“Write (Right) the World”: The benefits of publishing in Te Kaharoa: The eJournal on Indigenous Pacific Issues for Master of Applied Indigenous Knowledge students, 2018-2019

Abstract

Since my arrival at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in mid-2017, I have taught students the importance of “writing/righting the world” through publishing. Over 2018-2019, I worked with eleven Master of Applied Indigenous Knowledge students from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa who published a total of 18 articles— centred on their postgraduate work—in Te Kaharoa: The eJournal on Indigenous Pacific Issues, based at Auckland University of Technology. This paper will argue that publishing in a peer-reviewed journal generated benefits for Indigenous communities and themselves. In 2019, I interviewed seven of these students to find out what particular benefits they believed had come out of the publishing experience. First, this paper will outline the Master of Applied Indigenous Knowledge programme; additionally, I will reflect briefly on my experience teaching the master’s since mid-2017. Second, this paper will identify the general benefits of student publishing. Third, this paper will display the interview questions and student responses, and using thematic analysis, this paper will identify the themes that emerged from the interviews. Last, this paper will identify the particular benefits that were experienced by the students from their publishing efforts.