Protecting Ngāti Tiipa hapū data sovereignty

About this research

PhD Candidate: Ella Ruth Newbold (Waikato, Ngāti Porou)

Primary Supervisor(s): Professor Tahu Kukutai

Tikanga approaches to protecting Indigenous data are crucial given growing data colonialism. While there is a large literature on Indigenous and Māori data sovereignty, hapū data sovereignty remains unexamined. This project explicitly addresses hapū data sovereignty for Ngāti Tiipa, one of the 33 hapū and iwi of the Waikato-Tainui confederation. It asks: How can tikanga support Ngāti Tiipa to protect, access and use their data in ways that benefit whānau?

Western concepts of information privacy are the current default for protecting individual data privacy but are poorly placed to address Māori perspectives on data protection and sharing. From a Te Ao Māori standpoint, data is inherently relational - concepts such as mana and tapu are important for understanding and protecting individual and collective privacy. The Tikanga in Technology team, based at The University of Waikato, have developed a Māori data privacy framework and this study will test its relevance as a use case study with Ngāti Tiipa who have developed their own digital pātaka and comprehensive tūpuna database. In so doing it will draw on the mātauranga, knowledge and experience of Ngāti Tiipa to collectively share, develop and debate concepts to guide wise decision-making around hapū data sovereignty and privacy.