Rangahau Aranga: AUT Graduate Review

Welcome from Jacoba Matapo and Dr Dion Enari, Chair Associate Professor and Co-Chair of Moanaroa Pacific Research Network

Jacoba Matapo — 2024-08-15

Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Malo e lelei, Malo Ni, Bula Vinaka, Talofa and warm Pacific greetings.

We, as the Chair Associate Professor Jacoba Matapo and Co-chair Dr Dion Enari of Moanaroa Pacific research network, are thrilled to be contributing to the editorial of this special edition showcasing the reach of Pacific and Indigenous research across AUT. Our research as Chair and Co-Chair of Moanaroa Pacific Research Network is dedicated to realising Pacific research aspirations that centre Indigenous Pacific knowledge systems, research methodologies and practices shaped with and of direct benefit to Pacific communities (Enari et al, 2024).

We acknowledge the positionality of all contributors and the affirmative and strengths-based position of the research, highlighting complexities of navigation across disciplines, methodologies, and researcher positionality. The contributors of this edition are Pacific researchers, Pacific allies, and Indigenous peoples from other nations, however, sharing synergy in the unique and multifarious contexts and paradigms of graduate research.

As a Pacific and Indigenous special edition, we open the order of contributions with Tangata whenua. As a Māori/Tongan researcher reflecting on her doctoral journey as a doctoral student, Toakasi Raukura Keeti Amoamo's contribution is in the Māori language. Her work explores the intersectionality of postgraduate students with Māori and Pacific ancestry. As a native Māori speaker, she speaks of her upbringing within te ao Māori and the drawing upon of her Tongan roots.

The next article is by Fritz Filisi (Samoan), Sylvester Tonga (Tongan), Asim Mukhtar (Punjab). As Indigenous filmmakers, this provides the rationale for their projects and their positionality. Their research privileges their mother tongue, with English translations. These authors were raised in their respective homelands, and advocate for the importance of their Indigenous languages to be centred and affirmed, through having their contributions written in their native language first, with English translations second. This work adds to the growing body of scholarship that is now starting to use heritage languages forthrightly within academic publications, adding to the decolonisation movement both locally and globally.

From across the Pacific, i-Taukei (Indigenous Fijian) researcher Sainamili Nabou’s engages in a decolonising process, exploring insights from an I-Taukei perspective of Fijian early years development and Indigenous conceptualisations of childhood. She argues that the lack of Indigenous philosophy and content in the Fijian early childhood curriculum marginalises Fijian ways of being and Fijian indigenous knowledge systems. As a Fijian I-Taukei researcher, Sai shares her journey as doctoral student rediscovering, decolonising and affirming local indigenous wisdoms in Fijian early childhood.

As an ally (non-Pacific Indigenous researcher) Roxane de Waegh explores the significance of climate change in the Pacific, where her research highlights the socio-ecological systems inherent in the Cook Islands and Tonga. She advocates for the centring and privileging of Pacific voices and wisdom in climate change discourse.

The final article written by Cook Islands Māori Brandon Ufsby talks about how Cook Island Māori are a minority within the within the Pasifika minority in New Zealand. It explores how the term Pasifika was designated for New Zealand-born Pasifika peoples and defined by other Pasifika groups. This article provides the rationale to the author's master's research, which explores the lived experiences of Cook Islands Māori in New Zealand universities and their relationship within the Pasifika term.

The research compiled in this collection presents a powerful testament to the dynamism and depth of Pacific and Indigenous scholarship, reflecting insightful engagement with diverse epistemologies and methodologies that cross disciplinary boundaries. Each contribution uniquely advances an understanding of the complex socio-cultural, ecological, and linguistic landscapes of the Pacific region, highlighting the resilient and adaptive capacities of its peoples. Together, these studies not only bridge gaps but also forge new connections among Pacific peoples, allies, communities, and industries, nurturing the 'vā'—the relational space between elements, enhancing collective and distinct identities within Pacific research (Matapo & McCaffery, 2022). This special edition stands as a compelling advocacy assemblage. Through this work, the affirmation of Indigenous and Pacific identities, methodologies, and knowledge systems, seeks a more inclusive and decolonised academic discourse. In the spirit of fa’amoemoe (hopes/aspirations), we hope this issue bridges and nurtures the vā between Pacific researchers, Pacific communities, allies and the wider University.

Ia manuia.

Chair of AUT Moanaroa Pacific Research Network, Associate Professor Jacoba Matapo

Co-Chair of AUT Moanaroa Pacific Research Network, Dr Dion Enari

Kairangahau Tangata Māori Tangata Tonga: Tūhinga Kairangi Te Reo Māori

Toakasi Raukura Keeti Amoamo — 2024-08-14

Ko tēnei te wāhanga whakarāpopoto o taku tuhinga kairangi i roto i te reo Māori he tūmomo whakamārama tēnei ki ngā kaipānui me pēhea ngā ākonga tangata Māori e whai ana i te ara rangahau o te tohu paerua me te whakapapa e tūhono ai ki ngā moutere o te moana nui a kiwa hei whakatauira i tōku ake rangahau me tōku ake whakapapa nō Tonga penei i ahau he koroua he tipuna matua tōku nō Tōnga me pehea te tangata e whakaara ake i te mana whakaarotau ahurea i roto i ōnā mahi katoa. Mai i taku tirohanga o te mokopuna o Te Whānau-ā-Rutaia o Te Whānau-ā-Apanui. Ko te ahurea whakaarotau me ngā tohu hei whakamana i tēnei mea te whakapapa o tana koroua nō te moutere o Tonga. Ko tēnei mea te whakapapa me te reo Māori me ōnā tikanga te waka huia hei kawe i te wairua o te tuakiri hapū. Hei tautoko i tēnei kereme e whakapae ana ko te tuatahi me whakamihi i te ngana me te kaha o te kairangahau ki te tuhituhi me te kōrerorero i roto i te reo Māori ko te reo tuarua ko tōnā tikanga ā iwi, tikanga matatika me ngā tikanga tuku iho e hāngai puu ki te ao kōrero Māori o ōnā iwi katoa hei whakahaumaru i te oranga o te taiao me te Mātauranga o te ao Māori. Ko te tuatoru o tēnei o tēnei tuhinga roa he whakaae i ahau hei kaiuru o taku hapū a Te Whānau ā Rūtaia, he whakanui hoki i taku kaiurutanga hei mokopuna o taku kainga tūturu. Ki te hoki atu taku tinana ki te ukaipo o te whenua e kore au e ngaro he kakano ahau i ruia mai i Rangiātea. Ki te hoki atu taku tūpāpaku ki te koopu o te whenua ko Rūtaia taku hapū, ko Ōmāio taku whenua he waahi motuhake e kore e whakaaukati i taku whānau otira ko taku whenua me taku whakapapa ā hapū hoki. Otira e mihi ana, e kore te aroha e mimiti noa.

This summation of my doctoral research, which is a written (not practice-led) thesis in te reo Māori, is somewhat of an explanation to readers of how Māori postgraduates with ancestry from Pacific countries, like me with a maternal grandfather from Tonga, might apply cultural priority in their work. From my perspective as a mokopuna (granddaughter) of Te Whānau-ā-Rūtaia hapū of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui iwi, cultural priority signals that although I acknowledge my Tongan descent on mum’s side, I prioritise my whakapapa Māori (Māori lineages) and tikanga Māori (Māori customary practices) on dad’s side. The ancestry and traditions rooted in the land where I was born and raised, the land where my people are the Indigenous population, take precedence for multiple reasons. Firstly, I am a Native speaker of te reo Māori, the language of Māori tribes. Secondly, I practice the beliefs, ethics, customs, and way of living belonging to a Māori knowledge system and worldview. Thirdly, and no less important than the preceding points, is the social acceptance of my Rūtaia people that I belong to them. If and when I pass away, I can therefore return home to Ōtūwhare marae for burial, and no one will question whether I have the cultural rite of passage to be buried in the urupā of our bones, our people. I am Māori by culture.

Creating nonfiction film in our mother tongue: Samoan, Tongan, Punjabi

Fritz Filisi — 2024-08-15

We are three postgraduates of Te Ara Poutama Faculty at Auckland University of Technology. We have written a collective piece as a distinct group who emigrated from villages, districts, and countries outside of Aotearoa. We are nonfiction filmmakers creating film in our mother tongue; Fritz in Samoan, Sylvester in Tongan, and Asim in Punjabi. Through our shared experiences we have become trusted friends and collegial support for one another. Consciously, we chose to take up practice-led research in a faculty of Māori students and staff for cultural and strategic reasons. That very same rationale has prompted us to co-author our paper as contributors to a small but growing number of Aotearoa language films made by practitioners who although are not Indigenous to the lands we are living on, are, however, descended from the original inhabitants in our countries of origin.

To impress upon readers the importance of why we create Samoan, Tongan, and Punjabi nonfiction film for, and with, our language communities, we have used this publication to make a point of authoring our individual stories in Samoan, Tongan, and Punjabi, with an accompanying English translation. The true sense behind the ideas we are conveying with words and images is therefore contained in the Samoan, Tongan, and Punjabi texts. By contrast, the English translation is our humble interpretation that we feel falls short of communicating the complexly woven fabric of meaning found in the original language. For this reason, the English translation is secondary to the mother tongue.

An Indigenous Fijian Perspective: Prioritising Indigenous Fijian values and aspirations in decolonising Early Childhood Education.

Sainimili Saro Nabou — 2024-08-14

As an Indigenous Fijian scholar and PhD candidate from the Faculty of Culture and Society at Auckland University of Technology, my doctoral research study underscores the crucial role of Indigenous Fijian values and aspirations in decolonising Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Fiji. I illuminate how prioritising these values in educating Indigenous Fijian children can contribute to the broader decolonisation of education. The formalisation of ECE in Fiji from 1990 to the late 2000s, while a positive step, has primarily been influenced by Western education systems and ways of thinking. This short article outlines Fijian early childhood education research needs, stressing the urgency and necessity of understanding Indigenous Fijian viewpoints in early childhood development, care, well-being, and education. Introduced is the Indigenous Fijian methodology known as 'veiwasei yaga’, which incorporates Talanoa discussions and the Fijian Vanua Research framework involving Fijian cultural practices and protocols. Shared are the preliminary phases of the study, which include some personal reflections on what decolonising the mind looked like and what indigenous wisdom meant in the early stage of this research.

Exploring the resilience of Pasifika peoples to a global disruption by developing meaningful relationships with local research partners in the Kingdom of Tonga and the Cook Islands: the heart of my doctoral research journey.

Roxane de Waegh — 2024-08-14

The prevailing view in international development discourse is that Pacific Islands Countries (PICs) are highly vulnerable to exogenous disruptions, including socio-economic shocks and extreme weather events linked to the adverse impacts of climate change (Birkmann et al., 2022; Lee and Zhang, 2023). This disempowering framing of PICs is largely shaped by western perceptions of vulnerability, success, and wellbeing, which often do not translate to local cultural constructs (Movono et al., 2023). Furthermore, the discourse on vulnerability re-enforces the dominant narrative of PICs as externally dependent and passive in the face of global disruptions, stripping Pasifika peoples of their agency and self-determination efforts to engage in the global economy on their own terms. It also negatively impacts their ability to adapt to exogenous disruptions according to approaches they themselves have developed. This study aimed to challenge the reductionist framings of PICs by exploring the adaptive responses of Pasifika peoples in the Kingdom of Tonga and the Cook Islands, through their perceived ability to support the wellbeing of their communities and natural environments during the global disruption of COVID-19.

Minorities in the minority: Cook Islands Māori and the Pasifika umbrella category

Brandon Ulfsby — 2024-07-04

In only a few years, public institutions have favoured the term Pasifika as an umbrella category for more than 380,000 people living in Aotearoa New Zealand. Pasifika has a purpose: irrespective of ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity, it sweeps together eight percent of the country on the premise that this sub-population claims ancestry from different Pacific Islands states and territories in the Pacific region. Pasifika has backers: New Zealand citizens working in the education and health sectors, even in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, apply this classification over New Zealand’s Pacific population. Explicitly, Pasifika points to Pacific generations born in New Zealand who outnumber their migrant grandparents or parents, aunties, and uncles born in Pacific Islands states and territories. Because of Pasifika’s New Zealand-ness, it is assumed people bunched into this category cannot be called Pacific Islanders. Instead, they are named Pasifika, an islander-sounding made-up transliteration of Pacific.