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Te Hau Mihi Ata. Te Hau Mihi Ata Nga Pae o te Maramatanga Conference Te Tatau Pounamu 9 June 2008. Te Hau Mihi Ata - background. A four year project funded by FRST
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Te Hau Mihi Ata Te Hau Mihi Ata Nga Pae o te Maramatanga Conference Te Tatau Pounamu 9 June 2008
Te Hau Mihi Ata - background • A four year project funded by FRST • Based on earlier and on-going research by the Native Science Academy www.oneearthoneuniverse.orgwww.silverbuffalo.orgRose von Thater-Braan, Leroy Littlebear
Te Hau Mihi Ata - background • Research Team:Linda Smith (PVC Maori Waikato University)Maui Hudson (ESR)Sarah-Jane Tiakiwai (Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi)Murray Hemi (Tahitanga)
Te Hau Mihi Ata – earlier resaerch Helped to: • Distinguish/describe Matauranga Maori knowledge systems • Record the negative impacts/experiences of non-dialogue-based interactions • Outline what ought to occur so as to avoid future further negative experiences
Te Hau Mihi Ata - research Aims to contribute positively to: • Process and tools for dialogue between knowledge systems • Capability of science and traditional knowledge to engage in joint research • Informed debate on new and emerging technologies
Te Hau Mihi Ata - research Aims to support the: • Creation of new knowledge • Continued evolution of mātauranga Māori
Te Hau Mihi Ata - barriers General: • Age • Gender • Language • Historical experience • Traditional/contemporary • Written/oral record • Status/validity • Time
Te Hau Mihi Ata - barriers Science: • Assumes to know or to be able to know everything that is observable/measurable • That which cannot be observed/measured does not exist in a science paradigm • Knowledge transferred above and beyond social context (universal phenomenon)
Te Hau Mihi Ata - barriers Matauranga: • Hidden from the emotionally unstable, mentally unprepared, and the spiritually unworthy (Brahmin) • Questions met with questions – challenge/test/titivate the mind • Knowledge transfer always exists in a social context –location or group specific
Te Hau Mihi Ata - barriers Overall: There are significant barriers: One side wants to lay out all its trump cards asap The other throws out its little cards holding its trumps tightly
Te Hau Mihi Ata - opportunities Despite the barriers there are still significant reasons to pursue dialogue for each party
Te Hau Mihi Ata - opportunities Science: • Needs to be located in the context/norms of community – public good science • Ought to recognise there aspects of our earthly existence that defy science – quantum physics • New paradigms provide new insights to old problems
Te Hau Mihi Ata - opportunities Matauranga: • Primary focus on preservation/retention/protection – museum artifacts • Seeks revalidation – of itself / by other systems • To flourish needs to be current and relevant for today’s issues and technology
Te Hau Mihi Ata – in a nutshell In order for dialogue to occur: • Science needs to accept that it cannot explain all things and ought not to seek to preserve its own dominance at the expense of other ways of knowing • Matauranga needs to engage (or not) with the concept of today and consider the consequences of doing so – knowledge used and changed unused and lost
Te Hau Mihi Ata - today We have completed our first wananga. Key negotiation points identified are: • Approach – speak to opportunity rather than constraint • Identity – individual, group, male, female, young, old, expert, tohunga • Relationships – people and personalities
Te Hau Mihi Ata - today We have still to consider the following challenges: • Time remains a barrier – Maori dialogue processes are time (in)dependent and relationship based • Language is a barrier – lost in translation • Is Mātauranga ready to engage?