In our lecture led by Dr Marama Muru-Lanning, she talked about her upbringing on Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahia, as well as her work around multidisciplinary research and employing vision Matauranga in the scientific field.
One thing that Marama said struck me – that only she and a few others from her iwi had pursued a PhD, as university is seen as an institution that disempowers Maori. This view of university (particularly The University of Auckland) is completely valid – it is a western institution that intersects with the government and the crown, and has a long history of being passive about intolerance. Despite this, Marama made the point that being actively involved in creating understanding and connecting different life experiences, as she does with her Vision Matauranga policy, is a kind of resistance in itself.
This made me think about the impact that research like this can have. With all research, it is conducted with the hope that it will make a difference, at the very least that it will prove something, or add to a discussion. It is clear from Marama’s work that doing research that means something to you personally can have immeasurable effects for so many people, especially in this reality of close-mindedness.
