|
In 1987, I surprised myself when I discovered research. My research career was kicked into being through an invitation by two key mentors. The first was Professor Mason Durie who invited me to join the Royal Commission on Social Policy in 1987 as a member of thier research team. A second and important person in my research and writing career was(is) Dr Jock Phillips who in 1990 invited me to write a small introduction to researching iwi histories and traditions. At that time, Jock was Chief Historian at the Department of Internal Affairs. Both Mason and Jock were important in that they initiated and catalysed my research career.
In addition to these key experiences, I also developed my skills as a researcher during masterate and doctoral study. The masters dissertation contained a study of the chanted song poetry of my iwi (Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Toarangatira) and my doctoral dissertation concerned the 'whare tapere' which were pā-village based houses of entertainment, storytelling, music and dance. The last third of the doctoral dissertation presents a model for a new whare tapere and the doctoral study was completed since 1998. Since 1998, I have worked on various research projects all related in some way to traditional Māori knowledge (mātauranga Māori) and indigenous knowledge.
Indigenous Worldviews
In 2001 I was fortunate to receive a Fulbright New Zealand senior scholar award where I travelled to the United States and Canada to study indigenous worldviews. My report on this research can be found
here
.
Te Kaimānga: The Creative Potential of Mātauranga Māori
In 2002 I completed seven years as convenor of a masters programme in mātauranga Māori at Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa, Ōtaki. My next project was working on the
Vision Mātauranga policy for the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (see here)
My research interests lie in two directions: the
whare wānanga and the
whare tapere:
Whare Wānanga:
-
Philosophy and History of Mātauranga Māori
-
Indigenous Knowledge and Worldviews
-
Iwi History, Heritage and Identity
Whare Tapere
These interests lead me in a variety of exciting areas of learning and research including:
-
epistemology, the study of knowledge and its place in our experience of the world
-
worldview, the study of the way a people comprehend and understand the world
-
'border crossing', the relationships between particular kind of knowledge particularly arts, humanities and sciences
Creativity, the Creative Moment
Ultimately, however, I find my research is taking me closer and closer to creativity and particularly to the
creative moment. My latest research proposal concerns the possibility of creating a methodology of knowledge creation utilising aspects of mātauranga Māori and indigenous knowledge. |