Projects

Tohunga Ahurewa: Ko mauri te whatu o te manawa [Vision is the Eye of he Soul]

Expertise: 
Traditional Knowledge

TOHUNGA AHUREWA: Ko te mauri te whatu o te manawa. [Vision is the Eye of the Soul].

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Te Ngako-o-te-rangi Te Tāwera

Towards the New Whare Tapere: The creative potential of mātauranga Māori in the performing arts

Expertise: 
Creative & Performing Arts, Te Reo Māori, Tikanga - Maori Customs, Traditional Knowledge

Whare tapere were pā based ‘houses’ of storytelling, dances, music, games, puppets and other entertainments. This research explores how fragments of traditional knowledge concerning the whare tapere can be used in a contemporary arts project.

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Charles Royal
Eamon Nathan

Triangulating on the mechanism for the lunar clock: Insights from the Māramataka and science

Expertise: 
Environment, Science / Engineering, Traditional Knowledge

The researchers will use wānanga, catch information, laboratory experiments in which the lengths of the day-night and tidal cycles are systematically varied, and simulation modelling to: identify similarities and differences between the Māramataka and science in understanding of the lunar rhythm; develop a consistent analysis and interpretation of patterns of variation in predictions of fish catch; and support transmission of the Māramataka across generations and iwi.

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Michael Walker

Virtual Repatriation: A database of Māori taonga in overseas museums

Expertise: 
History, Tikanga - Maori Customs, Traditional Knowledge

There are more than 16,000 Māori treasures held in overseas museums, art galleries and allied institutions. Unfortunately, the knowledge about many of these taonga has been mainly confined to museum personnel, academics and scholars who have visited these institutions. Māori people have been largely dislocated and alienated from their taonga and been the passive observers of the research and knowledge about them.

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Arapata Hakiwai

Waka Wairua: Landscape heritage and the creative potential of Māori communities

Expertise: 
Tikanga - Maori Customs, Traditional Knowledge
Region: 
New Zealand

This research will unravel heritage threads and leadership principles that connect New Zealand and Polynesia. It will explore narratives relating to entrepreneurial leaders, including the early navigators who travelled between Tahiti, Rarotonga and New Zealand.

The project will also examine outstanding Māori heritage landscapes in New Zealand and their creative potential. This project aims to acquire and collate orally-held knowledge from community leaders from across New Zealand and the Pacific (Tahiti and Rarotonga), which will then be made available in an online form.

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Merata Kawharu
Paul Tapsell