title: Mahi Toi Skills in Contemporary Education, Training and Maori Development

authors: Joseph, Makarita Ngapine Tangitu

subjects: Kia mau ki nga taonga tuku iho o nga tupuna

abstract: Since the 1980’s, national investment in human capital and skill formation policy in education has been promoted as key to economic success and social inclusion. Social inclusion, however, is often expressed as helping citizens to become employable. Although employability is a key focus of skills formation and education policy, the context of the western ideologies that it derives from and caters to perpetuates the exclusion of mahi toi (arts and crafts) skills in education. Using a kaupapa Māori approach, two key informants who specialise and teach mahi toi skills, either rāranga (weaving) or pounamu (jade/greenstone), were interviewed. The aim was to get a better understanding of how these skills can contribute to personal, professional and Māori development in the 21st century, and to provide information indicating where and how these skills can be learnt, either through private training enterprises (PTE) or public tertiary educational institutions (TEI), thereby highlighting the value of teaching and learning rāranga and pounamu skills. Findings from analysing their pūrākau indicate that learning rāranga or pounamu skills can provide a foundation for believing in your potential, contribute to cultural identity, improve confidence and communication skills, help an individual be bestowed or acquire mana, offer a type of therapy, enhance career progression and professional identity, provide financial rewards and stability, and help with the revitalisation and transfer of cultural knowledge. Ultimately, it is concluded that mahi toi skills such as rāranga and pounamu can contribute to the development of an individual’s personal and professional lives, but also has benefits for the organisation where they become employed as well as extended whānau, hapū and iwi.

text: Mahi Toi Skills in Contemporary Education, Training and Maori Development Since the 1980’s, national investment in human capital and skill formation policy in education has been promoted as key to economic success and social inclusion. Social inclusion, however, is often expressed as helping citizens to become employable. Although employability is a key focus of skills formation and education policy, the context of the western ideologies that it derives from and caters to perpetuates the exclusion of mahi toi (arts and crafts) skills in education. Using a kaupapa Māori approach, two key informants who specialise and teach mahi toi skills, either rāranga (weaving) or pounamu (jade/greenstone), were interviewed. The aim was to get a better understanding of how these skills can contribute to personal, professional and Māori development in the 21st century, and to provide information indicating where and how these skills can be learnt, either through private training enterprises (PTE) or public tertiary educational institutions (TEI), thereby highlighting the value of teaching and learning rāranga and pounamu skills. Findings from analysing their pūrākau indicate that learning rāranga or pounamu skills can provide a foundation for believing in your potential, contribute to cultural identity, improve confidence and communication skills, help an individual be bestowed or acquire mana, offer a type of therapy, enhance career progression and professional identity, provide financial rewards and stability, and help with the revitalisation and transfer of cultural knowledge. Ultimately, it is concluded that mahi toi skills such as rāranga and pounamu can contribute to the development of an individual’s personal and professional lives, but also has benefits for the organisation where they become employed as well as extended whānau, hapū and iwi.

year: 2018

title: Have you heard of Hinehau? A research journey of reclamation

authors: Wakefield, Sandy

subjects: Te Tai Tokerau

abstract: As the Māori political and cultural movement continues to grow, issues of representation, power, and control are critiqued by Māori minds.
After discovering a tribal myth about the mana of a woman known as Hinehau, a chain reaction of enquiry develops into the reclamation of tribal knowledge.
By investigating the historical context surrounding the narrative of Hinehau, her story transcends the fairy-tale myth she was confined to, and exposes the rendering down of her story.
Under the umbrella of Western science, European and Pākehā historical archives created an enduring legacy of “Māori myth” that is synonymous with falsehood. Through the assertation of tribal oral tradition and connecting our experiences to our missing histories, Hinehau is relocated. The Hinehau story renews through reconnecting to mātauranga Māori, Ngāpuhi kōrero tuku iho and the creativity of the researcher. In this process, her story renews.
With the guidance of hapū members, mentors, and a diversity of literature, the narrative of Hinehau becomes a part of a much larger inter-tribal narrative held within an ancestral landscape which is sometimes hard to recognise in whenua we no longer have tribal autonomy over. Our Indigenous identity is still under threat as we are still “othered” in our tribal lands. This work contributes to pushing the envelope of what it means to think, exist, and challenge as tangata whenua in Aotearoa, where traditional tribal roles have been minimalised in society, or disappeared through generations of the colonial project (Tuhiwai Smith, 2012).

text: Have you heard of Hinehau? A research journey of reclamation As the Māori political and cultural movement continues to grow, issues of representation, power, and control are critiqued by Māori minds.
After discovering a tribal myth about the mana of a woman known as Hinehau, a chain reaction of enquiry develops into the reclamation of tribal knowledge.
By investigating the historical context surrounding the narrative of Hinehau, her story transcends the fairy-tale myth she was confined to, and exposes the rendering down of her story.
Under the umbrella of Western science, European and Pākehā historical archives created an enduring legacy of “Māori myth” that is synonymous with falsehood. Through the assertation of tribal oral tradition and connecting our experiences to our missing histories, Hinehau is relocated. The Hinehau story renews through reconnecting to mātauranga Māori, Ngāpuhi kōrero tuku iho and the creativity of the researcher. In this process, her story renews.
With the guidance of hapū members, mentors, and a diversity of literature, the narrative of Hinehau becomes a part of a much larger inter-tribal narrative held within an ancestral landscape which is sometimes hard to recognise in whenua we no longer have tribal autonomy over. Our Indigenous identity is still under threat as we are still “othered” in our tribal lands. This work contributes to pushing the envelope of what it means to think, exist, and challenge as tangata whenua in Aotearoa, where traditional tribal roles have been minimalised in society, or disappeared through generations of the colonial project (Tuhiwai Smith, 2012).

year: 2021

title: E G Jacoby: A Brief Historiography of New Zealand Demography

authors: Pool, Ian

abstract: Dr "Peter" Jacoby can legitimately be seen as the "founding father" of modern New Zealand demography. It was for this reason that the Population Association of New Zealand, with his widow's permission, have used his name for its student prize. Parenthetically, it can be noted here that the Goethe Society independently set up a Jacoby Prize -- I only learnt about this a year or so ago. In sum then, two professional bodies have recognised the contribution of Dr Jacoby to New Zealand Scholarship. Beyond this, representatives of the state library in the Landt where he had studied -- Schelswig -- came to New Zealand to collect the papers of this notable "native son" for their archives.

text: E G Jacoby: A Brief Historiography of New Zealand Demography Dr "Peter" Jacoby can legitimately be seen as the "founding father" of modern New Zealand demography. It was for this reason that the Population Association of New Zealand, with his widow's permission, have used his name for its student prize. Parenthetically, it can be noted here that the Goethe Society independently set up a Jacoby Prize -- I only learnt about this a year or so ago. In sum then, two professional bodies have recognised the contribution of Dr Jacoby to New Zealand Scholarship. Beyond this, representatives of the state library in the Landt where he had studied -- Schelswig -- came to New Zealand to collect the papers of this notable "native son" for their archives.

year: 2004