Artworks depicting tui in Unitec\u2019s p\u0101 harakeke painted by artist and Maia M\u0101ori Centre lecturer Hohepa Renata, grace the walls of the newly-opened Ng\u0101 Wai a Te T\u016b\u012b M\u0101ori Research Centre.<\/p>\n
The name was gifted to Research Centre head Jenny Lee-Morgan and her team by Kaumatua Wairangi Dr Haare Williams, Unitec\u2019s former Pae Arahi, and the first M\u0101ori Advisor to the Chief Executive.\u00a0 It symbolises the centre\u2019s connection with the surrounding land, including the Puna (stream), that runs through the Mt Albert campus as well as the wider West Auckland community.<\/p>\n
Professor Jenny Lee-Morgan (Waikato-Tainui) brings a wealth of experience and mana to her role after prestigious stints in the community, tertiary and business sectors, but says that her involvement in the new M\u0101ori research centre is one of the proudest moments of her professional career.<\/p>\n
Understanding that research has been a powerful tool of colonisation in the past, it is critical to progress Kaupapa M\u0101ori research today.\u00a0 \u201cIt helps re-frame how we\u2019re talked about and referenced\u201d, says Jenny.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s important that M\u0101ori are able to assert the M\u0101ori perspective and understand the true value of it\u201d.<\/p>\n
Through the centre\u2019s research projects, Jenny says they\u2019re working to reclaim M\u0101tauranga M\u0101ori \u2014 goals, aspirations and issues from an indigenous perspective \u2014 and using M\u0101ori concepts, knowledge, theories and practice to think about and solve contemporary issues in society. She\u2019s not interested in research for research\u2019s sake. It must address people\u2019s needs, improve conditions, and enhance lives, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur success as a Kaupapa M\u0101ori research centre will be measured in the way wh\u0101nau, hap\u016b, iwi and communities value the research we do,\u201d says Jenny.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s useful at a basic level \u2013 it helps give a voice to M\u0101ori.\u00a0 But it also goes much wider than that through the presentation of world views and experiences, a commitment to finding innovative solutions, or finding a way to voice protest to specific ideas or ways to intervene in complex issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny is immensely proud of her launch team which includes\u00a0prominent researchers Irene Kereama-Royal, Rau Hoskins, Rihi Te Nana, and Dr Tia Reihana.\u00a0Each Kaupapa M\u0101ori researcher brings a high level of knowledge in respective areas of expertise, and engage in projects that seek to contribute to M\u0101ori whanau, hapu, iwi and community development and transformation.<\/p>\n
The research team looks set to grow as they collaborate with others on more projects. Jenny says the key strengths of an effective researcher are agility, responsiveness, engagement and an awareness of how research is part of teaching and learning.\u00a0The concept of rangahau (research) is how it can help weave together a range of different perspectives to select the pathway best suited.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to have M\u0101ori researchers involved because of their cultural connectedness and a belief that we can find answers to our problems.\u201d\u00a0Jenny recently spoke to Waatea Radio<\/a><\/span> about her vision for the Kaupapa M\u0101ori research centre.<\/p>\n Lee-Morgan, Hoskins and team are well-known for their the Te Manaaki o te M\u0101rae<\/a><\/u> project, funded by the Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge. The project is based at Te Puea Memorial Marae in Mangere, a marae that has dealt with the problem of homelessness directly in recent years by opening its doors, providing nurturing care, and helping people into work and homes of their own.<\/p>\n See the winter 2018 issue of Unitec\u2019s Advance<\/u><\/a> research magazine for more on this project, and on Unitec\u2019s work in the Kaupapa M\u0101ori research space.<\/p>\n We will have updates for you soon about the republication of the Te Manaaki o te M\u0101rae report on Unitec\u2019s ePress platform, and new publications coming out of Ng\u0101 Wai a Te T\u016b\u012b.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Artworks depicting tui in Unitec\u2019s p\u0101 harakeke painted by artist and Maia M\u0101ori Centre lecturer Hohepa Renata, grace the walls of the newly-opened Ng\u0101 Wai a Te T\u016b\u012b M\u0101ori Research Centre. The name was gifted to Research Centre head Jenny… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21,270,1],"tags":[452,488,491,489,492,490,137],"class_list":["post-3241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advance-magazine","category-featured","category-research-and-enterprise-office","category-uncategorized","tag-homelessness","tag-kaupapa-maori","tag-maori-housing","tag-maori-research","tag-matauranga-maori","tag-nga-wai-a-te-tui","tag-unitec"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3241"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3246,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3241\/revisions\/3246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/UnitecResearchBlog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}