scholarly journals Confronted by Indigenous Metaphysics in the Academy: Educating against the Tide

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Mika

Discussions about indigenous philosophy are always difficult because of identities, chief among these being: what is the primary assumption that coalesces the varied philosophies of indigenous groups that then entitles me to talk about a single “indigenous” philosophy? Although I don’t make this the focus of my paper, I take as a uniting thought the holism which defines metaphysics for several indigenous groups (see e.g. Deloria, 2001; Mika, 2017; Smith, 2012). For this article, I centre on the implications of indigenous holism for both indigenous and non-indigenous students and the indigenous teacher of metaphysics in the academy. This paper often takes a turn for the anecdotal as I consider my experiences in the New Zealand context as a Maori lecturer in philosophy of education who teaches Maori metaphysics to Maori and non-indigenous students. There are difficulties that exist for me as an educator in this area and also for the students, although I have observed that non-indigenous and Maori students encounter Maori metaphysics in quite unique ways. A common feature in both cases, though, is that there is a lack of appropriate language to draw on to describe Maori metaphysics. I conclude this article by suggesting ways that philosophising can take place in correspondence with a Maori metaphysics of things as world-constituted.

Author(s):  
Kate Fullagar

The final chapter traces Mai’s voyage back from Britain to the Pacific. This voyage was arranged by the British government and led, again, by James Cook. Mai experiences various adventures during the voyage, including some altercations with different indigenous groups. In New Zealand, Mai secures two Maori boys to join him as servants. His arrival on Tahiti proves moving for Islanders and British alike. Here Mai reunites with a sister and an aunt, wrangles with a chief, and acquires a large canoe. Mai expects to be deposited back on Ra‘iatea, but Cook at the last minute decides against it, fearing Islander conflagration, and takes him to Huahine instead. Disappointed, Mai is at least gratified to have Cook’s men build him a house. In many ways, Mai’s plotline is the most tragic of the three characters: he begins as a refugee from his own society and never fulfils his dream of restitution. Even so, Mai offers at least one small twist to the old tale—European empire never steals the limelight in his story; instead, Mai turns the tables by employing European empire, almost entirely on his own terms, to seek his ultimate end.


2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Rofe ◽  
Azra Moeed ◽  
Dayle Anderson ◽  
Rex Bartholomew

School science aspires for students to develop conceptual, procedural and nature of science understandings as well as developing scientific literacy. Issues and complexities surrounding the development of science curriculum for Indigenous schools in New Zealand is a concern as little is known about these aspects of science learning in wharekura (Māori Indigenous School). This paper draws upon the findings of an empirical study to address the call for research into effective practices for supporting Indigenous students in learning science. The study is part of a larger project investigating and extending our understanding about how New Zealand teachers’ conceptualise science and science inquiry (investigation). Two Māori teachers participated in the research as well as their class who were supported by two researchers. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with teachers. This research reports the findings of how participating teachers’ conceptualise science inquiry and describes their perceptions of how and why their students should learn science and science inquiry. The paper also presents teachers’ views about their own development as science teachers and suggests two models to address the issue of science teaching in wharekura.


Author(s):  
Richard P. Boast

This chapter examines the connections between the field of legal history and the various ways in which claims against states by indigenous groups are adjudicated and resolved. It focuses on ‘indigenous’ and ‘settler’ relationships, and on redress mechanisms in Australia and New Zealand. In both cases, the establishment of such mechanisms arose out of political and legal conjunctures within each country, and owed little to developments in international law. The Waitangi Tribunal in New Zealand and the Native Title Tribunal in Australia have very different functions, utilize different kinds of expert evidence, and operate in very different political and constitutional settings. While both bodies require expert evidence typically provided by non-indigenous specialist researchers, the required expertise in each case is different: anthropology in the Australian case, and history in New Zealand.


Author(s):  
Craig Campbell ◽  
Maxine Stephenson

With British colonization from the late eighteenth century came attempts to school indigenous and nonindigenous populations in ways familiar to colonizers. This was so in Australia and New Zealand. Writing histories that respect the indigenous experience of education has been a challenge. Mainstream historiography concentrated on the growth of schools and school systems as they provided for the colonizing populations from Britain. Colonial and postcolonial struggles among private interests, churches, and the state over schooling were the common subjects of research. Beginning in the 1970s revisionist historians have often written in terms of social history. Relationships between schooling and different social classes, indigenous students, teachers, and girls and women students often inform more recent writing. Traditional biographies of educators, histories of schools and school systems, and curriculum and pedagogy have not been neglected, but the influence of recent international historiography has impacted research into the history of education in Australia and New Zealand.


Te Kaharoa ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Derby

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the influence that socio-historical context has on the identity of a group. The identity of the hapū (tribe) Ngāi Tamarāwaho is examined to demonstrate the impact that specific phenomena associated with colonisation had on hapū identity, and the major focus of this chapter is the interplay between Ngāi Tamarāwaho and the phenomenon of colonisation. This article concentrates specifically on hapū identity during the colonisation era, which, in the context of this article, commenced with the arrival of Pākehā (British) settlers in New Zealand in 1814, and concluded with the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975. For comparative purposes, parallels are drawn with other indigenous groups globally to highlight similarities between the colonisation experiences of these groups and those of Ngāi Tamarāwaho, and to illustrate common trends that occur as a result of colonisation and its associated phenomena. The first section in this article discusses the need to consider socio-historical context in research pertaining to identity, and provides examples of research that has been conducted to this effect. The second section establishes the social context of Ngāi Tamarāwaho, and the third section outlines the historical context. Following this is an analyis of the effects of aspects of colonisation on Ngāi Tamarāwaho identity, and this article concludes by discussing ways in which the hapū revived and reasserted their identity


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Peterson ◽  
Laura D'Olimpio

Welcome to the fifth issue of the Journal of Philosophy in Schools (JPS). In April this year the Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations (FAPSA) held its biennial conference in Wellington, New Zealand. Organised by the then Chairperson of FAPSA, Dr Vanya Kovach, the conference was a great success and attracted many teachers as well as local and international academics working in the fields of Philosophy, Education, and Philosophy of Education. The two-day conference was supplemented by an ‘Action Day’ that saw contributing academics and practitioners facilitating Communities of Inquiry and P4C activities with students from local primary and high schools. The opportunity to listen to theoretical papers and then witness examples of praxis was a wonderful representation of the two arms of the Philosophy in Schools beast that we celebrate here at the JPS. In this issue, we are delighted to bring you five original articles that were initially presented as papers at the FAPSA conference, along with a book review.


2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth McKinley ◽  
Barbara Grant ◽  
Sue Middleton ◽  
Kathie Irwin ◽  
Les R. Tumoana Williams

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