Te Hau Mihi Ata

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Te Hau Mihi Ata

• Te Hau Mihi Ata
• Nga Pae o te Maramatanga Conference
• Te Tatau Pounamu
• 9 June 2008

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - background

• A four year project funded by FRST
• Based on earlier and on-going research by the
  Native Science Academy www.oneearthoneuniverse.org
  www.silverbuffalo.orgRose von Thater-Braan,
  Leroy Littlebear

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - background

• Research TeamLinda Smith (PVC Maori Waikato
  University)Maui Hudson (ESR)Sarah-Jane Tiakiwai
  (Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi)Murray Hemi
  (Tahitanga)

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Te Hau Mihi Ata earlier research
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Te Hau Mihi Ata earlier resaerch

• Helped to
• Distinguish/describe Matauranga Maori knowledge
  systems
• Record the negative impacts/experiences of
  non-dialogue-based interactions
• Outline what ought to occur so as to avoid future
  further negative experiences

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - research

• Aims to contribute positively to
• Process and tools for dialogue between knowledge
  systems
• Capability of science and traditional knowledge
  to engage in joint research
• Informed debate on new and emerging technologies

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - research

• Aims to support the
• Creation of new knowledge
• Continued evolution of matauranga Maori

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Te Hau Mihi Ata research
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Te Hau Mihi Ata - barriers

• General
• Age
• Gender
• Language
• Historical experience
• Traditional/contemporary
• Written/oral record
• Status/validity
• Time

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - barriers

• Science
• Assumes to know or to be able to know everything
  that is observable/measurable
• That which cannot be observed/measured does not
  exist in a science paradigm
• Knowledge transferred above and beyond social
  context (universal phenomenon)

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - barriers

• Matauranga
• Hidden from the emotionally unstable, mentally
  unprepared, and the spiritually unworthy
  (Brahmin)
• Questions met with questions challenge/test/titi
  vate the mind
• Knowledge transfer always exists in a social
  context location or group specific

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - barriers

• Overall
• There are significant barriers
• One side wants to lay out all its trump cards
  asap
• The other throws out its little cards holding its
  trumps tightly

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - opportunities

• Despite the barriers there are still significant
  reasons to pursue dialogue for each party

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - opportunities

• Science
• Needs to be located in the context/norms of
  community public good science
• Ought to recognise there aspects of our earthly
  existence that defy science quantum physics
• New paradigms provide new insights to old problems

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - opportunities

• Matauranga
• Primary focus on preservation/retention/protection
  museum artifacts
• Seeks revalidation of itself / by other systems
• To flourish needs to be current and relevant for
  todays issues and technology

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Te Hau Mihi Ata in a nutshell

• In order for dialogue to occur
• Science needs to accept that it cannot explain
  all things and ought not to seek to preserve its
  own dominance at the expense of other ways of
  knowing
• Matauranga needs to engage (or not) with the
  concept of today and consider the consequences of
  doing so knowledge used and changed unused and
  lost

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - today

• We have completed our first wananga.
• Key negotiation points identified are
• Approach speak to opportunity rather than
  constraint
• Identity individual, group, male, female,
  young, old, expert, tohunga
• Relationships people and personalities

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Te Hau Mihi Ata - today

• We have still to consider the following
  challenges
• Time remains a barrier Maori dialogue processes
  are time (in)dependent and relationship based
• Language is a barrier lost in translation
• Is Matauranga ready to engage?