DIGITALBEFORE WORDS ARE EVEN SPOKEN LEARNING KAUPAPA MĀORI RESEARCH METHODS THROUGH ‘BEING’ WITH KŌEKE (NGĀTI PIKIAO TRIBAL ELDERS)
1 Ngati Pikiao Iwi Trust (NEW ZEALAND)
2 Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology (NEW ZEALAND)
2 Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology (NEW ZEALAND)
About this paper:
Appears in: INTED2020 Proceedings
Publication year: 2020
Page: 3248 (abstract only)
ISBN: 978-84-09-17939-8
ISSN: 2340-1079
doi: 10.21125/inted.2020.0935
Publication year: 2020
Page: 3248 (abstract only)
ISBN: 978-84-09-17939-8
ISSN: 2340-1079
doi: 10.21125/inted.2020.0935
Conference name: 14th International Technology, Education and Development Conference
Dates: 2-4 March, 2020
Location: Valencia, Spain
Dates: 2-4 March, 2020
Location: Valencia, Spain
Abstract:
Ngāti Pikiao Iwi (Māori people/tribe) occupy the eastern lakes district of Rotorua, Aotearoa New Zealand. The Iwi’s lands are home to nine Ngāti Pikiao hapū (sub-tribes) and encompass: the eastern-most side of Lake Rotorua; the Ohau and Okere rivers; stretches of the Kaituna River and Lake Rotoiti, Rotoehu and Rotomā. Matawhaura, Ngāti Pikiao’s tūpuna maunga (ancestral mountain), stands sentinel over Iwi territories at the southern-most end of Lake Rotoiti. As at the 2013 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwelling, the Iwi numbered 8,000. Of this number, 6.1 percent (489 people) were aged 65 years.Classified as ‘Kōeke’ (elders), currently, some of this 65 years plus age group (approximately 10%) live in the haukainga (tribal homelands) and are active cultural ambassadors and ‘wisdom holders’ of the Iwi (tribe). Known as Te Pūkenga Kōeke o Ngāti Pikiao (the council of tribal elders) the group is currently participating in a Ngāti Pikiao initiated, and centred, research project called ‘Kōeke a kō ake nei – towards intergenerational positive aging for Ngati Pikiao people’. Funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, the research is hosted by the Ngāti Pikiao Iwi Trust in collaboration with Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, Rotorua.
Drawing on Kōeke a kō ake nei (the Iwi research findings) this presentation focuses on the Kaupapa Māori research learnings and teachings gained from ‘being’ (with our Kōeke). Narrated by a fledgling Iwi (tribal) researcher, through photographic essay, the presentation shows how the ways of being, knowing and doing of our Kōeke, are an inimitable site of learning and teaching that surpasses the ‘elite’ knowledge production and reproduction ‘factories’ of the Academy (Smith, G. 2003). For researchers aspiring to work with (and interview) indigenous elders, the presentation highlights some tikanga and kawa Māori (Māori protocols of engagement) that can occur ‘before words are even spoken’ – that can be the difference between a successful interview (or not).