Fears Māori knowledge in cultural sector
Twenty-five years ago wāhine like Mina McKenzie, Waana Davis, Te Aue Davis and Ngahuia Te Awekotuku decided that the cultural sector needed Māori trained as conservators and set about making that happen.By combining the science of conservation with the Māori world view, a small group including Vicki-Anne Heikell were trained.The group still actively support iwi and hapū around Aotearoa to help conserve taonga in a way that upholds their mana. But the future is uncert...
February 24, 2021Child poverty declines,
Child poverty has improved overall since 2018 according to annual figures released on Tuesday, but the statistics for Māori and Pasifika are “profoundly disturbing for New Zealand”, says Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft.“To read that one in four Pasifika children and one in five Māori children meet the criteria for material hardship ought to shock all New Zealanders,” Becroft said after the release of the official child poverty statistics. It was “plainly unacceptable in...
February 24, 2021Covid-19: Māori health providers
Some of the biggest Māori health providers in Auckland and Taranaki are "frustrated" they didn't receive any of the one million masks health officials promised for "vulnerable whānau", but the Ministry of Health has said they've been distributed through other channels.On Monday, an email was sent to Māori health providers from the Ministry of Health's deputy director-general of Māori Health John Whaanga which said the masks would be distributed the following day to help people protect themse...
February 24, 2021Rules to using Maori words
Businesses which are considering adopting Maori words or imagery in their branding now have the benefit of a set of guidelines to help them reference Maori culture respectfully and avoid being accused of cultural appropriation.Karaitiana Taiuru, a Maori cultural brand adviser who has been working as an advocate for Maori intellectual property rights for more than 20 years, says he put together the guidelines in response to witnessing the significant damage to brands and personal reputations that...
February 23, 2021Ancient swamp kauri give clues
Ancient swamp kauri tree rings have shed light on crucial changes to the Earth's atmosphere, which may have led to mass extinction of megafauna and the beginning of cave art.Scientists from NIWA, the University of New South Wales Sydney (UNSW), the South Australian Museum, and the University of Waikato, have been working together on the study.They looked at what was happening just before the event known as the Laschamp Excursion - the last time when the magnetic poles switched (north became sout...
February 22, 2021Self-publication as
Sinead Overbye looks at how Māori writers are taking control of their own publication and distribution.There is a shift in the artistic landscape taking place, and with it different ways of publishing and distributing literature.I had the privilege of being involved with Te Rito o Te Harakeke in 2019. This publication brought Māori writers from across the world together to respond to the peaceful occupation of Ihumātao. Each poet had the right to refuse all editorial suggestions. The result w...
February 22, 2021Māori scholars
Just five percent of the tertiary sector's teaching and research staff are Māori - a statistic that remains stubbornly low. A new book has brought together the stories of 24 Māori academics, allowing them to detail how they've worked in their respective fields to bring their mātauranga - or Māori knowledge - to their work.The book, Ngā Kete Mātauranga: Māori Scholars at the Research Interface, seeks to demonstrate how mātauranga can positively influence Western-dominated disciplines...
February 18, 2021Māori academics are
Walking the long, colonial halls of Otago University law faculty, its once “lonely only” Māori academic is looked down upon by portraits of Pākehā professors.There is nothing obviously indigenous displayed in the law faculty of the country’s oldest university.Professor of law Jacinta Ruru, Raukawa/Ngāti Ranginui, has for more than 20 years walked those halls that don’t leave anyone feeling comfortable being Māori.Founded by settlers more than 150 years ago, institutional racism is w...
February 14, 2021Replacing the traditional tie
From waka exhibitions to talking about ties, Te Rawhitiroa Bosch has come up with an alternative for the traditional tie. A Māori alternative to the tie named "Whakakai Maripi" has gone viral online in the wake of the Rawiri Watiti fight to wear his hei-tiki. The carved taiaha tongue concept was designed by artist and photographer, Te Rawhitiroa Bosch who is encouraging other Māori to be proud of taonga Māori.Bosch, of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu and Pākehā descent, discussed how the co...
February 14, 2021Oranga Tamariki
The children’s ministry is accused of abandoning a traumatised former worker. David Williams reportsAs happens so often, raw emotion and despair play out in a drab, air-conditioned room dominated by greys and off-whites, under the glare of fluorescent lights.Last week it was the turn of former Oranga Tamariki employee Bai Zammit-Ross, whose personal grievance was heard by the Employment Relations Authority.The power of the state was on display – for a beleaguered children’s ministry under&...
February 14, 2021New $5.7 million fund
A new $5.7 million contestable fund has been launched to support Māori to protect marae taonga.The Mātauranga Māori Marae Ora is part of a wider $20m programme annnounced in December to support indigenous arts from the threats of the Covid-19 pandemic.Link to Article: New $5.7 million fund to help Māori protect taonga on marae | Stuff.co.nz...
February 9, 2021Don Brash cops backlash after standing against Māori wards in Tauranga,
Former National Party leader Don Brash is facing backlash over his stance on Māori wards after he attended a meeting in Tauranga to say they should be abolished. He was speaking at an event today set up after Tauranga City Council voted to establish Māori wards next year. "To my mind, having Māori wards — which would create wards where Māori only could vote — is a bad step,” he said. Protestors holding placards and singing in protest argued with Brash as he backed th...
January 31, 2021Māori TV, Te Ao Māori News
Māori Television has launched two new mobile phone apps.The apps, Te Ao Māori News and Māori TV, are designed to send important alerts and messages quickly to users and provide free access to a range of news and entertainment.“No matter where people are on their reo Māori language journey, they can learn with us at any time from the comfort of their own space, on their own device. For others, it’s a doorway to a unique world that’s on our doorstep,” said Māori Television’s T...
January 31, 2021Rose Pere:
Dr Rangimārie Te Turuki Arikirangi Rose Pere: educator, conservationist; b July 25, 1937; d December 13, 2020When Rose Pere was born in the remote Eastern Bay of Plenty settlement of Ruatāhuna, her mother was told that she would be a boy.But Pere’s birth on July 25, 1937, surprised them all, and her mother was taken down to the river where a tohuna tossed a branch into the water. Instead of going downstream, the branch pushed up against the current.That's how Rose Pere would be in this ...
January 30, 2021War of words: Tauranga residents butt heads
A large group of vocal protesters disrupted a meeting opposing the introduction of Māori wards in Tauranga today.The controversial meeting was initially organised in a bid to gather more signatures for a petition against Māori wards.However, the petition had already gathered enough valid signatures to prompt the poll before the meeting started.Hundreds of people turned out to the meeting at the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club, some holding signs saying "No to the petition" and "Say yes to M...
January 30, 2021Māori left in 'precarious position'
Several Māori staff at Auckland's Unitec have resigned over what they say is institutionalised racism at the campus.The Unitec Māori staff collective - Te Roopu Mataara - say they have been disrespected and staff and students feel culturally unsafe.About 300 people gathered from the community this morning to stand with Tui Ah Loo who has resigned as the chair of the rūnanga.Te Rūnanga o Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka is Unitec's non-executive advisory group which was founded in 1991 to ensure t...
January 30, 2021Pākehā lack 'cultural competency' to lead Oranga Tamariki,
Pākehā have had their turn trying to look after New Zealand's vulnerable, the chair of Whānau Ora says, and should cede responsibility to Māori following the resignation of embattled Oranga Tamariki CEO Gráinne Moss.Moss stood down from the role last Friday, following months of intense scrutiny brought on by coverage of uplifts of Māori babies, who are five times more likely to be taken into state care than babies of other ethnicities.Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency...
January 27, 2021Māori urged to lead on restoration
Support for the restoration of indigenous names to native plants and animals - which were given Latin names by settler European scientists - has been gaining traction, but Māori academics say indigenous people must lead the conversation.The restoration of indigenous scientific names was first put forward last year by ecologists Dr Shane Wright from Auckland University, and Len Gillman from AUT.They are calling on Māori to bring forward the original names to keep that traditional knowledge aliv...
January 27, 2021Māori councillor withdraws complaint to Race Relations Commissioner
A Māori councillor is withdrawing his complaint to the Race Relations Commissioner over an “insulting” Grey Power newsletter ahead of a meeting with its author.Ōpōtiki district councillor Louis Rapihana submitted a complaint to Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon about the newsletter in which Siva Panadam suggested Mr Rapihana could not speak English after he gave a closing karakia in te reo Māori at a meeting late last year. However, he is now withdrawing that complaint after hearing ...
January 24, 2021Timeline:
The resignation of Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss today followed months of scrutiny due to her presiding over a policy that removed vulnerable, predominantly Māori, children from their mothers and placed them into state care.Here is how her controversial tenure unfolded:Link to article: Timeline: Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss's road to resignation (msn.com)...
January 22, 2021Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss
Controversial Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss has decided to step down.It comes after repeated calls for her to resign amid a number of scathing reports bringing the Ministry into question. Moss has been under pressure since a Newsroom investigation into attempts by social workers to remove a week-old baby from its mother in Hawke's Bay sparked multiple inquiries and reports.Link to article: Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss steps down (...
January 22, 2021Auckland gallery Māori arts curator calls out
The Māori Arts curator who resigned unexpectedly after putting together Auckland Art Gallery's largest exhibition of indigenous work, is calling on arts institutions to be better at sharing power.Nigel Borell has claimed "major issues" over the level of control he had surrounding his landmark exhibition Toi Tū Toi Ora.He said ensuring diversity was still a challenge for all arts institutions.Borell's resignation was a shock to many, as he had a pioneering role in exhibiting over 300 ...
January 20, 2021Why Aotearoa New Zealand's early Polynesian settlement
OPINION: Aotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.Globally, there are 1121 recognised World Heritage Sites, both cultural and natural. Each has had to satisfy at least one of ten possible selection criteria, adjudicated by the World Heritage Committee, meaning it possesses “outstanding uni...
January 20, 2021Biosecurity champion brings Western science
Biosecurity champion Tame Malcolm wants to elevate Māori traditional knowledge in science to help protect the environment from pests.Embarking on a PhD this year, Malcolm plans to research anecdotal knowledge, gathered by word of mouth to help tackle some of New Zealand's most pressing pest problems.For example, when different plants are flowering in the bush, Māori will use different lures for trapping pests, he said.“When kawa kawa is flowering we use cinnamon but when hangehange is flower...
January 20, 2021Māori and Pasifika architects
Trailblazing Māori architects, such as the late John Scott and Rewi Thompson, would be impressed - the work being done by their followers has taken on a new significance in recent years, as architects strive to create stronger, more meaningful connections between the built environment, tangata (people) and whenua (land).It’s enough of a change to lead Māori architect Nicholas Dalton, principal of Tāmaki Makaurau Office (TOA) Architecture, to describe it as a “powerful point in history”....
January 20, 2021 Posts 4201-4225 of 4483 | Page prev next
