The Significance of Land Acknowledgements as a Commentary on Indigenous Pedagogies

In my decades of navigating both the academic institutional world and the world of Indigenous Peoples, the emergence of land acknowledgements in academic institutions and in public and government contexts is a fascinating story of how one small element of Indigenous pedagogies has come to be expressed in institutions that have historically reviled Indigenous Peoples. Land acknowledgements are often made as statements at important events within institutions. The land acknowledgement can be a “Welcome to Country” greeting by an elder, often given in Australia, or a formalized statement that is read out by a non-Indigenous official at an occasion such as a graduation ceremony. Indigenous pedagogies encompass the worldviews, philosophies, cultures, histories, ways of knowing and being, and practices of diverse Indigenous Peoples

Imagining our own approaches

I spent some formative years of my life either in the back of museums or their basements helping my father, a scholar of Māori Studies, and keeping myself out of trouble. In the late 1960s I had one small job in the library basement of the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, typing new labels for the captains’ log books of ships that were sailing during the American Revolution. I read most of those journals that consisted of pages and pages of wind directions with the rare glimpse of an encounter with another ship or a list of supplies. Why were we there in Salem when we came from Aotearoa, New Zealand? We were there because Salem was the home base for ships that sailed into the Pacific and returned home with collections of materials from the various Pacific Islands countries they visited. My father was studying elaborately carved items from the Marquesa Islands that looked very much like Māori designs

Indigenous knowledge, methodology and mayhem: What is the role of methodology in producing indigenous insights? A discussion from Mātauranga Māori

The emergence of an academic discourse called Indigenous knowledge internationally, and mātauranga Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand, presents some substantive challenges to concepts of knowing and being, of knowledge creation, knowledge work and the making of meaning. These challenges engage us across philosophical, disciplinary, institutional, inter-generational, territorial and community boundaries, presenting an opportunity to imagine this field anew, and the theories and methodologies that inform contemporary Māori or Indigenous Studies. This article raises some discussion about ‘research methodologies’ being used when discussing mātauranga Māori and Indigenous knowledge (hereafter referred to as IK mātauranga). Research methodologies are often associated with specific disciplines of knowledge and viewed as the primary if not singular way in which knowledge is generated. Arguably, IK mātauranga occupies a different knowledge space from traditional academic disciplines, including their transdisciplinary interstices. This article speaks to a gnawing sense that mayhem is at play, as the academic work around IK mātauranga begins to consolidate and become institutionalised away from its indigenous communities and contexts, where it began and where it still informs identities, ways of living and being

Positioning historical trauma theory within Aotearoa New Zealand

This article explores the relevance of historical trauma theory for Mäori research. In exploring the impact of historical trauma upon Mäori it has become clear that the terminology associated with historical trauma theory is considered controversial in Aotearoa New Zealand. As such, this article provides an overview of key defi nitions relevant to historical trauma and explores these in relation to recent reporting related to the use of the terms “holocaust” and “genocide” in the context of colonization in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is argued that in order to engage fully with the impacts of colonization on Mäori wellbeing we must articulate fully the impact of historical trauma events and the contribution of those events to the negative health disparities experienced by many of our whänau (extended family), hapü (sub- tribes) and iwi (tribes)

We are more than EFL teachers-we are Educators: Emancipating EFL student-teachers through photovoice

The prevailing pedagogical orientations of English as a foreign language (EFL) education in Spain oppress learners intellectually in ways that are counterproductive to their learning. As a reaction to this, 129 EFL student-teachers (STs) took part during the 2013/14, 2014/15, and 2015/16 academic years in a workshop which drew on the methodology of participatory action research and on photovoice as a data-creating strategy, in order to emancipate these STs intellectually, boost their EFL development, and offer an alternative critical model for their future EFL teaching. The research was assessed collectively through a variety of qualitative strategies. Results showed that the photovoice workshop created a rich and meaningful context for EFL learning, one which enabled the STs to fully actualize their intellectual potential by producing knowledge collectively, thereby setting a memorable educational example for their own future teaching

Heritage and Knowledge: Decolonizing the Research Process- The Munro Lecture

  In her Munro Lecture at SFU’s Harbour Centre, Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith shares her tremendous insights into indigenous knowledge, language revitalization, decolonizing research practices, and how to "make knowledge live.”   Professor Smith is an internationally recognized educator and researcher, and her book Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples has been one of the most widely cited publications relating to decolonizing research practices. She is Professor of Education and Māori Development, Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori, Dean of the School of Māori and Pacific Development and Director of Te Kotahi Research Institute, at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. &nbsp

Kaupapa Māori research- Some Kaupapa Māori principles

This paper was first presented at a conference of Māori academic staff at Massey University in 1996. It predates the publication of Decolonising Methodologies in 1998. You will note that since this paper was first presented our understandings and experiences in using Kaupapa Māori have deepened and we have significant capacity in Kaupapa Māori research. In 1996 there were many topics we could not imagine in depth as we had not completed the work to realise the potential of Kaupapa Māori. Also, our thinking was tentative and we were searching for the pathways to research that made sense in Māori ways. In looking back on the paper I can see my own naïve explorations into ideas that I thought were important. I have resisted the urge to rewrite this paper entirely as I think it stands as a good historical moment of where we were and where we are now. It needs to be read in the context of the 1990s