April 26, 2022
Pukapuka shines light on Ngā Kete Wānanga
Manukau Institute of Technology’s Te Tari Mātauranga Māori is publishing a second edition of Ngā Kete Wānanga, the guide to the marae and wharenui Te Kete Uruuru Matua at its Ōtara campus.
Keith Ikin, the pou hautu of MIT and Unitec, says it will expand on the booklet written for the whare’s 1999 opening by master carver Pakaariki Harrison and tutor Peter. Boyd.
He says Te Kete Uruuru Matua and Ngākau Māhaki, the house carved by Lyonel Grant for Unitec’s Te Noho Kōtahitanga Marae, have helped a new generation of students reconnect with being Māori.
“It’s a place of learning. It’s a sanctuary. It’s a place where we engage on a regular place with our wider community. So the impact of the work both Paki and Lyonel have down in their building of these wharenui in a number of tertiary institutions around the country has been extremely significant,” Mr Ikin says.
He says maintaining the whare and the relationships with mana whenua and whanau is important work as the sector moves to the new national polytechnic Te Pūkenga.