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The centre for Maori research excellence, Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga, is looking for what is distinctive about Maori and how that contributes to the whole nation.
It's holding a symposium on the topic in Rotorua next month, in collaboration with Te Arawa Research Hub.
Director Charles Royal says things like Maori language can't be sourced from anywhere but Maori communities and they provide a rich source of creativity.
"The focus of the symposium is to explore those things that are distinctively and uniquely Maori and to think about them in a positive way and to think about the creative possibilities of these things: Te Reo Maori and literature in the Maori language, matauranga Maori in the arts, matauranga Maori in the sciences, and what we call ahi kā or iwi creative enterprises," Professor Royal says.
Other contributors will include Te Arawa educationalist Toby Curtis, Maori language commission chair Erima Henare, kapa haka exponent Wetini Mitai-Ngatai, and academics from Auckland, Waikato, Victoria and Otago universities.
Copyright © 2013, Uma Broadcasting Ltd
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