RA1.1 PAPER: Indigenous knowledge revitalisation

Indigenous Knowledge Revitalisation: Indigenous Māori Gardening and its Wider Implications for the People of Tūhoe

April 2023

Tassell-Matamua N, Boasa-Dean T, McEntee M. 2023. Indigenous Knowledge Revitalisation: Indigenous Māori Gardening and its Wider Implications for the People of Tūhoe. Knowledge Cultures 11(1): 98-114.

ABSTRACT

The revitalisation of Indigenous knowledges is vital to the emancipation of Indigenous peoples worldwide, as well as an increasingly essential component of environmental sustainability. The re-establishment of traditional communal gardening practices and their associated rituals is part of such revitalisation efforts in Aotearoa|New Zealand. We document recent efforts to re-establish the knowledge and practice of communal gardens and the related ritual of māra tautāne in an Indigenous Māori community – Te Māhurehure – in the Rūātoki Valley, Bay of Plenty, Aotearoa|New Zealand. We discuss that, beyond food provision, such revitalisation has a concentric influence of revitalising a range of other Indigenous knowledges for this community.

KEYWORDS

Indigenous knowledges; communal gardening; māra kai; māra tautāne; Ngai Tūhoe; Rūātoki; Te Māhurehure; land confiscation; cultural revival