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September 18, 2023
Think tank taps indigenous knowledge
Peter Verschaffelt
Posted On September 18, 2023
Download AudioTwo Māori researchers have been shoulder-tapped for a new US think tank aimed at tapping into indigenous knowledge to address climate change, changing food systems and threats to sacred places.
Associate Professor Maui Hudson, who is director of the University of Waikato’s Te Kotahi Research Institute and colleague Dr Haki Tuaupiki will work with the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science based at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Professor Hudson says climate change is forcing agencies like the US National Science Foundation, which is investing US$50 million into the project, to try different approaches.
“They’re sort of big challenges and there’s not one way of approaching it and so as our communities have to deal with that on things like the way there mahinga kai works, there’s solutions that come out of our own matauranga or for other indigenous populations, their own indigenous knowledge , then that can be used alongside information that comes from a science arena to chart the best path forward,” he says.
Professor Hudson will lead a group across five hubs around the world looking at how knowledge gained from communities can be shared while protecting indigenous data sovereignty and intellectual property rights.
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