Whakarongo, titiro, korikori kōrero ki ngā wāhine – exploring embodied and reciprocal healing relationship with our natural environments

Project Summary 

Māori (and Indigenous) women engage in embodied relationship with the natural environment in a range of ways, such as raranga, rongoā, or physical activity.  This research explored what these embodied relationships can teach us about the potential for reciprocal healing between wahine and whenua, person and place, by developing a network of Māori and Indigenous women and prioritising mātauranga wāhine. 

The project ran wānanga and active conversations with wāhine to understand how they engage physically in place and explore traditional and contemporary mātauranga wāhine that can inform potential healing relationships. This research aimed to explore the knowledges (kōrero tuku iho) that are centred around wāhine, their embodied connection to te taiao, and the healing potential that lies in a reciprocally beneficial relationship – one that our tupuna would have intrinsically been aware of and active participants in.   Using questions developed from huahuatau in Heke (2022), the research explored the impact of wāhine and their embodied relationships to places and spaces of significance, and further explore how engaging with te taiao can influence the way we care for te taiao and how it can care for us. 

This project was the start of a larger project aimed at building a network of Māori and Indigenous women’s narratives and practices around nurturing and sustaining te taiao, land, country, place, and subsequently nurturing and sustaining ourselves.   

Research Questions

How can the knowledge that wāhine hold/practice about embodied relationship with te taiao/place facilitate reciprocal healing/hauora?

What is the current impact of these activities and how might we seek to measure this impact for flourishing communities?

Lead Researcher 

Dr Deborah Heke, Ngā Puhi, Te Arawa, AUT University

Research Team  

Professor Helen Moewaka-Barnes, Te Kapotai, Ngapuhi-nui-tonu, Massey University

Meretini Bennett-Huxtable, Te Iwi Roa o Mōkai Pātea, Raukawa au ki te Tonga, Atihaunuiapaparangi, Ngāti Rangi, Maniapoto, Tainui-Waikato, Tuwharetoa, Te Arawa, Te Ora a Whiro Ltd

Dr Melissa Vera, Tsm'syen/Yaqui First Nations, Washington State University

Lillian Bartlett, Ngati Tūwharetoa, Te Whānau Apanui, Te Arawa, AUT University

Highlights

• Holding successful wānanga
• Conference presentations
• Securing co-funding