Six new Māori Summer Scholarship projects for Te Hau Kāinga
Te Hau Kāinga is super excited about the Māori students undertaking research internships with us this summer. Last year we had three excellent students. Click on their names to see their work: Dylan Thomas, Connor Aston and Jordan Quinnell 1 &2. This year we are lucky the project can support six students. We also appreciate the funding for two of these students from the Humanities Māori Student Summer Bursaries at the University of Otago. So, who are these scolarship recipients?
A Legacy of Song: Contemporary Performance of WWII Waiata.
Bethany Waugh (Te Āti Awa) studies at the University of Otago. She has completed a BA majoring in Anthropology and Linguistics, with a minor in Ethnomusicology in 2020, and will start on Honours in Anthropology in 2021. She is passionate about the preservation and revitalisation of indigenous languages, cultures, and performing arts. Her specific interest lies in partnering with the peoples of Austronesia and the Pacific to create and recognise a living heritage that continues to inspire and give life to those who claim it as their own for generations to come.
Bethany will be focusing on Māori waiata composed during WWII as a living legacy. She will talk with people who still perform these waiata from the 1940s today, to understand their experiences of the songs, why they perform them, what connections they might carry to those who composed them, and why it is important to continue performing and reliving the stories that they tell. Her supervisors are Angela Wanhalla (primary) and Lachy Paterson.
Policing Te Whāiti, Farming Galatea, and defining Hau Kāinga
Rebecca Lee Ammunson (Raukawa ki Wharepūhunga, Te Whakatōhea, Ngāti Whakaue ki Hurungaterangi, Ngāti Whitikaupeka, Ngā Puhi me Ngāti Pākehā nō Nōwei, Ingarani, me Kōtirana) is a student at the University of Waikato. She has completed a BA in History and English and the intensive te reo Māori course, Te Tohu Paetahi, with plans to start Honours in History next year and continue learning te reo rangatira ake ake ake. Rebecca is invested in doing her part in re-indigenizing Aotearoa, improving the whakawhanaungatanga between ngā iwi Māori and ngā iwi Pākehā, and most importantly, reconnecting to whānau and whenua.
The aim of Rebecca's summer project is to produce a report that will centre the experiences of two families in Aotearoa from the 1930s, through the Second World War, to the 1950s, and into the present. These accounts will provide insights into the lives of people of Māori and Pākeha whakapapa who lived in rural areas outside their iwi whenua. She will interview a family friend who was a rangatahi at school in Te Whāiti, where his father was recruited as the district policeman. He worked on Pākehā farms in Kuhawaea (Galatea) and Rotorua during the war before travelling the world with the British Army. She will also talk with her grandmother, whose Pākehā father gained land at Kuhawaea through the post-war ballot system for returning soldiers. Rebecca will support her oral history interviews with archival research. Her supervisors are Angela Wanhalla (primary) and Lachy Paterson.
Post-war Experiences in Northland.
Leighton Williams (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Āpia (Kuki Airani)) studies both Māori Studies and Law at the University of Otago, and will be continuing these in 2021.
Leighton's summer research project will look at the relationship between the personal whānau experiences of rural Māori and interactions with the state during the post-war period. In particular, Leighton will document his grandmother’s early life and experiences in Pipiwai, Northland, until her transplantation into more urban environs in the 1960s. Erica Newman will be Leighton’s primary supervisor, supported by Lachy Paterson.
The Effects of WWII on Wharekāhika, East Coast.
Valerie Houkamau hails from Wharekāhika, and is currently studying Māori Studies at the University of Otago.
“Hei runga nei au o Pātangata, ka pae atu te titiro i Te Nukuroa nei, nā Te Ihorangi ka puta ko Aunui, heke mai ki a au. Ko Valerie Houkamau tōku ingoa. Ka heke mai au i Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Manawa, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Raukawa, Te Ātiawa whānui hoki. Ka hono ngā kāwai whakapapa, ka puta ko au. Tēnei tētahi o ngā mokopuna o Tūwhakairiora ka mihi.”
Ko tāna kaupapa kōrero e hāngai ana ki ngā tūmomo whakaaweawe i pā atu ki tōna hapū nō roto mai i te riu o Ngāti Porou i te hinganga o te pakanga tuarua o te ao. Ko tōna hiahia kia rangahautia, kia kōrerotia, kia whakarongotia ngā kōrero tawhito o mua nō roto mai i tōna haukāenga o Wharekāhika.
Valerie plans to write a report researching the impacts, legacies and effects of the WWII on her people in Wharekāhika. She will gather her information by listening, sharing, researching this historic era of events with kaumātua and pakeke of the Wharekāhika community. Her supervisors are Lachy Paterson (primary) and Angela Wanhalla.
The acquisition of ancestral land for military purposes.
Talia Ellison (Kāi Tahu, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Toarangatira) is currently completing a Master of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago.
Talia is excited to be involved in the Hau Kāinga project as a way of honouring her Ngāti Puketapu tūpuna and reconnecting with her whānau in Paraparaumu. The hapū’s land was taken for an aerodrome in 1939, which after the war became an airport and was never returned. Her main objective is research the history and geography of the rohe through consultation with kaumātua and pakeke. She will then compose an oriori, as a waka for this culturally significant knowledge, and as a means of reclaiming cultural identity. Talia’s supervisors are Lachy Paterson (primary) and Angela Wanhalla.
Māori in post-secondary education during the war years.
Zoe Thomas (Raukawa) was born and raised in Dunedin. She has just finished her second year at the University of Otago, studying History and Indigenous Development/He Kura Matanui, and will be continuing this in 2021.
Zoe plans to undertake research on Māori students in tertiary education during the war years. There is potential to compare different institutions during this time, such as teachers’ colleges and the medical school. The research may also extend to reflect on the impact of World War II on their education and the influence this had on their after-war life for some key individuals. Her supervisors are Miranda Johnson (primary) and Angela Wanhalla.
Image: "Christmas Morning at Te Whaiti. (1944) Five boys (and dog) from the Maori Boys Farm, on Christmas Day with their presents (boots?? stockings?). Including - (Left to Right) :---; Charlie ; Kiri ; Sam ; Kori.", Record: A-S8-39.64-127, Presbyterian Research Centre.