Shifting the System: Battling uncertainties and activating agentic school leadership practices

a [Tongan/Pālangi, from the villages of Makaunga and Kolovai, Tongatapu; and Tefisi, Vava’u] Centre for Arts and Social Transformation, Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. [Orcid id: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8165-2478] b [Samoan from the villages of Sālua and Faleū, Manono Tai] Waimahia Intermediate School, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. c [Pālangi] Te kura Toi Tangata School of Education, Waikato University, Aotearoa New Zealand d [Samoan/Tokelauan/Fijian, from the villages of Samoa Mulivai Safata, Pu’apu’a, Savalalo, Lotopa; Tokelau Fakaofo; Fiji Bureta Ovalau] School of Education, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland [Orcid id: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2596-379X ] e [Samoan from the villages of Lalomanu (Upolu), Apolima Tai, and Lano (Savaii)] Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand f [tribal affiliation Ma‘ufanga, Taunga Vava‘u, ‘Eua, Niuafo‘ou (Tonga), Satalo (Samoa), Alofi (Niue)]. Faculty of Medical Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand.[Orcid id: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6141-961X]

Our implementation of Pasifika/Pacific in this editorial deliberately positions the historical and educational aspirations and challenges our people have faced in their wayfinding across the diaspora as well as negotiations of their shifting identities in Aotearoa whenua (land) (Iosefo et al., 2020;Samu, 2013). Our academic leaders Si'ilata et al(2017) have advocated for the dual use of Pacific/Pasifika as identifiers because to ignore one is to ignore our migrant struggles and aspirations in Aotearoa and the wider Pacific region. Throughout the special issue, the authors utilise Pasifika and Pacific when referring to peoples that have cultural affinity to places in Te Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa.
We convene this special issue from Aotearoa New Zealand, a whenua with a long colonial history that has impacted, and continues to impact Māori, its tangata whenua, the Indigenous people of this land we live on. While our intention is not to go into the long and violent history of colonisation and its impacts on tangata whenua, we wish to draw attention to the use of Indigenous and Indigeneity in this special issue because it has ethical and political ramifications on critical voice and agency. The term Indigenous can be a highly contested term, with debates focused on tensions of belonging. Although Indigeneity's contested terrain is not unpacked in detail, we foreground the complexity present in the term itself and how it is employed in this special issue. The United Nations articulates that, Indigenous peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment. They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. (United Nations,n.d.,para. 1) However, what we highlight here is that the terms Indigenous and Indigeneity hold meaning and histories that are contextualised in particular place-based politics and criticality. Alfred and Corntassel (2005) argue that, there are a range of differences among Indigenous peoples throughout the world and these differences are often made and remade in relationship with colonising settler societies. The term Indigenous as it is often used appears to homogenise 'native' experiences throughout the world under the umbrella of colonisation. This homogenising is a new form of colonial legacy that attempts to dismiss Indigenous experiences "through the erasure of the histories and geographies that provide the foundation for Indigenous cultural identities and sense of self" (Alfred & Corntassel, 2005, p. 598). We can battle this form of erasure by being purposeful in our use of the terms Indigenous and Indigeneity, by engaging critically within our settler colonial societies with debates focused on the employment of such terms. A key consideration by the editors of this special issue focuses on how we engage with/in these terms, whilst being Indigenous to 'a land' in the diaspora yet living on settler colonial whenua in Aotearoa New Zealand. These wonderings continue to impact our thinking and work within this space.

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Ethnographic Edge, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2022 Currently, the world is still coming to grips with the ongoing impact and effects of the  pandemic. This has been accompanied by the unsettling attacks this year by Russian forces on the Ukraine, as well as the United States of America launching attacks on the reproductive rights of its population with uteruses, by overturning the Roe vs Wade ruling. The special issue is grounded within this contemporary backdrop, where uncertainties continue to pervade our thinking, doing, and living in a society impacted by such upheaval. Government mandates for mask wearing and a range of Covid restrictions have been removed, which has left some in our nation fearful, while others are happy to see our nation return to 'normal'. Despite attempts to counter Covid-19 impacts, the ways in which diverse peoples and communities respond and interact have highlighted societal issues that may not have been visibly obvious to most people. Racism for one, inequitable access and distribution of resources (Kidman & Chu, 2019), issues of privilege and social class indifference across communities even within the same cities have exemplified in visibility. Yet in spite of these societal concerns, Māori and Pasifika/Pacific have intuitively taken on board their collective responsibilities and leadership, urging and disseminating information, working together to protect and nourish their whānau and wider communities. Consequently, we raise the questions: is the global pandemic the main issue or has Covid-19's presence amplified the inequalities within our society that have already existed for a long time, to surface and become more visible to us? What do the intuitive practices look like and how were they operationalised in the community?
The prefix "un-" indicates opposites and opposed meanings that force us to feel disoriented and somewhat disheartened. Uncertainties suggest the state of not knowing the certainties in life has led to our feeling uncomfortable and disoriented. Mātauranga Māori and Indigenous Pacific ancestral knowledges have always encouraged an appreciation of one's place in relation to all things in the world (Kaʻili, 2017). As such, one does not rely on one's own thinking, but on the understanding that he/she/they are part of something bigger, beyond them, and often beyond this world. Such an appreciation provides a comforting feeling, a sense of collective reliance, embracing one's presence in relation to, and in and amongst things and entities in the world (Mika, 2017). Carl Mika eloquently proposed the unknown (including uncertainties), though mysterious, have a place in settling our minds, thoughts, and hearts, collectively. The sharing of these stories was important -as educators, we know the prominence and dominance of western literature in our schools and institutions. Therefore, this was an opportunity to add our voices and stories to this space, prioritising our values and what is important to Pasifika/Pacific leaders from a strengths-based position. The addition of Pasifika/Pacific practitioner voices, from throughout Aotearoa, from the practitioners' perspectives is powerful and works to challenge dominant (western) discourse and practices of leadership. As Nigerian novelist and poet, Chinua Achebe, articulated, "until the lions have their historians, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter" (Achebe, 1994, para.

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Ethnographic Edge, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2022 10). This is an opportunity for Pasifika/Pacific leaders to tell their own stories in their own ways, for their own and their communities' purposes.
We have 13 articles in this special issue (Volume 6) with authors sharing their experiences across the Motu. The call for this special issue focused on Pasifika/Pacific leadership, which is also inclusive of our Māori cousins from the Pacific. We have authors with genealogical ties and whakapapa to, Aotearoa, The Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Tahiti, and parts of Europe. While as Pasifika/Pacific people we have similarities, we also have differences and nuances across our cultures within the Pasifika/Pacific. Through the writing in this issue, the authors highlight some of these differences and how culture and context shape the work they are doing.
The special issue is arranged across three key themes that were central to the work Pacific school leaders are enacting in their schools. Intermediate school principal. Her piece challenges the deficit thinking that is often still present around our Pacific students and calls for teachers to do better.

In his paper titled 5 W's and 1H: A reflection on educational leadership through my Pasifika lens,
Bertram Fa'afetai Iosia presents a somewhat confronting account of his schooling journey as a student through to his positioning now as a tumuaki (principal). He focuses on how culturally aligned leadership has influenced his leadership style as a school principal and calls on all educators to strive towards having a positive impact on students for meaningful change.
An important contribution to this special issue is provided by Samoan-Pālangi principal Stan Tiatia in his article titled Intentional leadership and vā critical shifts: A Samoan-Pālangi school principal's talanoa, where he provides a descriptive account of his intentional practices, stories of his lived experiences, and contextual learnings focused on shifting systems so that Pasifika students succeed as Pasifika.
The final article in this themed section is a reflective piece by first-time principal, Bernice Mata'utia. work that is occurring on the ground in our schools in Aotearoa. It highlights the way Pasifika/Pacific leadership is taking place, in reflective ways to challenge, shift, create, and promote systems of, and for, change. The work, as we read, is challenging, but it is also rewarding and demonstrates a pedagogy of care, collectivism, and responsibility that is at the core of the work Pasifika/Pacific educators in this volume are engaging in. It is work that is grounded in building a hopeful future with endless possibilities for generations to come.