He Kōrero

This webinar, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, was hosted in December 2019. We joined renowned writer, trainer and speaker Dr Robin DiAngelo to better understand how we can engage and partner more effectively in cross-cultural dialogue, anti-racist action and change.

Dr Robin DiAngelo’s area of research is in Whiteness Studies and Critical Discourse Analysis and she has a PhD in multicultural education. DiAngelo has been a consultant and trainer for over 20 years on issues of racial and social justice.

After coining the term “White Fragility” in an article, to describe the defensiveness that even the most well-meaning white people exhibit when their ideas about race and racism are challenged, she went on to write a book of the same name with a subheading ‘Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Race’. Her book was released in June of 2018 and rapidly rose to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

Join Ngati Porou psychiatrist Dr Diana Kopua who gives us an insight into her work developing Mahi a Atua, a Māori approach to well-being which draws on the stories, narratives and healing practices of te ao Māori. Her work in Tūranganui A Kiwa has delivered significant health benefits for whānau and the services in the region.

It is an approach that encourages practitioners to actively engage in Māori interventions that draw from the Māori creation and custom stories known as pūrākau to understand how tipuna understood and made sense of their realities.

Mahi a Atua is not just a set of techniques or a culturally sensitive therapy. It is a drastically different way of conceptualizing the lived experience of the Maori. It is a way of being, and strengthens our relationship with whakapapa, relationships with our own stories. The pūrākau (storytelling) help us to collectively design and operationalise indigenous knowledge systems that improve all of community outcomes.

Join Dr Kopua to learn about Mahi a Atua and the importance of language and narratives in how we understand our world and improve our being, our whānau and our communities.

• Article about Dr Di and Mark Kopua’s practice

MBChB; Fellow RANZCP; Iwi: Ngāti Porou

In the mid-1990’s Dr Diana Kopua developed Mahi a Atua, an indigenous approach that responds to ongoing issues regarding institutional racism and inequity for Māori within New Zealand health services and society. The Mahi a Atua approach has been utilised by multiple practitioners across various sectors within New Zealand society including art, health, education, justice and the social services sector. Diana, in collaboration with her husband Mark Kopua, a tohunga and Tā Moko practitioner, are committed to indigenising their respective communities of practice and are pioneers within their fields.

This webinar, Hear from us, not about us: The power of refugee-background research, was hosted in September 2021. It was a celebration of the launch of our new collection of research focused on refugee-background and migrant experiences in Aotearoa.

Batool Arif, originally from Pakistan, is a mother of two lovely girls and a wife to a very supportive husband. She has lived in Wellington, New Zealand for the last eight years, and works at ChangeMakers Resettlement Forum as a Community Advocate. She faced many challenges during her resettlement in New Zealand. Therefore, she is passionate about bringing system-level change to make Aotearoa a fair and just society for everyone regardless of race, gender, or religion. In addition, she is an advocate for women's rights both in the community and outside her community.

Dr Irene Ayallo is a social practitioner (Registered Social Worker) and educator. She currently teaches social work and community development at Unitec (Social Practice). Her teaching and practice in this field is significantly informed by interdisciplinary (multidisciplinary) background and knowledge, having undertaken research and practiced in a range of areas. These have included: extensive work in HIV and AIDS prevention and care, primary sexual violence prevention, gender-based violence (specifically Intimate Partner Violence), pastoral care and counselling to tertiary students, research methods and data analysis on a range of topics, and work with marginalized groups (including migrant and refugee background communities).

Dr Zhiyan Basharati is an activist, advocate, champion and academic.  She was born and raised in a Kurdish refugee camp. Since she arrived in New Zealand has established and managed many advocacy and support groups for migrants and refugees in her home town of Christchurch. She was a founder and advisor of the New Zealand National Refugee Youth Council (NZNRYC); recently Zhiyan and her colleagues have established the Refugee Research Centre (RRC), “Research by Refugees for Refugees".

She is currently working with Christchurch Victims Organising Committee (CVOC), the Depression Support Network and Te Puna Oranga and is an individual consultant researcher working in collaboration with University of Canterbury on refugee entrepreneurship research.  

Sara Kindon has been supporting and carrying out participatory research with people from refugee backgrounds since 2005. This research has mostly involved refugee-background youth and women collaborating with her postgraduate students. Some project findings have led to policy changes in TEOs to recognise refugee-background learners in equity policy and practice, more inclusive practices by Wellington sport and recreation providers, improved high school homework club activities, and the launch of the National Tertiary Network to Support Refugee Background Learners in 2019 in partnership with the Tertiary Education Commission and Vic.Without.Barriers. In 2019, Sara also became the first female professor of Human Geography and Development Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. She has published widely on participatory, creative and visual methodologies, complicity in non-Indigenous-Indigenous research partnerships, refugee resettlement and belonging in Aotearoa, as well as gender and international development. 

• Community Research special collection of research – Refugee-background and ethnic migrant communities

Ali Hamlin is the Kaihautū-CEO of Ngati Kahungunu Community Services a kaupapa Māori organisation that provides housing solutions and social support services across the wider Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) region.

Ali provides her insights into how Te Tiriti informs her practice when advocating for equity and fair outcomes for whānau.  She wants to ensure that whānau, no matter where they might be in life, have their mana intact, that they have the power and decision-making over their own lives.

You can connect with Ali here

Mike Smith (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāpuhi) is an educationalist and has spent the last 40 years focussed on taking action where it matters.  Although some of his favorite activities are gardening, hunting and fishing, Mike has also used his love for his community and the Taiao to advocate for the health and wellbeing of Papatūānuku highlighting the irreversible impacts of climate change on indigenous communities.

Of late this has included taking Austrian Oil Giant OMV's chief executive for Crimes against Humanity and the Environment, including genocide, in the International Criminal Court.   

Mike has also actively supported the efforts of Iwi to push back on oil companies such as Petrobras undertaking oil exploration activities in Tribal Territories and has also the National Iwi Chairs Co-Leader for the Pandemic Response.

In this interview Mike shares the impact his Mother had on his life, especially in reminding him of his identity and his tūpuna who were original signatories to Te Tiriti.  We also hear about his earlier career as a social worker and the key people who influenced his thinking and his reflection on nation-building and taking action.

Across the board, Mike has been consistent in pointing out the way the Crown has continuously failed to meet their promise and obligations to Tangata Whenua, yet there is hope, where there is a willingness to "walk through the door of transformation".

To connect with Mike and his mahi you can find him here 

Dr Kathie Irwin MNZM, PHD, MInstD is a third generation Māori, woman and educator.

Her whakapapa is traced from diverse sources: Ngāti Porou, Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu, the Orkney Islands, Scotland and Ireland.

This interview outlines how public service and social justice are deeply embedded in her bloodlines. Her passion inspires her to contribute to nation building in innovative and creative ways that are framed by our Ngāti Porou tipuna Sir Apirana Ngata's whakatauākī (proverb) "E tipu, e rea". This proverb speaks to the possibilities of bicultural and bilingual models of change that create authentic social inclusion, cultural intelligence and pluralism.

Throughout her career Kathie has championed Māori Development, anti-racist education and Mana Wahine / Māori Feminisms.

To connect with Kathie and her work you can find her here

In this episode Kaye-Maree Dunn speaks with Dr Chelsea Grootveld.

Chelsea is Ngāi Tai, Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau a Apanui,  Whakatōhea and Tuhourangi.

She is passionate about whānau centred and whānau led education, health and wellbeing. Chelsea has a strong commitment to creating values-based research and evaluation models that make sense and add value to whānau, hapū, iwi and communities. In this conversation, Chelsea shares her journey of deepening her political awareness in Te Ao Māori and how Te Tiriti is a critical part of her mahi as a kaupapa Māori evaluator. Her evaluation company Aiko allows her to pursue projects that genuinely interest her, are challenging and transformative. 

To connect with Chelsea you can find her here 

Here is a beautiful taster of what to expect in our stunning first podcast series focussed on Te Tiriti o Waitangi.  Meet Dr Chelsea Grootveld, Mike Smith, Dr Kathie Irwin and Ali-Hamilin Paenga