Internship project

Tangonge is a hugely significant taonga, historically referred to as the Kaitaia Lintel or Kaitaia Carving. It is now understood to have been a waharoa (gateway) and is considered the earliest surviving Māori carving in the world — a source of great mana and identity for the iwi of Te Hiku o te Ika.

This internship project employed a tikanga-based and marae-based regenerative environmental approach, emphasising the reciprocal relationship between people and te taiao.

This internship aimed to address the critical shortage of literature in this field by providing insight into the ways climate change has impacted the mental health of Indigenous Peoples.

This project served as an introduction to the ongoing study Honourable Kāwanatanga: A Prerequisite for Constitutional Transformation. The overall study was designed to answer the following key questions:
1. What is honourable kāwanatanga?
2. How can third sector (and other) organisations strengthen and deepen their engagement with Te Tiriti?

The interns contributed to a research project exploring a new area of law, visual jurisprudence, which is a legal theory that considers how visual legal information affects people's perceptions of the law and its impact on them and their communities. The research focused on the aesthetic and moral implications of Indigenous peoples' visualisation of their law, legal culture, and experiences of coloniality and survivance.

Through the 2022/2023 Borrin Foundation – Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Legal Research Internship, two Māori students explored the growing recognition of tikanga Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi within New Zealand law and policy. Guided by Associate Professor Linda Te Aho and Te Hunga Rōia Māori, the interns delved into case law, legislation, and iwi knowledge to examine how foundational Māori concepts—like Te Mana o te Awa and Te Oranga o te Taiao—are influencing legal and environmental frameworks.