Tiakina Te Pā Harakeke: Indigenous Knowledge and Engagement as a process of transformation for Wellbeing.

Over the past 25 years I have been involved in an extensive range of researcher initiated and commissioned projects. I have also been active in the development of Kaupapa Māori theoretical and methodological approaches.  Kaupapa Māori is an Indigenous theory of transformation.  It is a critical pathway for the realization of strong Treaty based relationships within Aotearoa.  This is the focus of the work that I am committed to. It is a focus that advocates the transformation of thinking. It is about challenging our fundamental assumptions about the relationships of Indigenous Nations and our Treaty partners. 

Kaupapa Māori engages us in a process of both decolonizing and indigenizing spaces. Those spaces are multiple. They are also intergenerational.  This workshop will engage in a process of re-centering Indigenous knowledge.  We will explore ideas of what constitutes knowledge, how is knowledge prioritized, how are interests served by the construction of knowledge hierarchies and how do we seek to acknowledge and affirm the centrality of Indigenous knowledge as pathways for transforming current inequities experienced by many Indigenous Nations.  Kaupapa Māori approaches position Māori knowledge as the solution.

In the project ‘Tiakina Te Pā Harakeke: Traditional Māori Approaches to Child Rearing’ we drew upon mātauranga Māori (traditional knowledge) as a way of guiding us to a return to collective wellbeing for our tamariki (children) and mokopuna (grandchildren). It is about returning to Indigenous knowledge as a basis of informing our pathways for current and future generations.  This workshop is for those participants that wish to seek pathways that include Māori and Indigenous Peoples and knowledge in meaningful and enduring ways within their work and lives.