November 29, 2017
Team hailed for living Maori research
Putting Maori communities and kaupapa at the centre of their research has won Waikato University’s Te Kotahi Research Institute this year’s New Zealand Research in Education group award.
Director Leonie Pihama says the institute was set up at the initiative of the university’s iwi council Te Roopu Manukura, so it started with a vision of doing research that could lead to transformative change.
Over the past five years it has conducted a range of projects, including assessing the value of kapa haka, identifying gaps in te reo Maori research, and seeing how Maori health providers approach healing.
She says it doesn’t shy away for the political implications of kaupapa Maori initiatives and colonial mechanisms.
"So we tend not to do a lot of evaluations as such as opposed to looking at research questions that our people want answered and so part of that is having a political position around what is the role of the crown, what is the position of Te Tiriti o Waitangi," Associate Professor Pihama says.
Te Kotahi Institute wants to encourage research that helps people and organisations live as Maori.
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