He taonga kē te ngahere
The forest is an extraordinary treasure
Funded by: Mobilising for Action theme, of the Ngā Rākau Taketake stream of the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge
Date: July 2020-June 2023
Amount Awarded: $848,134
Project Team: Dr Natasha Tassell-Matamua, Dr Nicole Lindsay, Dr Pikihuia Pomare, Ms Ariana Apiti, Dr Kiri Dell, Dr Bridgette Masters-Awatere (Year 1 only), Dr Bevan Erueti (Year 1 only), Ms Mariana Te Rangi (year 1 only), Dr Andrea Grant (Years 2-3 only), Mr Nick Bowmast (Years 2-3 only), Mr Neihana Matamua (Year 2 only), Mr Te Rā Moriarty (Year 2 only)
Grounded in an Indigenous Psychologies framework, the research sought to better understand how Māori give value and meaning to te taiao, ngahere and taonga species.
In Year 1, through a series of focus groups with a range of rōpū Māori, findings revealed Māori valued te taiao, ngahere and taonga species, although this manifests differentially according to a range of factors. For example, kaumātua were often future-focussed and highlighted the need to develop solutions to protect ngahere and te taiao, with urgency, for future generations. In contrast, rangatahi were more socio-political and focussed on the resolution of issues related to land dispossession, systemic bias and colonisation, as these were considered to inhibit their agency to engage with ngahere and taiao. A commonality across the kōrero was that all rōpū had heard of kauri dieback, while very few had heard of myrtle rust. A range of Storymaps have been produced to reflect the findings from Year 1.
The purpose of Years 2 and 3 will be to better understand the aetiology of myrtle rust from a Western science and Kaupapa Māori perspective; amalgamate the information from both; wānanga with specific rōpū about these understandings; and co-create educational resources based on such understandings that are deemed appropriate for wider dissemination, particularly among Māori.
A further sub-project of this wider project is He taura here ki te taiao, which will map the temporo-placial-spatial relationship between the wider socio-historical-political-cultural-spiritual landscape and the discovery and trajectory of both kauri dieback and myrtle rust in Aotearoa New Zealand. Uutilising Kaupapa Māori grounded in wairuatanga, it will provide a contextualised holistic understanding of the genesis of kauri dieback and myrtle rust that speaks to notions of inter-relativity of all phenomena and the influence of wider scapes on these two biodiversity issues.
Project Outputs:
Storymaps
Dell, K., & Tassell-Matamua, N. (2021). Kānuka and whānau of the Whareponga Valley – He taonga kē te ngahere team Story Map. ArcGIS Online, DOI: https://arcg.is/1aanqS0
Keats-Farr, L., Tassell-Matamua, N., Lindsay, N., Matamua, N., & Baikalova, N. (2021). Meaning in Context. A sensory ethnography – He taonga kē te ngahere team Story Map. ArcGIS Online, DOI: https://arcg.is/1bWar00
Kora, A., & Tassell-Matamua, N. (2021). Te Taiao & Being Māori: A korero with Mason Durie – He taonga kē te ngahere team Story Map. ArcGIS Online, DOI: https://arcg.is/0SOf0u
Maikuku, V., Masters-Awatere, B., Lindsay, N., & Tassell-Matamua, N. (2021). Ko au te ngahere – He taonga kē te ngahere team Story Map. ArcGIS Online, DOI: https://arcg.is/1vD9i
Pomare, P. (2021). Te mauri o te Kauri me te ngahere – He taonga kē te ngahere team Story Map. ArcGIS Online, DOI: https://arcg.is/15DS8D1
Tassell-Matamua, N., Lindsay, N., Apiti, A., Baikalova, N., Townsend., J., & Matamua, N. (2021). Rangatahi Māori – He taonga kē te ngahere team Story Map. ArcGIS Online, DOI: https://arcg.is/15b0L9
Tassell-Matamua, N., Matamua, N., Apiti, A., & Lindsay, N. (2021). He taonga kē ngā kaumatua – He taonga kē te Ngahere Team Story Map. ArcGIS Online, DOI: https://arcg.is/KSGTv
Journal Articles
Apiti A., Durie-Kora, A., Moriarty, T., Matamua, N., Lindsay, N., Tassell-Matamua, N., Dell, K., Pomare, P., & de la Torre Parra, L. (2024). Mauri Hono: A mauri sensory methodology. Submitted to Methodological Innovations. (under review)
Apiti, A., Tassell-Matamua, N., Lindsay, N., Dell, K., Pomare, P., Erueti, B., Masters-Awatere, B., & Te Rangi, M. (2022). Indigenous Māori of Aotearoa (New Zealand): Environmental identity, rather than Māori identity per se, has greatest influence on environmental distress. Ecopsychology, ahead of print. http://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2022.0053
Apiti, A., Tassell-Matamua, N., & Moriarty, T. R. (2023). He taonga kē ngā kaumātua: Kaumātua perspectives of te taiao, ngahere and taonga species. Knowledge Cultures, 11(1), 19-33.
Dell, K., Komene, TM., Tassell-Matamua, N., Pomare, P., & Masters-Awatere, B. (2022). TE ARA O TE MOA: Patua te ngāngara e kai ana i ngā rākau taketake o Aotearoa. MAI Journal, 11(1), 34-39.
Erueti, B., Tassell-Matamua, N., Pomare, P., Masters-Awatere, B., Dell, K., Te Rangi, M., & Lindsay, N. (2023). ‘Pūrākau o te ngahere’: Indigenous Māori interpretations, expressions and connection to taonga species and biosecurity issues. Knowledge Cultures, 1, 34-54.
Pomare, P., Tassell-Matamua, N., Lindsay, N., Masters-Awatere, B., Dell, K., Erueti, B., & Te Rangi, M. (2023). Te mauri o te kauri me te ngahere: Indigenous knowledge, te taiao (the environment), and well-being. Knowledge Cultures, 1, 55-83.
Reports
Maikuku, V., Masters‐Awatere. B., & Whaanga, H. (2021). He taonga kē te ngahere. Nga pae o te maramatanga summer research internship 20/21 report. Waikato University.
Charlton, R., Masters‐Awatere. B., & Whaanga, H. (2021). He taonga kē te ngahere. Summer research scholarship 20/21 report. Waikato University.
Theses
Lily Keats-Farr. (2023). He Kākano Ahau: Exploring Everyday Engagement with Rongoā Māori and Well-Being. Thesis completed in partial fulfilment of a Master of Arts in Psychology, Massey University.
Presentations
Erueti, B., Tassell-Matamua, N., Pomare, P., Masters-Awatere, B., Dell, K., Te Rangi, M., & Lindsay, N. (2023). “Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamua”: Learning from our past to inform our future. Indigenous knowledge and tribal histories to advance human and environmental health. The Fifth Tohoku Conference on Global Japanese Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan December 9-10, 2023.
Erueti, B., Tassell-Matamua, N., Pomare, P., Masters-Awatere, B., Dell, K., Te Rangi, M., & Lindsay, N. (2023). “Toa Taiao”: Healing and (re)claiming through Indigenous storyscapes. Australian Public Health Conference: Investing in a strong, smart and sustainable public health system for the future (Hybrid Congress), Public Health Australian Association (PHAA), Hobart, Tasmania, September 26- 28, 2023.
Tassell-Matamua, N. (2023, April 14). Being an expert. Who gets to decide? Oral presentation at the Public Communication in Science annual conference. Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Tassell-Matamua, N. A., Lindsey, N., Dell, K., Erueti, B., Pomare, P., Masters-Awatere, B., & Te Rangi, M. (2021, June 30). He taonga kē te ngahere. The forest is an extraordinary treasure. Oral presentation at the Victoria University Centre for Science and Society Wānanga Series, Ōtaki.
