2018 Conference

NPM 8th Biennial International Indigenous Research Conference 
13 - 16 November 2018
Waipapa Marae and Owen G. Glenn Building
University of Auckland
Tāmaki Makaurau – Auckland, NZ

Hon Kelvin Davis is New Zealand’s first Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti, Minister of Corrections, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Education (Māori Education). Kelvin Davis is a successful former teacher and school Principal who turned a struggling Northland school around, and enabled the students to achieve beyond their potential.

He was first elected to Parliament as part of the Labour Party in 2008. He is the MP for Te Tai Tokerau. Born and bred in the Bay of Islands but now living in Kaitaia, Kelvin is a man of the north who brings skills in education and Māori issues to the Cabinet table to improve outcomes for all New Zealanders educationally, financially, culturally and socially.

He is a person with common sense and pragmatism who is able to relate across all sectors of society, but is most at home either fishing or up in the bush of his beloved Karetu  Valley.  As  Māori  Crown  Relations:  Te  Arawhiti Minister, Kelvin Davis’ role will be to progress the Treaty relationship beyond the settlement of Treaty grievances into what it means to work together in partnerships and have responsibility for a new agency to oversee Government’s work with Māori in a post-settlement era.

John Berger’s Ways of Seeing (1972) popularized the notion that looking is a political act. As a film maker, especially as an indigenous filmmaker, this is a powerful liberating idea. Understanding the ways in which the colonial gaze transforms and takes possession of our production is critical for an autonomous, sovereign film practice.

This presentation reflects upon the work involved in creating an autonomous Indigenous filmic space within a mainstream research university by discussing the journey behind The Ethnographic Film Unit at UBC. Special attention is paid to the power of Indigenous digital videography in disrupting the colonial gaze.

It is hard to escape the reality that our climate is rapidly changing – in the natural world, and other wise. We are already experiencing the confluence of impacts from a dramatically warming planet: an acidic ocean, massive shifts in rainfall, intensity and duration of storms and fires, climate induced war and mass migration, and declines in agriculture and wild fish stocks. Trends that used to be predictable are erratic. Temporary shifts, like weather, that enabled us to be adapt to momentary changes and return once again to equilibrium are no longer able to prepare us for the even broader changes yet to come.

Healthy oceans play a critical role in absorbing carbon, cooling the planet, regulating weather, and therefore climate, yet it is often overlooked in seeking solutions to slowing the rate and intensity of change. This should be of particular concern to oceanic peoples and communities where shifts in ocean temperature, sea level, and productivity will cause significant shifts in human well-being and economic stability.

As Indigenous people, we descend in many cases from cultures and traditions deeply rooted in the natural world. That familial intimacy enabled our ancestors to be in tune with micro-changes and base decision-making – short, long and inter-generational – on subtlties and deep understandings of the natural world, some of which still persists or is being recovered. As such, it should be of no surprise that globally, it is estimated that indigenous peoples manage or have tenure rights over 24% of land which contain ~ 40% of all ecologically intact landscapes and protected areas,
and ~ 80% of the world’s biodiversity.

But in a rapidly changing climate, will Indigenous rights (where they exist) and taking care of our respective ancestral lands and seas be enough? Who will we, as Indigenous people, still be if our non-human ancestors and the nature upon which our cultures descend no longer remain? What will being iIdigenous continue to mean when climate impacts inevitably shift how ecosystems and human societies function? And, what role can and should we as Indigenous people – including our research and knowledge systems – play in the global transformation required to respond?

Indigenous economic empowerment is arguably one of the least understood or acknowledged opportunities to spur  national and international economies. This presentation examines the complex combination of multi-faceted issues  which inform Indigenous economic development. Viewed through the lens of the Canadian Indigenous experience  and drawing on international perspectives the address examines issues, impediments, successes, and opportunities.

Closing  the  economic  gap  between  Indigenous  and  non-Indigenous  peoples  is  not  only  right  and  moral;  when Indigenous peoples can assume their rightful place in the economy all people benefit. The roadmap for economic reconciliation is inclusive, stimulates concrete action, builds upon community strengths, and incorporates a holistic view of prosperity, well-being, and values.

Our iwi, hāpu and whānau have long been expressing their cultural identity through traditional mediums and forms of artistic cultural practices, embodying our language and  knowledges; passing this down from one generation to another. It has also been utilised as a traditional form to express emotion such as anger, love, sadness and desire.

In more modern times it continues to be an important contribution to the advancement of our language and a chalice that holds and protects our stories, our knowledges and the expression of wairua mauri and our emotions. For aeons cultures have sung, chanted, danced, stomped, jumped and rhythmically moved together to create unity and unleash individual and collective energy and expression of cultural identity. Be it for celebration, grief, remembrance, healing or preparation for war, these cultural activities and rituals bind a community together in a purposeful, active
manner.

Ka Haka - To dance/perform
Kaha Kā - Fiery strength in performance

And because Ka Haka maintains the linkages between scholarship and practice of indigenous performing arts, we are honoured this year to have our manuhiri from the Pascua Yaqui and tribes Eddie Madril, dancer, singer, teacher of Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora Mexico and Sara Moncada, dancer, educator and cultural arts advocate to perform for us today.

We are also joined by Rosanna Raymond (Samoa), a true innovator of the Pacific art scene, founding member of Pacific Sistars. Recently awarded the Senior Pacific Artist Award at the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Awards. Rosanna has held distinguishing artist residencies including De Young in San Francisco, the University of Hawai’I at Mānoa. Her work and ‘Activations’ have been received around the world at the Metropolitan Arts Museum New York, Museum für Völkerkunde in Germany and in recently the Pacific Sistars exhibition at Te Papa.

This year, Ka Haka II has united with the International Indigenous Research Conference to examine, investigate, korero, express and perform the theme of ‘Old ways of knowing, new ways of doing’ and what might it means to call a performance 'authentic' in the Māori and Indigenous context? How might mis/representations of the 'authentic' in Māori and Indigenous culture in performance be seen to reflect, or not, the influence of colonisation, mediatisation and/or globalisation?

In this, we ask participants to stake a position in a conversation about the relationship between performance and authenticity in thedevelopment of Māori and Indigenous identities and communities.

Te Rangakura Mātauranga Māori – he āputa, he  ango, he houru.

Te taenga mai o te Māori ki Aotearoa, he kimihanga, he tirohanga, he hoetanga, he ngarotanga, he rangahautanga rānei ia nāna taua haerenga? He mahi māori noa iho rānei, he kitenga noa iho rānei? Āe rānei i mōhio te Māori ki te rangahau? Tēnā tatou ka amo ake i te whakapae, kāore rawa i mātua rangahautia te ao i ora ai rātou, heoi, i pātaihia te pātai, ka whakamātauhia te kaupapa, ka tau, ka ea te māhirahira; ka rongoātia te mate. Kua terea a Mahora-nui-ātea, kua rangawhenuahia a Tahora-nui, kua tihorea a Mahora-nui-a-Rangi, nā, e āki ana te rangahau a te Māori, o te Māori ki hea?

Interstices of Māori Knowledge and Development (MKD)

When Māori set sail across the Pacific many decades ago, were they searching, just having a look, merely paddling, disorientated, or was it a research endeavor? Were Māori historically conscious of research? Let us assume they weren’t particularly research-focused, like some of us, but were prompted by curiosity or necessity in some instances, after which some sound principles of operation were observed and developed.
The firmament, the great oceans, the crevices of terra firma have all been explored, what then remains in the quest to expand the knowledge economy of Māori and Indigenous peoples?

Over the past 30 years New Zealand has been engaged in the settlement of Treaty of Waitangi Claims brought against the Crown by Maori tribes. These settlements have varied greatly in quantum and in their particular terms as a consequence of the differences in their historic circumstances. The outcome  has been the transfer onto Maori collective ownership of in land, property fisheries and other instruments.  Figures vary greatly but it seems safe to predict that the cumulative collectively owned Maori economy will comprise some 15-20% of GDP within the next 30 years. Some say sooner.

The challenge of indigenous governance in the generation and distribution of this wealth is, however, considerable. First there is the challenge of maintaining and growing real capital wealth over time and intergenerationally. Successful precedents are rare.  Second there is the cultural and political leadership required to maintain an inter-generational kaupapa. Third there is the evolution of a collective philosophy of purpose of sufficient aspirational strength to achieve the first two!

It is contended that the only functional purpose of this recovered wealth is the intergenerational protection, maintenance and growth of indigenous heritage and identity. If a tribal nation’s history, identity and  cultural competence do not survive there is no point in preserving wealth over time. It makes more sense to cash up now and let our people merge into globalised anonymity.