jackson

Institution: The University of Otago

Project location: The University of Otago, Dunedin Campus

Project supervisor: Dr Waikaremoana Waitoki

Institution: The University of Waikato

Project Summary: The primary purpose of this project is to explore how selected issues involving race in New Zealand are framed and discussed in social and traditional media, including expression of both overt and more subtle forms of racism.

Project Supervisor: Dr Gianna Leoni

Partner: Te Hiku Media

Project supervisors: Mr Tama Blackburn and Miss Sera Gibson

Institution: Taranaki Mounga Project Limited (TMPL)

Project Title: Te Au Roa – Predator sound lure trial: Draw possums out of those difficult to reach places on Taranaki Mounga

Name: Dr Matiu Rātima

Institution: The University of Canterbury

Project Title: Tūrou Hawaiki: Morning karakia and waiata as a culturally responsive pedagogy

Project location: Canterbury University Campus Rehua building (with flexible work from home arrangements)

Project Supervisor: Dr Robin Quigg

Institution: The University of Otago

Project Supervisors: Morgan Tupaea and Dr. Rāwiri Tinirau

Institution: Te Atawhai o Te Ao: Independent Māori Research Institute for Environment and Health

Project Summary: The Whakapapa Research Project aims to gather whānau narratives from eight whānau case studies. As this project unfolds, whānau responses to challenges they have experienced will be documented, and a whānau research methodology will be developed. Through this project, an innovative space of whānau narratives and whakapapa connections will be created, and provide insight into the organisation, perseverance, and preservation of whānau and whakapapa over time.

Project Summary: The Whakarauora Research Project aims to re-integrate traditional fishing methods used by Whanganui tūpuna into the development of an education curriculum and through facilitating wānanga.