Congratulations to our 2024 Matakitenga Project Recipients
Tohunga Talks: Digital narratives of tohunga that nurture multi-literacies of Ākonga
This project will engage in research activities that prioritise the reclamation and communication of Māori knowledge systems. Leveraging off literature and existing datasets, the research team will work with kaumātua and tohunga within the Hihiaua community to collect kōrero tuku iho and mātauranga tuku iho for an educational digital platform. In partnership with tohunga, kaumātua and the Hihiaua community, the research team will identify pūrākau that could be made available in a digital space, for ākonga. The team will organise for the pūrākau to be recorded, edited, and curated in preparation to be housed on a digital platform.
Lead: Selena Meiklejohn-Whiu (Ngāti Raukawa) (UoA), with Professor Melinda Webber (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Whakaue) (UoA), Dr Maia Hetaraka (Ngāti Wai, Ngā Puhi, Ngai Tahu) (UoA) & Associate Professor Rebecca Jesson (UoA).
Te Ara Pokanga o te Kiri – Patient experiences of apronectomy for excess skin removal following significant weight Loss in Te Tairāwhiti
This research will audit apronectomy surgical services by investigating post-operative complications. Researchers will undertake semi-structured in-depth interviews with whānau who have had an apronectomy in Te Tairāwhiti. Following this, the research team will design two resources: a one-page digital information sheet depicting the surgery, how it is done, and its risks and; a postoperative recovery survey tool to aid in better follow up for whānau.
Lead: Dr Jamie-Lee Rahiri (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara, Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi) (UoA), with Associate Professor Matire Harwood (Ngāpuhi) (UoA), Dr Samantha Grace (Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāpuhi) (Te Whatu Ora), & Ms Atareta Mangu (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Hine) (Te Puni Kōkiri).
Te Rangianiwaniwa a Te Harakeke – The Harakeke’s Rainbow
Based in mātauranga Māori, the project will bring together textile researchers, Māori practitioners, and scientists to advance knowledge of native plant dyes and fibres. Traditional customary plant dyes, and new generation substantive dyes offer the opportunity to develop safer sustainable natural dyes for muka (harakeke fibre) to advance fibre technology and mātauranga Māori. This project will advance research by testing methods on by-products from industry through wānanga with iwi weavers. The long-term aim of the project is to achieve commercial production of natural dyes for muka, offering Māori weavers an alternative to synthetic dye products.
Lead: Angela Kilford (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa, Te Whānau A Kai) (MU), with Sonya Withers (Sama’i, Falelatai, Sāmoa) (MU), Tanya Ruka (Ngati Pakau, Ngapuhi) (VUW), Briar Moffat (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tukorehe) (Te Whare Kotare), William Xu (MU), Ally Ataria (Ngāti Raukawa) (MU), Julia Hope, Huhana Smith (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Raukawa) (MU) & Faith Kane (MU).
Ma te taiaho matawai kia whakahura ngākorero o nehe – Laser beam scanning technologies for unlocking landscape narratives
The research will explore how hapū/iwi can utilise geospatial technologies like LiDAR to identify, connect with, and enrich the management of culturally significant sites. The project will utilise geospatial modelling of sites combined with Ngā Wāhi Tūturu narratives for whānau use. Researchers will incorporate mātauranga, memories of tūpuna and customary practices alongside visual representations of these sites and landscapes.
Lead: Laise Harris (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Whakaki, Tūhoe, Ngāpuhi) (MWLC), with Susanna Finlay-Smits (MWLC), Jessica Webber (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Toa, Te Atiawa ki Whakarongotai, Raukawa) (Raukawa Charitable Trust).
What is data sovereignty in triangulation with Māori innovation and western intellectual property regimes? Of registries, reality and rangatiratanga
Current negotiations at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) propose developing databases of Indigenous knowledge and genetic resources. Patent offices would use these databases to determine if patent applications are truly novel and inventive. However, government-controlled databases are problematic because they make assumptions about mātauranga, such as who holds it, and how it can be stored. The research project will analyse WIPO’s proposal through a case study on mātauranga Māori innovations in papakāinga and assessing findings about novel mātauranga vis-à-vis existing and proposed domestic and international laws regarding data in registries.
Lead: Dr Jesse Pirini (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Whakatōhea) (VUW), with Professor Jessica Lai (VUW), Dr David Jefferson (UoC), Karena Brown (Ngāti Toa) (VUW) & Harriet Kennelly (Taranaki, Ngā Māhanga, Pūniho Pa) (UoC).
Understanding and enhancing climate & oranga/wellbeing research in Te Tairāwhiti
This project will undertake a scoping study that aims to understand the research needs of Māori communities in Te Tairāwhiti, specifically in relation to climate change. Whānau, hapū and iwi within Te Tairāwhiti are knowledge holders, ringa raupā, and leaders about the local environment and communities. This comprehensive knowledge system is central to our cultural identity and well-being and is pivotal to climate change adaptation, mitigation and building resilient communities. The research will conduct a landscape mapping exercise to understand the research carried out in and about Te Tairāwhiti. Particular emphasis will be placed on the gaps and opportunities within the research landscape that will serve to support Māori, whānau, hapū, and whenua climate research into the future.
Lead: Dr Teah Carlson (Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Ngāti Porou) (MU), with Dr Naomi Simmonds (Raukawa) (Taku Tapuwae), Dayna Chaffey (Ngāti Porou) (Te Weu Charitable Trust), Renee Raroa (Ngāti Porou) (Te Weu Charitable Trust), & Manu Caddie (Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Hauā) (Te Weu Charitable Trust).
Hononga Raraunga - Te Rohe Eke a Turora
This research project will create a digital data dashboard that links land blocks and sites with tūpuna and hapū names for the uri of Turora. It will take a case study approach, previously used in Ngāti Kirihika whānau research that identified rohe whenua. It found their tūpuna in many land blocks of other hapū. The digital data dashboard will support the strengthening of hapū and whānau identity and knowledge. Making data from the Māori Land Court accessible will enable whānau to compile their whakapapa back to tūpuna of the 1880s and link to the land blocks where they were landowners.
Lead: Dr Robin Quigg (Raukawa, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāti Mōtai, Ngāti Tūkorehe, Ngāti Takaha) (UoO), with Dr Des Kahotea (Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngaiterangi), Anna-Marie Monk (Ngāti Raukawa), & Eve Henare (Ngāti Raukawa).
Investigating the influence of socio-cultural-political pressures on Māori suicide: A comparison of known Māori suicides from 1840-1939 with those from 1940-2019
Every week in Aotearoa, the lives of a disproportionate number of whānau Māori are forever changed by suicide. This research uses kaupapa Māori theory to challenge the current dominant Western explanations for suicide, which fail to consider socio-cultural-political pressures and historical processes such as colonisation as core to Indigenous suicide. Using Indigenous knowledge, it builds on previous research showing a correlation between incremental increases in Māori suicides, and the alienation of Māori from their land, language and identity in the century following the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as successive racist government policies took effect.
Lead: Dr Lynne Russell (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāti Porou) (VUW), with Sonny Niha (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi) (UoA), Te Waere Ti Peeti (Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga) (UoA), & Witeria (Witi) Ashby (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Kawa).
Kauora ki te ao
Kauora is a whānau derived theory and praxis of swimming that was created as a product of Dr Terina Raureti’s PhD which redefined and reimagined how whānau engage in swimming. Currently, Kauora is being implemented into Te Kura-ā-iwi o Whakatupuranga Rua Mano, Te Kōhanga Reo o Raukawa and the wider whānau in Ōtaki to establish a sustainable whānau kaupapa wai that serves the aspirations of the whānau, hapū and iwi. The aim of this project is to work alongside the Kauora kaupapa to create a data sovereignty policy and methodology for Ngāti Kapu to protect the mātauranga and reo that is collected whilst learning about kaupapa wai in Ōtaki. The outcome will provide clear guidelines that will inform the Kauora rangahau data collection, outputs and whakatupu mātauranga.
Lead: Dr Terina Raureti (Ngāti Kapu, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Rangitihi) (UoO), with Dr Anne-Marie Jackson (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu o Whangaroa, Ngāti Wai) (Rehutai Consultancy), & Te Kahurangi Skelton-Pue ( Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Te Atiawa, Ngāti Maru) (UoO).
Weaving Māori hearts in the digital wharenui: Nurturing whakawhanaungatanga through a kaupapa Māori social media platform - Tōku Whānau
What would a kaupapa Māori based social media platform for Māori communities and whānau look and feel like? This research will engage with a specific Māori community through wānanga/whakawhiti kōrero in order to ascertain the key elements required to develop it into a more Māori-specific, Māori-friendly platform. The findings will directly inform the feasibility elements of the platform for further testing and refinement, with the view for a full public launch of the application. The project anticipates that the development of Tōku Whānau will also be a major step towards further realising Māori Data Sovereignty by understanding the enablers and barriers to advance Māori aspirations in the world of IT and Big Data.
Lead: Moana Rarere (Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu, Tūhoe, Ngāti Whare, Whakatōhea) (UoW), with BJ Walbaekken (Waikato-Tainui) (Mana Digital).
Indigenising movement: Building technology to fuel cultural vitality among rangatahi and whānau Māori in Aotearoa
This project will aim to design accessible physical movement and learning experiences that leverage the positive and powerful impact of kapa haka. Part of a broader programme of research, this project seeks to indigenise the youth sport and physical movement space for positive wellbeing outcomes. The project will conduct wānanga with rangatahi, tohunga kapa haka, and creative technology designers to design innovative ways to use technology to teach kapa haka, stories, and languages. By holding space for this collective to wānanga, resources can be developed to support Māori to move as Māori, whilst broadening access for whānau to reclaim their reo, tīkanga and mātauranga.
Lead: Dr Sierra Keung (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Rongowhakaata) (AUT), with Dr Cecelia Faumuina (Tonga, Samoa) (AUT), Tita Leaupepe (Samoa) (AUT), & Associate Professor Jani Wilson (Ngāti Awa, Ngāpuhi, NgātiHine) (UoC).
