About this research
PhD Researcher: Nova Paul (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine)(AUT)
Primary supervisors: Associate Professor Albert L.Refiti (AUT)
Project summary:
Drawing on Nova’s experimental kaupapa Māori filmmaking and weaving in taonga tuku iho (knowledge passed down from tūpuna) and pūrākau this research will result in the creation of a Ngāpuhi-centric artist film. This practice-led research explores a Māori ontology of temporality in relationship to māuri, wairua, and hau in moving images. The research considers our whanaungatanga relationships and whakapapa connections to ngā rākau and ngāhere. This has led to the creation of a plant-based 16mm film developer, replacing the environmentally damaging Kodak D-76 chemicals. Creating films of rākau using plant-based film chemistry processes reveals an image of the rākau and the mauri (life force). Rather than continuing the extractive nature of Western photographic histories – taking an image – this co-creation between tree, human, and celluloid is a collaborative making of an image. These films are akin to an arboreal self-portrait, with trees speaking directly through an embodied medium. Driven by implementing Tino rangatiratanga mana motuhake (self-determinacy) to decolonise representation and privilege Indigenous processes centring Māori worldview in both the what and the how Nova films, Nova’s practice creates relationships with subjects that echo Māori values and ways of being.
The research considers our whanaungatanga relationships and whakapapa connections to ngā rākau and ngāhere. This has led to the creation of a plant-based 16mm film developer, replacing the environmentally damaging Kodak D-76 chemicals.
Kairangahau · Researchers
Professor Albert L.Refiti
Samoan
Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
Leali’ifano Dr Albert Refiti is the leader in critical studies research on spatial design and architectural…
Professor Albert L.Refiti
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Dr Alayne Mikahere-Hall
Dr Alayne Mikahere-Hall
This research programme dives beneath the surface to expose how efforts to address racism in Aotearoa can be symbolic, sidelining Māori worldviews and limiting true transformation. Led through a kaupapa Māori lens, this programme challenges narrow, imported definitions of racism and equity, and confronts how dominant systems create and maintain Māori…
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This research programme dives beneath the surface to expose how efforts to address racism in Aotearoa can be symbolic, sidelining Māori worldviews and limiting true transformation.
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Kairangahau · Researchers
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Associate Professor Donna Cormack
Associate Professor Donna Cormack
Dr Donna Cormack (Kai Tahu, Kāti Māmoe) is an Associate Professor at Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, University of Auckland.Donna is course director for the postgraduate papers MAORIHTH 710 Kaupapa Māori Theory, and MAORIHTH 709 Transformative Research for Māori Health, and co-convenes MAORIHTH711 Kaupapa Māori quantitative research. Donna teaches into other undergraduate and postgraduate papers in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. She is also an active member of Tōmaiora Research Centre within Te Kupenga Hauora Māori. Her research focuses on racism and other forms of oppression… -
Professor Sarah-Jane Paine
Professor Sarah-Jane Paine
Professor Sarah-Jane Paine (Tūhoe) is a leading Māori health researcher and internationally respected authority on Indigenous child wellbeing. She is Research Director and Principal Investigator of Growing Up in New Zealand, Aotearoa’s flagship longitudinal study of child development, and a Professor at Te Kupenga Hauora Māori, Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.Her work in Kaupapa Māori epidemiology has influenced national policy in maternal and child health, racism and child wellbeing, food security, and youth wellbeing. Known for combining scientific rigour with strong community… -
Professor Papaarangi Reid
Professor Papaarangi Reid
Papaarangi is Tumuaki and Head of Department of Maori Health at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand. She holds science and medical degrees from the University of Auckland and is a specialist in public health medicine. She has tribal affiliations to Te Rarawa in the Far North of Aotearoa and her research interests include analysing disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous citizens as a means of monitoring government commitment to indigenous rights. -
Professor Ricci Harris
Professor Ricci Harris
Professor Ricci Harris (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Raukawa) is a public health physician and Kaupapa Māori epidemiologist at Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare.Her research is primarily concerned with upholding Māori rights to health and health equity as ensured by Te Tiriti o Waitangi and in-line with International Indigenous Rights.She draws on Kaupapa Māori Research theory to undertake and develop decolonial approaches to epidemiology that centre Māori and are contextualised within systems of ongoing racism and colonialism. This has included research into the classification of… -
Dr Arama Rata
Dr Arama Rata
Arama is of Ngāti Maniapoto, Taranaki, and Ngāruahine descent. She completed her PhD in Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington in 2012, which focused on Māori cultural engagement, identity, and psychological well-being in State secondary schools. Arama then lectured at Te Kawa a Māui (the School of Māori Studies), where she received a Research Establishment Grant to study Māori collective remembering of the New Zealand Wars. Dr Rata is currently involved with research relating to Māori health experiences, Māori in rural communities, as well as iwi consultancy. -
Hana Burgess
Hana Burgess
Hana (Ngäpuhi, Te Roroa, Te Ätihaunui a Päpärangi, Ngäti Tüwharetoa) (she/her) is doing a PhD in Mäori health, with supervision from Donna (Käi Tahu, Käti Mämoe) (she/her) and Papaarangi (Te Rarawa) (she/her)
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