Waiho hoki au i raro nei-Leave me here below": Unearthing the wisdom of Hinenui Te Pō through the art of survival narratives

About this research

Helen Pearse-Otene (Ngāpuhi-Ngāti Kurī; Rongomaiwahine-Ngāti Kahungunu; Ngāti Pahawauwera; Ngāti Ruanui; Ngāti Pākehā), Massey University

The project is a partnership based on already existing relations between participants from academia, the performing arts, and hard to reach communities that connect through a women’s support group. This research whānau will draw upon a range of mātauranga, tools, techniques, and differing perspectives of mana wāhine – in a transdisciplinary, collaborative research project that will reclaim the pūrākau of Hinenui Te Pō as a medium to investigate personal stories of: transformation, Selfhood, healing journeys, self determination, and the transgression and then re-assertion of Mana Wāhine. 

The underlying kaupapa of this project includes the privileging of Māoritanga, assertion of Tino Rangatiratanga, and commitment to piercing the dominant discourse of Māori deficit and social deprivation with alternative narratives of wellbeing, survival and resistance. The research team will employ arts based research, a methodology that employs creative practices to gather and analyse data and present research findings in ways that are relevant and accessible to a wider audience beyond academia.

 An arts based approach aligns with kaupapa Māori assumptions of researcher reflexivity, transparency, and ethical postitioning, and applies research techniques that promote equality, diversity, and transformative potential for communities and individuals as artist researchers. It is a means for communities to have creative control over how their experiences, narratives, and messages are realised, revealed and remembered. 

Furthermore, the knowledge is transferable to the community so it is not lost once any “outsider expert creatives” leave, but remains a viable means by which communities can pursue other important kaupapa, such as fundraising activities, local environment initiatives, and community celebrations. 

The project will draw upon the collaborative efforts of community programme facilitators (with backgrounds in psychology, psychiatric nursing, and family violence education), a Māori theatre trust, and a support group of wāhine Māori who are survivors of domestic violence and child abuse. The research will be disseminated via a public performance and facilitated community hui (forum), as part of an initiative to connect whānau with support/service networks including Whānau Ora collectives, Māori counselors and advocates, Marae, and Iwi social services/hauora. In order to achieve this outcome the research whānau will draw upon already existing community relationships.