The Ngāruawāhia Tūrangawaewae Regatta
Tangiwai Rewi
This Wednesday Tangiwai Rewi will be giving a seminar, “The Ngāruawāhia Tūrangawaewae Regatta: Today’s Reflections on the Past”, based on her on-going research on intergenerational knowlege transfer relating to Kīngitanga practices.
For more details, see the Abstract
The seminar will be in Te Iringa Kōrero (R3S10, 3rd floor, Te Tumu), 2.30-3.30, Wednesday 25 November, and is open to all.
Exciting Opportunity for PACI student.
We are happy to announce a major success for Eden Iati of the PACI201 class (Tagata Pasifika: Peoples of Oceania).
Eden has been selected by the McGuiness Foundation to participate in a 72 hour workshop in Wellington in December on TacklingPovertyNZ: Exploring ways to reduce poverty in New Zealand.
The course will bring together 30 young New Zealanders who will work together to prepare a youth perspective on poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand, and how to tackle it. Those selected will be engaging with government ministers, Treasury, Auckland City Mission, Economic think tanks and many others.
PACI201, a paper within Te Tumu’s Pacific Islands Studies major, proved to be an excellent support to Eden as it examines issues such as poverty, inequality, urbanisation and land in a Pacific context.
Well done Eden!
“How whakapapa saved my life”
Dr Karyn Paringatai (Ngāti Porou) is perhaps best known for her innovative award-winning teaching pedagogy – teaching in the dark. But on 10 November, Karyn gave a talk for TEDxDunedin on a much more personal issue, on how learning her whakapapa saved her life. TEDx talks are about “Ideas Worth Spreading”.
Click here to watch the video of Karyn’s talk.
Karyn teaches Māori language and performing arts in Te Tumu.
Success at the Ngā Kupu Ora Book Awards
I te Rāmere nei i tū ai Ngā Kupu Ora Book Awards, ā kei Te Hua o Te Reo Māori te wini mō te paraihe Reo. He mea ētita tēnei pukapuka e Ahorangi Rāwinia Higgins (he kaiako ia nō Te Tumu i ngā rā o mua) rātou ko Ahorangi Tuarua Poia Rewi (koia te Tīni o Te Tumu ināianei) ko Vincent Olsen-Reeder.
The Ngā Kupu Ora Book Awards were held on Friday. The Value of the Māori Language: Te Hua o Te Reo Māori, co-edited by former Te Tumu staff member Associate Professor Rāwinia Higgins, current Te Tumu Dean Associate Professor Poia Rewi, and Vincent Olsen-Reeder, took out the Te Reo prize.
Kua riro anō i a Poia Rewi he paraihe mō āna mahi whakaputa pukapuka.
He pukapuka tēnei “that aims to engage and reawaken Māori consciousness on the value of Māori language won the Te Reo prize. The Value of the Māori Language: Te Hua o Te Reo Māori draws on research from more than 30 contributors about the value of the Māori language and their aspirations for its future direction.” Click here for more details of the awards.
He mihi nunui ki ngā ētita, ki ngā kaituhi hoki o ngā pukapuka i toa, ā, ki ngā pukapuka katoa e whakatairanga ana i te kaupapa o te mātauranga Māori.
Te Tumu and the Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Awards
Two publications involving Te Tumu staff feature in the “Te Reo Māori” section of this year’s Ngā Kupu Ora Aotearoa Māori Book Awards, an annual event that has been honouring excellence in Māori writing since 2009. The 2015 event will be held on Thursday evening, 10 September at Te Marae, Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington, with 15 finalists competing in 6 categories.
Rawinia Higgins, Poia Rewi and Vincent Olsen-Reeder, The value of the Māori Language: Te Hua o te Reo Māori (Wellington: Huia, 2014). Associate Professor Poia Rewi is currently the Dean of Te Tumu and Professor Rawinia Higgins, a former Te Tumu staff member (now the Head of Te Kawa a Māui, Victoria University), co-edited this volume and co-wrote a chapter on their ZePA model for language revitalization. Also featured are chapters from former Te Tumu staff member, Hana O’Regan, and Katharina Ruckstuhl, a former Te Tumu student and Senior Research Analyst at the Research and Enterprise Office of the University of Otago.
Merata Kawharu, Maranga mai! Te Reo and marae in crisis? (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2014). Associate Professor Merata Kawharu, an adjunct member of Te Tumu, edited this collection from a number of eminent scholars on the state of te reo Māori and the participation of Māori in marae activities.
We wish both Merata and Poia the best of luck in these Awards.
Te Tumu Research Roundup
Te Tumu staff have been active with research in the first half of the year. The highlights (listed below) show the depth and diversity of the research undertaken at the School.
In April Te Tumu hosted a three-day conference, Te Kura Roa: Minority Language & Dialect Conference, that attracted a number of speakers, from within New Zealand, as well as from USA, Tahiti, Australia, Scotland and Israel. Poia Rewi was the driving force behind this conference, a collaboration between the University of Otago, Victoria University and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. Suzanne Duncan was the key organiser, ably assisted by a number of students.
In May Te Tumu celebrated its 25th Anniversary, in conjunction with the Māori Centre’s anniversary. Events were organised by a committee headed by Karyn Paringatai and Suzanne Duncan. Of particular note was a one-day symposium at which a number of Te Tumu alumni presented on where their university educations had taken them.
In July, the book “The Lives of Colonial Objects” was published by Otago University Press, comprising a number of short essays on particular objects. Four Te Tumu staff contributed chapters: Megan Pōtiki on a tokotoko held by her whānau; Paerau Warbrick on a Māori Land Court Minute Book; Pāora Tapsell on the Te Haupapa cannon at Maketū; and Lachy Paterson on a press used to print a Māori-language newspaper in the 1860s. Also in this volume is a chapter by Michael Stevens, a former Te Tumu post-doc, on his whānau’s kahukiwi.
Pāora Tapsell, Poia Rewi and Tangiwai Rewi were on Research and Study Leave in Semester 1, with Matiu Ratima, Jim Williams and Michael Reilly away for Semester 2. Pāora Tapsell has recently returned from Vienna, having given a keynote address “Waka Wairua: Imagining an Other way of knowing our Pacific” at the New Zealand Studies Association conference. Matiu Rātima was awarded the Fulbright-Nga Pae O Te Maramatanga Scholar Award; this allows him to spend time at the University of Hawai’i to observe the teaching of Hawaiian languages.
In May, Megan Pōtiki published an article in the New Zealand Journal of History, 49, 1 (2015) on the Māori-language writings of H.K. Taiaroa and Tame Parata, and in June presented at a paper at the 4th International Conference on Language, Literature and Linguistics in Singapore on the use of old manuscripts as a means of revitalizing Kāi Tahu reo. Megan is writing this up for publication at present.
In February, Lachy Paterson gave a Waitangi Day at the Dunedin Art Gallery on past, present and future perceptions of the Treaty of Waitangi. As he didn’t have any teaching duties in Semester 1 he was able to travel to Canada in February/March where he gave a number of talks at the University of Alberta and University of Manitoba on ‘Indigenous Literacy and Literacy Practices: Māori in the 19th Century’ and (with Angela Wanhalla) ‘Indigenous Women, Writing and Colonialism’. In April he presented at a conference on colonial print media at the University of Cambridge, UK.
In June Jenny Bryant-Tokalau presented a paper entitled ‘New Communities and the State in Suva, Fiji’ to the Urban Melanesia theme at the European Society for Oceanistes Conference (ESFO), in Brussels. The paper will be published in a special edition of the Journal de la Société des Océanistes in 2016.
Tangiwai Rewi has recently published an article in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, 124, 1 (2015) on ‘The Ngāruawāhia Tūrangawaewae Regatta: Today’s Reflections on the Past’. Click here to access.
In February, Michelle Schaaf presented on ‘The role of family in Pacific migrant participation in physical activity and sport’ at the Inaugural International Conference on Migration Social Disadvantage and Health, in Melbourne.
Merata Kawharu and Karyn Paringatai both spoke at at Hui Poutama 2015: Māori Research Sympoisum in May. Hui Poutama is the University of Ōtāgo’s biennial symposium of Māori research. Karyn’s talk was on ‘The value of the dark: The students’ perspective’, and Merata Kawharu’s on ‘Entrepreneurship: the relevance of a customary context. A Ngāti Whātua narrative’.
Karyn Paringatai‘s research on teaching in the dark is in demand. She presented at a recent Pecha Kucha event at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, and in July gave a keynote presentation at the Tuia Te Ako hui at Lincoln University.
Lyn Carter has two works in press: ‘Climate Change and Aotearoa New Zealand: A review’, a journal article with Wiley Interdisciplinary Review (LSE); and ‘Iwi are where the People are: Rethinking Ahi Kā and Ahi Matao in Contemporary Māori Society’ in the forthcoming Huia Publishers book, Home. Here to Stay!
Finally, Te Tumu is revamping its MAOR 102 textbook. The old book, Ki te Whaiao: An Introduction to Māori Culture and Society was published in 2004, and while it had served its purpose well, staff felt that a new volume was necessary. As with Ki te Whaiao, Te Tumu staff are doing most of the writing for this new book.
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.
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.
