Better than Australians?
Nathan Albury suggests that Pākehā have embraced the Māori language better than white Australians have supported their indigenous languages. In an opinion piece for SBS Nathan makes this claims.
But the Australians have done so little to protect their languages, it’s not hard being better than them in this regard. And te reo Māori still needs everyone’s support. Me āwhi tonu te reo Māori, me tautoko, me kōrero.
Nathan is at Oslo University, but is supervised by Te Tumu’s Lyn Carter.
Career Advancement for Te Tumu Graduate
A belated congratulations also from Te Tumu to Matiu Payne who is now Te Ihu Takiwā Regional Manager for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Matiu completed his Master of Indigenous Studies at Te Tumu, and is currently undertaking PhD study with us on Ngāti Mutunga and the Native Land Court.
Click to read: News from Te Rūnanga o Koukourārata, Te Pānui Rūnaka: A Monthly Newsletter of Kāi Tahu News, Views and Events, May 2015.
New PhD Scholarship opportunity
PhD Scholarship on Peace Traditions in Aotearoa/New Zealand
Applications are now being sought for a one-off 3-year PhD scholarship to investigate Indigenous peace traditions in early New Zealand. The scholarship, funded under the Marsden Research Project, “A New Politics of Peace? Investigations in Contemporary Pacifism and Non-violence”, provides a NZD$25,000 annual stipend and covers tuition fees for a period of three years. The successful applicant will be based within the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (NCPACS), University of Otago, New Zealand, and supervised by Professor Richard Jackson (NCPACS), Professor Murray Rae (Theology) and Dr Michael Stevens (History).
Research Proposals which explore the following topics are particularly welcome:
- The influence of Christianity in the emergence of Māori nonviolent resistance traditions;
- The subjugation of Māori peace traditions by settler society in nineteenth-century New Zealand;
- The instances and causes of Māori groups avoiding conflict during the New Zealand Wars;
- Māori resistance to conscription during World War One.
If you are interested, contact Professor Richard Jackson of NCPACS for details. Application deadline: Friday 3 July, 2015.
A Public Theology Response to Domestic Violence in Samoa
Dr Mercy Ah Siu-Maliko will be giving the next Te Tumu seminar: “A Public Theology Response to Domestic Violence in Samoa”. All interested people are welcome.
Research Success for Te Tumu Staff
The New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence, Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga, has been refunded for 2016-2020 . Although Ngā Pae is hosted through University of Auckland, it has now been organised in conjunction with other institutions. One of the new co-directors is Associate Professor Jacinta Ruru from Law Faculty at the University of Otago. At Te Tumu: School of Māori, Pacific and Indigneous Studies we are proud that four of our staff members are among the confirmed Principle Investigators, Research: Professor Paul Tapsell, Associate Professor Poia Rewi, Associate Professor Merata Kawharu, and Dr Lyn Carter.
Attitudes of NZ youth to Māori-language revitalization
What do young people think about the future of te reo Māori?
Nathan Albury is undertaking research on “folk linguistics”, that is, what do ordinary people think about language use. Nathan was formerly here at Te Tumu, but is now close to completing his PhD at the University of Oslo on folk linguistics relating to the revitalization of te reo Māori in New Zealand, and the Saami language in Norway. Te Tumu’s Dr Lyn Carter remains as one of his supervisors.
Nathan has recently written a short pamphlet with some of his findings relating to te reo Māori. He has circulated it to government departments and political parties. In particular he has had a good response from Education Minister Hon. Hekia Parata, and from the Green Party. Click on the link to read Nathan’s pamphlet.Tō Tātou Reo
Staff Profile: Professor Paul Tapsell
Professor Paul Tapsell
Professor Paul Tapsell (Ngāti Whakaue and Ngāti Raukawa) talks about his research journey and philosophy. As part of our occasional series of profiling Te Tumu faculty members, Dr Matiu Rātima interviews Prof. Tapsell, whose research interests include Māori identity in 21st century New Zealand, cultural heritage & museums, taonga trajectories in and beyond tribal contexts, Māori values within governance policy frameworks, Indigenous entrepreneurial leadership, marae and mana whenua, genealogical mapping of tribal landscapes and Te Arawa historical and genealogical knowledge. (Audio length: 17.5 minutes.)
Vicki Grieves Seminar
Dr Victoria Grieves (University of Sydney) will be giving the next Te Tumu seminar on “Working against nature: the plough as symbol of western progress and icon of Northern domination”.
This will be held in Cen3 (Central Library), on Wednesday 15 April 2015, 2.30pm – 3.30pm. Everyone is welcome.
Abstract: This paper argues that while the idea of the plough and of ploughing is embedded in western theory and discourse as an inherently good concept, the introduction of the plough and the beginnings of agriculture as we know it today is likely to be the beginning of the epoch now known as the Anthropocene. While the plough embodies all of the values of hard work, of thought and creativity, of respectability and of progress in western thought, as a tool of progress it has been used as a means of colonising and securing lands. The impact of this has been devastation to indigenous people and also to the natural world. Ploughing has had the effect of creating borders, of delineating colonised lands and enslaving men and animals to pull the blades through the soil. When recognised as such, the ploughs themselves have figured prominently in various ways in poor white and Indigenous dissent. Thus the plough works against nature rather than with nature. It has been convincingly theorised as an object of death and destruction of the natural world (Serres) and its impact on the collective issues that comprise climate change and the Anthropocene is profound.
New Research Assistant for Te Tumu
Gianna Leoni
Te Tumu is really pleased that Gianna Leoni (Ngati Kuri and Ngai Takoto) has now joined the staff as a Research Assistant for 2015. Gianna has long been a “fixture” at Te Tumu as a student and tutor, and is also currently putting the last touches on her doctoral thesis on the use of te reo Māori in government departments. As RA, Gianna will be working primarily with the editors of Te Tumu’s new textbook (currently being written) for its MAOR102: Māori Society paper. Gianna will also be assisting Te Tumu staff with their own individual research projects.
Nau mai, haere mai, Gianna.
In the meantime Gianna is also helping coordinate Te Tumu’s 25th Anniversary, which will run on 28-29 May. This is going to be a great weekend for former and present staff and students, and will be immediately followed by the 25th Anniversary of the Māori Centre/Te Huka Mātauraka (30-31 May). If you haven’t already registered for these events, click here now.
Upcoming Te Tumu seminar
Professor Patricia O’Brien, an ARC Future Fellow based at the Australian National University is currently visiting Otago, and will be giving a seminar to Te Tumu.
In 2012 Professor O’Brien was the JD Stout Fellow in New Zealand Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, and in 2011 she was the Jay I. Kislak Fellow in American Studies at the John W. Kluge Centre at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC. From 2001-2013 she was visiting Associate Professor in the Centre for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. She is the author of The Pacific Muse: Exotic Femininity and the Colonial Pacific (Seattle, 2006).
Professor O’Brien will be presenting on material from a current research project, a biography on the Samoan nationalist leader Ta’isi O.F. Nelson.
Her seminar ‘The Trials of Mr Nelson: Ta’isi O. F. Nelson and Indigenous Resistance in Interwar Samoa’ will be held in Cen3 (Central Library) at 2.30pm, March 23rd. This will be followed by tea, coffee and biscuits in the Te Tumu dining room.
We hope to see you there.
