Three Māori researchers and cultural practitioners are heading to Oxford University to reconnect with taonga Māori held overseas and bring new knowledge home to whānau, hapū and iwi.
Digital heritage researcher Chanel Coromandel, master weaver and curator Hamuera Manihera, and cultural interpretation specialist Paora Tibble have been selected from more than 100 applicants as the inaugural Te Māori Fellows at Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum.
The seven-week residency, running from October 12 to November 29, is a partnership between Te Māori Manaaki Taonga Trust, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and the Pitt Rivers Museum, and places mātauranga Māori at the centre of research into taonga held in international collections.
Coromandel, of Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Apakura and Ngāti Whanaunga, will investigate photographic and manuscript collections connected with Mākereti Papakura, exploring how digital technology can support the safe care and reconnection of taonga with iwi.
Manihera, a recognised kaiwhatu, researcher and curator, will focus on early Māori textiles, including examples associated with the James Cook collection, combining customary knowledge with research into the care and interpretation of taonga.
Tibble, of Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Raukawa and Te Whānau ā Apanui, will examine how taonga Māori have historically been labelled and interpreted. His work will help develop a future Māori Language Interpretation Framework, aimed at restoring Indigenous voices and cultural context to taonga held overseas.
The fellowship revives the legacy of the groundbreaking Te Māori exhibition of 1984–87, with Te Māori Manaaki Taonga Trust seeking to build a new generation of Māori curators, researchers and cultural leaders capable of reconnecting taonga with the mātauranga and communities from which they came.
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