title: Oli Aenaguri’ai: An ethnography of socio-ecological relations and contemporary change in Baelelea, Solomon Islands.

authors: Faiau, James Kwaimani

abstract: This thesis presents a story circumnavigating the social and ecological relations and
contemporary changes in Baelelea inland villages on Malaita in the Solomon Islands. The
undertaken anthropological and ethnographic study draws on both traditional and
contemporary lifeworld of the Baelelea people living in Alafana. The thesis delves explicitly
into the human lived experiences, subsistence ways, traditional knowledge, and beliefs that
underscore their Indigenous ways of being and knowing. I positioned the research to investigate
the socio-ecological dynamics and to gain grounded understanding of Baelelea cultural
frameworks, including environmental epistemology, livelihood practices, religious orientation
to the environment, oral traditions and spiritual beliefs, and conceptualisation of livelihood
sustainability and natural resource management in the face of encroaching externalities of
christianity, colonialism and capitalism or globalisation.
The studied community of Alafana is small with disbursed population constituting of distinct
clan and family groups, all are Baelelea speakers (but with historical and cultural link to other
language groups in North Malaita). My ethnographic fieldwork and informants, by
disaggregation included few of the remaining elders who converted from the traditional
Baelelea religion of akalo (ancestors) to Christianity. Many others constituted first and secondgeneration
born Christians. In Alafana and West Baelelea villages generally apart from
conversion from traditional religion to Christianity, the biggest culture change is that people’s
lifeworld and livelihood have shifted from subsistence systems of reliance on land and the
forest to a mixed economy of increasing dependence on cash. A cultural rupture many
described as moving from the cultural notion of ‘to make a living’ to that of ‘to make money’.
In response and to counter the impending globalised system and social-culture, and ecological
changes, informants conceptualised about returning to the basic life of sustainable social living
and ecological productivity expressed in the metaphor oli aenaguri’ai –translated ‘return to the
tree root’. The metaphor as used in the thesis depicts Baelelea's conception of connectedness
and offers an anthropological perspective and deep conversations on the revitalisation of
traditional knowledge and interconnectedness with the environment as represented in myths
and oral traditions. A metaphorical tree root from Baelelea perspective represents the local
ontological perspective, which I propose can contribute to better understanding the cultural
landscape and multidisciplinary research approaches in interweaving indigenous knowledge
with science in sustainable agriculture systems and natural resources management.

text: Oli Aenaguri’ai: An ethnography of socio-ecological relations and contemporary change in Baelelea, Solomon Islands. This thesis presents a story circumnavigating the social and ecological relations and
contemporary changes in Baelelea inland villages on Malaita in the Solomon Islands. The
undertaken anthropological and ethnographic study draws on both traditional and
contemporary lifeworld of the Baelelea people living in Alafana. The thesis delves explicitly
into the human lived experiences, subsistence ways, traditional knowledge, and beliefs that
underscore their Indigenous ways of being and knowing. I positioned the research to investigate
the socio-ecological dynamics and to gain grounded understanding of Baelelea cultural
frameworks, including environmental epistemology, livelihood practices, religious orientation
to the environment, oral traditions and spiritual beliefs, and conceptualisation of livelihood
sustainability and natural resource management in the face of encroaching externalities of
christianity, colonialism and capitalism or globalisation.
The studied community of Alafana is small with disbursed population constituting of distinct
clan and family groups, all are Baelelea speakers (but with historical and cultural link to other
language groups in North Malaita). My ethnographic fieldwork and informants, by
disaggregation included few of the remaining elders who converted from the traditional
Baelelea religion of akalo (ancestors) to Christianity. Many others constituted first and secondgeneration
born Christians. In Alafana and West Baelelea villages generally apart from
conversion from traditional religion to Christianity, the biggest culture change is that people’s
lifeworld and livelihood have shifted from subsistence systems of reliance on land and the
forest to a mixed economy of increasing dependence on cash. A cultural rupture many
described as moving from the cultural notion of ‘to make a living’ to that of ‘to make money’.
In response and to counter the impending globalised system and social-culture, and ecological
changes, informants conceptualised about returning to the basic life of sustainable social living
and ecological productivity expressed in the metaphor oli aenaguri’ai –translated ‘return to the
tree root’. The metaphor as used in the thesis depicts Baelelea's conception of connectedness
and offers an anthropological perspective and deep conversations on the revitalisation of
traditional knowledge and interconnectedness with the environment as represented in myths
and oral traditions. A metaphorical tree root from Baelelea perspective represents the local
ontological perspective, which I propose can contribute to better understanding the cultural
landscape and multidisciplinary research approaches in interweaving indigenous knowledge
with science in sustainable agriculture systems and natural resources management.

year: 2024

title: Classroom observation: Some ethical implications

authors: Barnard, Roger

subjects: teaching

abstract: EFL teachers are increasingly under scrutiny – for reasons of quality control, teacher development, and empirical research. Attention needs to be paid to the different perspectives of the various participants in order to ensure that access to classrooms is negotiated sensitively, and that information derived from observation is not abused.

text: Classroom observation: Some ethical implications EFL teachers are increasingly under scrutiny – for reasons of quality control, teacher development, and empirical research. Attention needs to be paid to the different perspectives of the various participants in order to ensure that access to classrooms is negotiated sensitively, and that information derived from observation is not abused.

year: 1998

title: In defence of mātauranga Māori: A response to the 'seven academics'

authors: Waitoki, Waikaremoana

abstract: On 28 July 2021, a group of academics from the University of Auckland published a letter in the Listener, a well-known, non-academic magazine. The letter writers expressed their moral outrage that the Government’s NCEA curriculum working group proposed that science would be taught to Māori students along with its colonising history.

text: In defence of mātauranga Māori: A response to the 'seven academics' On 28 July 2021, a group of academics from the University of Auckland published a letter in the Listener, a well-known, non-academic magazine. The letter writers expressed their moral outrage that the Government’s NCEA curriculum working group proposed that science would be taught to Māori students along with its colonising history.

year: 2022-04-01