Projects

Chelsea Cunningham (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Kai Tahu), Univeristy of Otago

The whakapapa that defines my geographical and cultural centre is captured concisely in our pepeha; it represents how we position ourselves within this world, for myself, a descendant of Ngāti Kahungunu.

The aim of this research is to reconnect to our pepeha by engaging with ancestral landscapes within Ngāti Kahungunu, retracing the footsteps of our tīpuna as told through pūrākau that have been passed down from generation to generation. Further to this, we will capture our engagement through the use of GoPro and drone technology to create short films for our whānau who are unable to physically engage with us, as a means to reconnect them through our experiences.

Oliver Skinner (Waikato Tainui), University of Otago

This thesis is a legal history of Wairarapa Moana, the wetlands comprising lakes Wairarapa and Onoke and their tributaries, from early Maori occupation of the area through to Treaty settlement processes and beyond. It explores the 'legal experiences' of Maori who are traditionally based around and share connections with Wairarapa Moana and questions how these experiences have shaped and continue to shape how the moana is managed and cared for today.

Georgia McLellan (Te Whakatōhea & Ngāi Te Rangi), The University of Auckland

Jenni Tupu (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Hine, Sāmoa), University of Otago

Michael Taiapa (Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi), Waikato University

Since the 1950s, the advancements in second language acquisition and grammar theories in English language studies has had a profound impact on its own description that has made it less syntactically-driven and more communicatively-oriented. This has the potential to influence language description moving it from a purely structurally-focused orientation to a more semantically-focused one that is more suited to the pedagogic context.

Nevertheless, in the case of the Māori language, its description continues to be dominated by structural linguistics that was prevalent in the 19th and early 20th centuries, making no concessions to the possibility of a semantic analysis and this, in turn, is reflected in grammar books and textbooks on te reo.

Ashlea Gillon (Ngāti Awa, Ngāpuhi), The University of Auckland