Digital storytelling, hybrid GIS and Indigenous knowledges: A pathway from Aotearoa New Zealand

Keywords: cultural geography, environmental geography, filmmaking, Indigenous peoples, countermapping
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 47

Abstract

Interpreting, analysing and contesting historical maps and using mātauranga Māori (Maori knowledge) and kōrero (stories) to define rohe (territorial boundaries) and identify wāhi tapu (sacred sites) has been a critical part of the treaty settlement process in Aotearoa New Zealand. The process of creating new maps has raised issues of data sovereignty, security and access alongside debates over whose knowledge matters and whose story is imbued in the landscape. Maps and GIS have also served as a repository of knowledge and a platform for negotiating environmental management across jurisdictional, cultural, and social boundaries. It is within this space I would like to share my experiences with two ongoing projects. Both projects aim to design a hybrid GIS that privileges mātauranga Māori and supports the inclusion of cultural and ecological knowledges of tangata whenua in a variety of formats: through digital stories, imagery, soundscapes, waiata (songs), etc. By working in partnership with Muaūpoko Tribal Authority and Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa Trust these projects seek to build capacity and incorporate mātauranga-a-iwi in newly developed geospatial tools and digital media: enhancing iwi environmental management and kaitiaki and validating mātauranga Māori as a basis for economic and environmental development.

I would like to acknowledge the individuals and organisations that are partners in these research projects, including: Muaūpoko Tribal Authority and Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa Trust, A/Prof Mark Palmer (University of Missouri), Prof Soren Larsen (University of Missouri), Prof Jonathan Procter and Prof Michael Belgrave (Massey University).