May 30, 2017
Waka builder Busby inspiration for Awanuiarangi
The head of Te Wananga o Awanuiarangi, Wiremu Doherty, says an honorary doctorate for a master waka builder was a great way to mark the Whakatane-based tertiary institute's first 25 years.
Hekenukunaui Busby received the tohu on Friday, alongside six new PhDs, 19 Masters degrees, a couple of hundred bachelor's degrees and more than a thousand certificates.
Professor Doherty says wananga are places where indigenous knowledge is respected and celebrated, and people can pursue research without having to set aside their identity as Maori.
He says engineers and scientists around the world have marveled at double-hulled waka and the work Dr Busby did not just to reconstruct one but to reveal the navigation traditions behind Polynesian voyaging.
"The revitalisation of that whole body of knowledge that would have been lost if it hadn't been for key people like Hekenuku, not only have they revitalised it, they have grown that passion. Now you have got a very strong dedicated core of people who are going to take on the work he has done to ensure the body of knowledge is not lost to our generations." Professor Doherty says.
Awanuiarangi is attracting international students who want to learn in an indigenous environment and find ways to revitalise their own language and culture.
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