February 20, 2024
Research giving tools for action
Indigenous knowledge expert Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal says Māori communities need to be able to generate good research to protect what is precious to them.
Dr Royal is running a one-year training programme, An introduction to research for tangata whenua communities, out of Wharekawa Marae at Kaiaua in the Firth of Thames.
He says research topics identified through the programme include the impact of increased marine farming, deforestation, whanau-hapu fragmentation and loss of basic whakapapa knowledge.
The option of relocating Auckland Port to the Firth of Thames is also something his Ngati Paoa and Ngati Whanaunga hosts want the tools to challenge.
“You know that’s a massive challenge! That would absolutely wreck Tikapa Moana – to move Auckland Port into the Firth od Thames. Things like that and so these kinds of issues and the issues that we face, you cannot address them powerfully without doing research,” Dr Royal says.
It’s not a degree-level course, but it does offer students a bridge to formal tertiary study.