Interdisciplinarity and Indigenous Studies: A Māori Perspective

ABSTRACT

This paper uses a Māori epistemological approach, to demonstrate why indigenous knowledge systems should be recognised as the ultimate example of interdisciplinary interaction.

Over the last 25 years, the library and information professions in New Zealand have become aware of the need to ensure that the full potential of mātauranga Māori is realised. This involves thinking less about ‘Māori studies’, and being more focused on the interaction and integration of the inter-disciplinary components that constitute the totality of mātauranga Māori.

Within this context, library and information management institutions are responsible for ensuring that they are able to provide the resources and services required by Māori wishing to draw on knowledge across disciplines, in ways that may ordinarily be seen as unnatural partners within western academic frameworks.

Glossary of Māori words: Aituā (Taiao): Environmental disasters; Atua: Māori gods; Hapū: Sub-tribe; Haumietiketike: God of fern-roots and berries; Hukatai: Sacred stone of knowledge; Io: The supreme being; Io-Matua: Supreme parent; Iwi: Tribe; Kaitiaki: Guardians; Karakia: Incantations; Mātauranga a iwi: Tribal knowledge system; Mātauranga koiora: Biology; Mātauranga Māori: Māori knowledge systems; Mātauranga taupuhi kaiao: Ecology; Papatuanuku: Mother Earth; Ranginui Sky Father; Rehutai: Sacred stone of knowledge; Rongomātane: God of cultivated crops & peace; Ruamoko: God of earthquakes; Tāne: God of forests; Tangaroa: God of the ocean & fish; Tapu: Restricted; Tāwhirimatea: God of the winds; Te Aomārama: World of light; Teina: Mentee; Te Kete Aronui: Basket of everyday knowledge; Te Kete Tuatea: Basket of evil arts and sorcery; Te Kete Tuauri: Basket of ancestral knowledge; Te Kore: Complete darkness; Te Po: Nights; Te reo Māori: Māori language; Tikanga Māori: Māori customs; Tuakana: Mentor; Tūkinotanga ā-taiao: Environmental pollution; Tukutuku: Woven panels; Tūmatauenga: God of war; Waiata: Sung poetry; Whakairo: Carvings; Whakapapa: Genealogy; Whanaketanga: Evolution; Whanau: Extended family; Whare wananga: Sacred schools of learning

KEYWORDS:

• Mātauranga Māori
• indigenous knowledge
• library and information science

Introduction

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that indigenous knowledge systems, are not only complex in nature, but are also highly adaptable in the way they are applied. This adaptability enables different aspects of the knowledge to be drawn together in a manner that would be considered to be interdisciplinary in a Western knowledge framework. This paper uses Māori (indigenous people of New Zealand), their mātauranga (knowledge system) and tikanga Māori (cultural values) to explain the interconnectedness of knowledge, and how this has been applied not only in traditional Māori society, but also in contemporary academic and scholarly contexts. The paper will also identify how the interdisciplinary nature of Māori knowledge provides challenges and opportunities for library and information management institutions and professionals in New Zealand.

In New Zealand, research and scholarly perspectives relating to indigenous knowledge are contextualised within mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge systems). Mead (2016), describes mātauranga Māori as not only being about knowledge, but also Māori philosophy which is put into practice through tikanga Māori (Māori culture). Mātauranga Māori, like the knowledge systems of other indigenous societies, has been constantly evolving and adapting. Although mātauranga Māori is the generic label that is used for Māori knowledge, Doherty, 2012), promotes the use of the term mātauranga a iwi (tribal knowledge systems), to indicate that although there are some overlaps in the knowledge of different iwi (tribe), there are also unique features within the knowledge systems associated with each iwi.

Table 1. Disciplines at Massey University with Māori academic and/or research specialisation.

College of Business	College of Creative Arts	College of Health	College of Humanities & Social Sciences	College of Sciences
Accountancy	Design	Mental health	Creative writing	Agricommerce
Communication	Fine Arts	Nursing	Defence studies	Agriculture
Entrepreneurship	Industrial Design	Nutrition	History	Ecology
Journalism	Mixed Media	Occupational health	Philosophy	Geology
Management	Visual Arts	Physical education	Planning	Horticulture
		Public health	Psychology	Vet Science
		Social work

In a Māori view of the world, everything is connected through whakapapa (descent lines). This involves a common descent through the union of Ranginui (Sky Father) and Papatuanuku (Earth Mother). Their children are considered to be the atua (gods) of the various aspects of the flora, fauna and wider environmental elements. This links all of human kind with the environment that surrounds us, and carries an expectation that we would care for these elements in the same way that we would care for other whanau (extended family) members.

Barlow (1991), assigns whakapapa to four distinct categories, these being: Cosmic genealogy – which includes the process of creating the universe; genealogy of the gods – creation of the gods of human kind and all organic life on Earth; primal genealogy – the precursors of humans, beginning with Tānenuiarangi and Hineahuone; and the genealogy of the canoes that came from Hawaiki.

These four different layers represent the pathway from the celestial realm to the human realm. In the cosmic genealogy, Io (the supreme being) is attributed as the creator of the Universe and, as Io-matua (the supreme parent), created Te Kore (complete darkness), a space that was void of any form or substance. The potential for form and substance came with the development of the different realms of Te Pō (nights). Marsden (2003) describes the many forms of the nights in depth. The genealogy of the gods is represented by the transition from darkness through to light. From Te Pō came the creation of world of light (Te Aomārama) and to creation of Ranginui (Sky Father) and Pāpatuanuku (Earth Mother).

Therefore, many whakapapa will commence with the following layers, as represented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Creation whakapapa.

The genealogy of mortal man is recognised through the union of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, resulting in the birth of their offspring. These offspring are the gods of various natural phenomenon such as Tāwhirimatea (god of the winds), Tāne (god of forests), Tangaroa (god of the ocean & fish), Rongomātane (god of cultivated crops & peace), Haumietiketike (god of fernroots and berries), Tūmatauenga (god of war) and Ruamoko (god of earthquakes).

Whakapapa charts showing human-based descent lines are available in the various volumes written about tribal histories. However, for an indication of how the human and other species have common lines of descent, readers are referred to Best (1976, p. 166) and Roberts (2013). Although humans may have a sense of superiority through their mere existence and ability to think, act and influence the social, economic, cultural and physical environments that surround us, the reality is that the Māori view of whakapapa does not recognise any sense of supremacy on the part of humanity. Instead, whakapapa emphasises the interrelatedness of everything, which relies on interdependency to function effectively. In such an environment, humans are expected to fulfil a role as kaitiaki (guardians) of the world for future generations.

Knowledge Transmission

Traditional stories provide answers about how knowledge was obtained. These stories tell of the journey of Tane, who climbed to the highest heaven to retrieve the three baskets of knowledge. In his quest, Tane had to overcome human and supernatural barriers in order to successfully secure the baskets. The three baskets of knowledge were Te Kete Tuauri (basket of ancestral knowledge, genealogies of the gods and mankind), Te Kete Tuatea (basket of evil arts and sorcery) and Te Kete Aronui (basket of everyday knowledge required to make society function such as love, peace-making, companionship, carving, house-building, agriculture and all other things people need to know). These baskets and two sacred stones, Hukatai and Rehutai, were brought back down to the seventh heaven and formed the basis of the creation of the whare wananga (the sacred schools of learning). Due to the patriarchal and hierarchical nature of Māori society, an individual’s place in society determined what knowledge they were entitled to, and whether they were able to enter the different whare-wananga that taught the distinct skills acquired from the various baskets of knowledge.

Traditionally, Māori knowledge was transmitted orally from generation to generation in informal and formal contexts; the transmission relied on the ability of those learning to apply it in the context of the history and development of their wider family unit (whanau, hapū or iwi). Knowledge was also retained in whakairo (carvings), tukutuku (woven panels), waiata (sung poetry), karakia (incantations) and place names. In pre-European times, the forms of knowledge were applied to, and enabled Māori to manage, the social, physical, cultural, economic and political environments they participated in. An example of this is provided by Best (1942, pp. 33–34), where he described how Māori used their knowledge of astronomy, meteorology, ornithology and botany to assess whether a forthcoming season’s crops would be plentiful or lean. An example of this was scanning trees to detect signs related to their blossoming, as it was known that certain trees blossom more profusely every third or fourth year. Another example included the monitoring of trees to see whether they blossomed at the top or the bottom first. If the blossoming starts on the lower branches first, then a warm and bountiful season will follow.; if the tree blossoms at the top first, then it will be a cold, unproductive season. Another information indicator identified by Best was the use of bird movements to indicate the nature of forthcoming seasons: ‘if the season is to be fruitful they will fly upward in flocks, then swoop down with extended motionless wings, then after gambolling about on high for some time they will alight’.

Māori Studies in the Academy

From the time of their first contact with the Western world, Māori were an object of interest and curiosity to study. Salmond (1991, 1997)), has published extracts from Cook, Banks and other early explorers, who described their encounters with Māori and the culture and behaviours they experienced and observed. This was continued by early settlers (Maning, 1863), missionaries, (Taylor, 1855), politicians (Grey, 1855), ethnologists and historians (Best, 1942; Smith, 1913), all of whom either wrote or collected forms of knowledge that have become important sources of information about Māori life and custom.

Although Māori was accepted as a language unit for university study in 1925, Māori Studies did not begin to be taught until 1951 (Walker, 2004). Although the teaching focused on language, it was decided to call it Māori Studies, as this would not limit the content of future courses (Reilly, 2011, p. 341). When it was proposed as a subject at the University of Auckland, the Professor of French opposed its introduction, on the grounds that there was insufficient literature to support it (Katene, 2015). The uptake of Māori Studies by other universities was very slow, with it not being introduced until the 1960s and 1970s (Belgrave, 2016; Reilly, 2011; Walker, 2004). Initially, Māori Studies were incorporated into other academic units, most commonly anthropology and linguistics (Durie, 1996). Victoria University of Wellington was the first university to form a separate Māori Studies academic unit in 1981, with the other universities transitioning throughout the rest of the 1980s (except for AUT University, who did not gain university status until 2000). Now seven out of eight of New Zealand’s universities have an academic unit aligned with Māori Studies. The names of these units show their strong alignment with Māori Studies, but in some instances have been broadened to include indigenous and/or Pacific Studies. Only Lincoln University appears not to have a Māori focused academic unit, with Māori courses being located across multiple academic units.

In an attempt to define what Māori Studies is, Durie (1996, p. 22) described it as resting ‘uncomfortably between being an area of study in its own right, an academic discipline, and a potential component of every other area of study’. This is due to the fact that there are ‘courses of study which are Māori specific in so far as they focus principally on an aspect of Māori society, culture, knowledge or economy, there are many more which include, as an integral part of study, a Māori perspective.’ This has moved Māori Studies beyond the focus on just language and culture that characterised its early representation in universities. This is exemplified by the fact that Māori academics and researchers can be found in other academic units within universities. For example, at Massey University each of the five colleges that constitute the faculty has Māori academics and researchers within their structure, with most of these teaching and researching using a Māori perspective in their particular subject discipline. The range of subject disciplines at Massey University where Māori knowledge is present is outlined in Table 1.

Within Massey University’s Te Pūtahi a Toi – School of Māori Knowledge, the interdisciplinary nature of academic staff is illustrated by the vast range of subjects that the staff members are drawn from, either through qualification or by research experience. These disciplines include: Linguistics, Education, Visual art, Political science, Te Reo, Religious studies, Environmental studies, Anthropology, Mathematics, Hauora (health), History, Social work, Psychology, and Information science. Through having a diverse range of disciplines present, the School has the ability to teach, research and collaborate in all these areas, and use this knowledge and expertise to assist Māori communities to achieve successful outcomes. This aligns with the growing expectation by iwi and other Māori organisations that they won’t have to undertake multiple transactions with experts from different disciplines, and that the researchers they are working with have strong subject knowledge in addition to te reo and tikanga Māori skills.

Library and Information Management Education

There are currently three institutions offering library and information programmes: Victoria University of Wellington, the Open Polytechnic and Te Wananga o Raukawa. The programmes all have their point of difference. Victoria University focuses on postgraduate studies, the Open Polytechnic is pre-dominantly undergraduate. The courses offered at Te Wananga o Raukawa are entirely Māori centred, with a heavy emphasis on mātauranga Māori, and prepare their students to work in libraries, archives, tribal repositories or cultural centres.

The programmes at Victoria and Open Polytechnic both have Māori-specific courses, with Māori content also included in the other courses they offer. Graduates from these two institutions are normally employed in traditional library and information management institutions. Not all the students at these institutions will have taken the Māori-specific courses, although they may have pre-existing knowledge of mātauranga Māori from previous study and/or personal experiences. Both of these institutions need to keep identifying how they can equip their students to be effective providers of services and resources to Māori clients. Increasing their collaboration with Māori staff and academic units across their institutions is one way this might be achieved.

Cultural Interface

The value of mātauranga Māori and other forms of indigenous knowledge systems have in the Western academic system is demonstrated by what Nakata (2002) and Durie (2004) refer to as the cultural interface. Nakata (2002, p. 7) defines the cultural interface as the ‘intersection between the Western and indigenous domains’. Within the precincts of the interface, he describes, ‘the residue of traditional forms and ways of knowing from the pre-contact historical trajectory informs the ways that members of indigenous communities think and act, as do Western ways’. Nakata also believes that those present in the space that constitutes the interface can face confusion due to the ‘complex interwoven, competing and conflicting discourses that distinguish traditional thoughts and practices from the non-traditional in the day to day’. However, this is the reality for indigenous peoples worldwide. The intersection of two or more cultures means that in the process of making decisions or seeking information, they must identify the context they are in and draw on the knowledge source most appropriate to the situation in question.

Durie (2004, p. 3) discusses the interface in the context of research, and states that ‘the interface between science and indigenous knowledge identifies it as a source of inventiveness’. The insights and methods gained from one knowledge system can be used by the researcher to enhance the other, and can provide opportunities to expand the levels of knowledge and understanding in both knowledge systems. Durie (2004, pp. 5–6) also believes that having dual access offers ‘an important role for indigenous researchers as agents at the interface who ensure that both systems maintain its own integrity in the process of developing new knowledge’. He also presents a model that is based on four underlying principles that have implications for the policy and practice of research at the interface. These principles are mutual respect, shared benefits, human dignity and discovery.

Implications for Practice

New Zealand has been going through a process of bicultural renaissance over the last 34 years. This renaissance gained momentum in the 1980s with the election of the Fourth Labour Government. This Government initiated a strong programme of social justice, including the introduction of retrospective powers to the Waitangi Tribunal, which investigates breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi by the Crown. During this era, specialist Māori units were established within government departments and agencies, and te reo Māori was recognised as an official language of New Zealand.

The process of settling Treaty of Waitangi claims became integral to improving the social, cultural and economic outcomes for Māori. It also provided a challenge for library and archival institutions, which were suddenly challenged to provide services and resources to tribal researchers wanting access to information relating to their claims. These increased demands led to the profession developing a growing consciousness about the role that librarians and archivists had to enabling knowledge access, and the need to ensure that this was facilitated in a manner and style that respected Māori cultural and information needs. One of the more popular ways to do this was to create Māori specialist positions, particularly in the larger research and public librarian institutions. Due to a shortage of information professionals with necessary qualifications and knowledge of te reo and tikanga Māori, institutions appointed non-qualified staff, who instead had the necessary cultural and linguistic abilities to deliver the services and resources to these clients. The number of Māori in the information professions has continued to grow over the last two decades, as has the number of Māori specialist positions. These positions are now firmly entrenched not only in major research institutions, but also in a large number of public and academic libraries. There is also a growing number of archival positions with a Māori focus.

Since the retrospective powers were granted to the Waitangi Tribunal in 1985, dozens of settlements have been reached between the Government (on behalf of the Crown), and hapū and iwi. These settlements have typically involved monetary compensation, return of assets and cultural redress measures. In 2017, the value of the Māori economy to New Zealand was estimated to be $50 billion (Chapman Tripp, 2017).

The growing Māori economy and a diversifying Māori workforce means that the type of information required has also continued to evolve over this period, with Māori having strong interests across a broad spectrum of financial and social industries and disciplines. With this diversification has come an expectation from these clients that their needs will be met by staff who have the requisite knowledge about the subject area (e.g. finance) and are also able to advise on Māori focused aspects. To be able to deliver such a service, it is critical that all staff members in such roles be given the opportunity to develop a strong understanding of Māori knowledge and cultural practices, and be able to apply them in their professional context. Māori staff members should also be working more closely and collaborating with their non-Māori colleagues to learn more about the subject areas. This could involve some application of the tuakana (mentor) and teina (mentee) model, where there is a mentoring role undertaken by the staff member who has the greater knowledge of the subject that is being focused on. For example, the Māori specialist would mentor the non-Māori staff member on cultural and linguistic issues, and the non-Māori staff member would do the same for the subject discipline that they are the specialist in. Growing the Māori knowledge of the wider library or archival staff would assist to lighten the workloads of Māori specialist staff, who in many instances have been expected to answer all Māori related enquiries (regardless of size or level of complexity), and to serve all Māori clients (regardless of whether the subject of their enquiry is related to Māori issues). This would also involve developing te reo Māori speaking and comprehension skills of non-Māori staff. Not only would this allow these staff to actively engage with Māori clients, it would also enable them to fully understand the scope and application of Māori subject headings/Ngā Upoko Tukutuku to mātauranga Māori materials, particularly in their specialist disciplinary responsibilities. These have the potential to become quite complex, as illustrated by some of the terms used in the sciences.

Biology Titiro Mai/UseMātauranga koiora

Ecology Titiro Mai/UseMātauranga taupuhi kaiao

Environmental disasters Titiro Mai/UseAituā (Taiao)

Environmental pollution Titiro Mai/UseTūkinotanga ā-taiao

Evolution Titiro Mai/Use Whanaketanga

(https://natlib.govt.nz/nga-upoko-tukutuku/alphabetical-list)

Headings have been added to cataloguing records using ‘reo’ in the source code field, by the National Library of New Zealand and other major New Zealand libraries undertaking original cataloguing. These are added to all descriptive records of materials that have been written in te reo Māori and on subjects related to Māori. These records are made available via New Zealand’s national bibliographic network, the catalogue of the National Library, and WorldCat. (https://natlib.govt.nz/nga-upoko-tukutuku/how-nga-upoko-tukutuku-works)

Challenges

As the interdisciplinary information needs of iwi and other Māori organisations and individuals continue to evolve, library and information institutions will need to consider new ways of meeting this increased demand. To do this, there some challenges will need to be overcome. These challenges relate to recruitment, development of cultural knowledge, and increasing and broadening the scope of the professional literature in relation to mātauranga Māori. Although most major New Zealand libraries have specialist Māori staff, the ongoing recruitment of Māori staff who have the full range of library and information studies qualifications, a strong understanding of tikanga Māori and fluency in te reo Māori is still a difficulty, due to the low number of individuals choosing to enrol in library and information studies programmes. One strategy that Institutions have used to address these shortages is to encourage non-Māori staff to upgrade their Māori cultural and linguistic skills. This enables them to provide assistance to Māori clients and to apply their specialist knowledge from other disciplines, This has been encouraged through the professional registration scheme, where knowledge of mātauranga Māori is one of the core elements of continuing professional development requirements to remain registered. However, the level of the understanding and skill demonstration of this particular area varies from extremely basic to advanced. It is expected that the number of individuals moving towards high competency will continue to grow, but until this happens the support that Māori specialists will be able to call on will not be consistent across the institutions they are part of. Critical to this ongoing development is the need for the creation of more research about how mātauranga Māori and Western disciplines intersect in professional practice, and have these works published in the library and information literature for practitioners and researchers to be able to adapt and apply in their own professional context.

Conclusion

As discussed in this article, the nature and scope of mātauranga Māori is extremely complex, and the same is true for the knowledge systems of other indigenous peoples. Historically, there has been a tendency within Western academic disciplines to dismiss indigenous knowledge as being static, rather than evolving and dynamic in nature. The latter is certainly true for mātauranga Māori, which has successfully integrated and adapted western forms of knowledge and technologies into its structure, thus enabling it to be diverse, complex and conducive to collaboration and application in a wide range of contexts and disciplinary areas. As a result, mātauranga Māori has been integrated into the teaching, research and scholarship of multiple disciplines. This is coupled with the expectation from Māori organisations that academics and researchers that they are engaging with will not only possess core competencies in mātauranga Māori, but also be highly skilled and knowledgeable in other academic disciplines. These growing expectations are reflected within the library and information professions, where there is a growing need for non-Māori staff to upskill their knowledge of mātauranga Māori and te reo Māori, and how these can be used to understand the relationship between them and their area of subject expertise. Equally, Māori staff have to increase their knowledge about how mātauranga Māori and different academic disciplines intersect and contribute to an evolving understanding of the world that surrounds us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Spencer Lilley

Dr Spencer Lilley is a Senior Lecturer in Te Pūtahi a Toi, the School of Māori Art, Knowledge and Education at Massey University in New Zealand. His tribal affiliations are to Te Atiawa, Muaūpoko and Ngāpuhi. His research interests focus on indigenous information behaviour, Māori information literacy issues and professional and cultural development issues for Māori library and information management staff. Before assuming his academic position, he held leadership positions in the University and Special library sectors, specialising in the development and delivery of library and information services to Māori clients. Dr Lilley is an Honorary Life Member of Te Rōpū Whakahau (Māori in libraries and information management) and is a Fellow and former President of the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa.