Barbara Makuati-Afitu - Pacific Perspectives: Re-connecting Pacific Communities...
Channel: NDF - National Digital Forum
Date: 2017-11-28

Tuesday, November 21 • 12:00 - 12:15

Pacific Perspectives: Re-connecting Pacific Communities with their Collections

Barbara Makuati-Afitu
Community Engagement Facilitator and Kolokesa Mahina-Tuai Project Curator Pacific, Auckland War Memorial Museum


AM’s Pacific Collection Access project (PCAP) is a three year project (2016-2019) focussed on cataloguing, conservation and creating safe and accessible storage for 5,000+ objects in the Museum’s Pacific collection. PCAP is working on the collections that the Museum holds from 13 island nations. A major focus of PCAP is seeking out the expertise of ‘cultural knowledge holders’ from the various Pacific source communities to enhance the information the Museum holds on the collection. Working closely with the community sources PCAP is incorporating Pacific languages and indigenous terms of objects, techniques and materials into the Museum’s collection management database, greatly enhancing and enriching the information the Museum holds on these treasures. The Museum is sharing this improved information via Auckland Museum’s Collections Online. 

In addition to the deep engagement occurring through the ‘cultural knowledge holders’, the project is also creating opportunities for source communities to visit the Museum and re-connect with their heritage and taonga. Our oral history/knowledge holder sessions are taonga in themselves. While enriching our records we are focussed on honouring our commitment to Teu le Va (our Pacific strategy). Ensuring like our collection that these oral taonga are protected through applying cultural permissions and restrictions is key to also protecting the sacred knowledge being shared by our cultural knowledge holders. 

Sharing our ‘enriched’ records online will ensure that all those (both Moana Pacific and non) will have an opportunity to learn from these Moana Pacific indigenous heritage knowledge holders and have access to them online.