
KEI TE MURA O TE AHI
MARATHON FOR RACIAL JUSTICE 28 MARCH, 2022

In partnership with Pechakucha, the final day of Te Tiriti-Based Futures + Anti-Racism 2022 was a platform for emerging voices.
An epic 12-hour marathon of short interactive talks from students and recent graduates pushing the boundaries in anti-racism in Aotearoa and internationally.
Read about our amazing speakers on the PechaKucha website
REGISTER TO ATTEND:
SOME OF OUR SPEAKERS:
Sivuyisiwe Toto
University of Cape Town
About me:
Sivuyisiwe ‘Siwe’ Toto is a 30 year old black South African Occupational Therapist with a BSc OT and MSc OT from the University of Cape Town (UCT), in South Africa. Siwe is multilingual (5 official South African languages), and draws from his home language, isiXhosa, to inform his research, theorization and praxis. He is an academic and faculty member in the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at UCT. He is also the Project Manager of the Centring African Languages to Decolonize Curricula project also at UCT. He is in an avid hiker, and uses hiking and walking as therapeutic occupations for enriching mental health and wellbeing.
The Nature and Enactment of African Dance that produces neurogenic tremors
Distinctly African health-promoting human occupations are under-researched in occupational therapy (OT). Many OT interventions in South Africa are exogenous and may be inaccessible to many. African dance that produces neurogenic tremors (ADNT) is an occupation that may already be accessible to many and a potential resource for health and could be used in OT. The study aimed to explore, describe and explain the nature and enactment of ADNT among professional dancers in Cape Town, SA. Case study methodology was used. Interviews, focus groups and participant observation were used. Four themes emerged from the study (1) Triggers: Improvisation, Energy and pushing beyond limits. (2) Essence of self: Embodying Africa through dance. (3) Leaving and returning to the body and (4) Creatures of the soil: Connected to the ground and beyond…for health. ADNT elucidated four African philosophical constructs: ubuwena, isintu, ubuntu and kwantu;
Presentation language:
English
Gilda Spaducci
British born with Italian heritage
King's College London
About me:
I am a second generation Italian in the UK and I am currently a PhD student in the Section for Women’s Mental Health at King’s College London. My research is seeking to explore how adequately mental health and substance use services meet the needs of racially and ethnically minoritised women who have experienced sexual violence. I also volunteer for a local domestic violence charity. Previous to my PhD I worked as a research assistant, focusing on the health inequalities of people experiencing mental illness.
Perspectives of mental health and substance use services from racially minoritised women who have been subjected to sexual violence: a systematic review of global research
Sexual violence (SV) is a global public health problem, which disproportionately affects women. Research exploring how women who have been subjected to SV experience mental health and substance use services has largely neglected the views of racially and ethnically minoritised women. This review aims to understand their perspectives of such services, synthesising the data from 11 studies. The main themes of the review are: 1) Women required a holistic approach to care, which included receiving treatment that was delivered in a personalised and culturally relevant way, and opportunities to discuss the racial trauma that they experienced; 2) Women required support from healthcare professionals to process the emotional pain from the abuse and begin the healing; 3) Women were helped in their healing journey through interpersonal relationships which included community connection, collaboration and empathy.
Presentation language:
English
Ngarongo Ormsby
Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Ranginui
Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi
About me:
Ngarongo is currently completing his PhD with Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. His speciality pōtae is Kaupapa Māori Mental Health specific to historical intergenerational trauma, and internalised contradictions and conflict conversations expressed covertly as depression and or overtly as aggression. Ngarongo also specialises in interpersonal relational conflict disputes by initiating creative solution and problem solving mediation customised techniques. Ngarongo has being part of a co-design team with Otago Polytechnic bringing specialist Māori knowledge to develop the NZQA approved Postgraduate Diploma in Conflict Resolution. It was launched this year in February 2022. He will be lecturing in the second semester on indigenous mediation. Ngarongo supports his hapū as the kaitiaki of the marae, the Settlement Trust, and on the Tauranga Moana Māori Trust Board. Before PhD, he was an avid kai hoe waka and solo sailing his 28ft yacht Waka Jack, on te Moana a Tauranga.
Enhancing Māori Experiences by Deconstructing the Settler Language of Subjugation
Conflict is absolutely inevitable between people and countries. Conflict is often the result of divergent ideas, cause and effect incompatibilities, deliberate antagonism, power, authority and control differentials towards the equity and equality demography of subjugated, and colonised indigenous peoples. This creates a vacuum of oppressed indigenous peoples who have been subjugated and categorised in the lower-species spectrum with flora and fauna defined as savages and barbarians. This thesis investigates and examines the historical British Imperial Settler language of subjugation, a differential of privilege and racism, the stiff-upper-lip of the patriarchy feudalism notions of paternal superiority. Further to this notion, is the examination of the impact of the Doctrine of Discovery which imposed Christianised legal sovereignty over non-Christian native peoples, their lands, natural resources, assets and slavery as ‘discovered,’ an
Presentation language:
English and Māori
Camille Harris
Te Aupouri, Te Rarawa, Ngapuhi
AUT
About me:
Ko Aroha tōku ingoa
Ko Mamari tōku waka
Ko Te Aupōuri tōku iwi
Ko Te Kao Tōku tūrangawaewae
I am a midwife that provides kaupapa Māori midwifery care for whānau Māori in South Auckland Aotearoa. I am passionate about upholding the mana of our whānau, tikanga and mātauranga Māori as their whakapapa breathes new life. A particular focus has been to uphold and celebrate the mana of tāne Māori. Our indigenous grandfathers, father’s brothers and sons who have had their connection within pōkaitanga and hapūtanga critically severed as a direct result of colonisation. This is a journey of mana motuhake, tino rangatiratanga and reclamation, Mauri ora!
Te Rau o Tāne
Within Te Ao Māori, hapūtanga is a significant process deeply embedded with ancient mātauranga, which was traditionally inclusive of Tāne Māori. In modern times maternity services in Aotearoa can be mana diminishing for Tane Māori and therefore detrimental to whānau ora. This presentation will discuss the key conclusions from Te Rau o Tāne that reinforce the importance of working towards a maternity system that will consider the historical damages that have separated tāne Māori from their pōkaitanga and hapūtanga. To re-evaluate how midwives as well as the New Zealand Maternity system understands, views, and values the important role of tāne Māori within their haputanga requires the continued honouring of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. These key points are critical to research further to uphold the obligations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and ensure that tāne Māori, whānau Māori and pēpē Māori are thriving within the midwifery care that we are so privileged to provide in Aotearoa.
Presentation language:
English
Noah Romero
Philippines
University of Auckland
About me:
Noah Romero’s research uses equity-driven frameworks to examine how historically minoritized people redefine learning and identity within subcultural contexts.Using mixed and decolonizing methodologies, I explore Indigenous, immigrant, and queer punk scenes, skate cultures, and alternative education movements in settler societies to show how decolonization emerges out of commitments to autonomy, responsibility, and relationality.
Decolonial Underground Pedagogy
This presentation seeks to deepen understanding of decolonizing education, an approach to teaching and learning which holds that social justice requires the dismantling of Eurocentric imperialism and its evolving forms. Specifically, it brings literature on decolonization, subculture, and informal learning in conversation to propose a theory of decolonial underground pedagogy, a conceptual framing that enables observations of how minority-led subcultures foster critical consciousness and decolonial action by emphasizing informal learning, community engagement, and nonhierarchical relationships. Through the suppositionless Philippine methodology of pakapa-kapa, I analyze decolonizing experiences found in three minority-led subcultures: punk rock, skateboarding, and unschooling.
Presentation language:
English
Olivia Yates
Pākehā - Scottish, Irish, English (Yates clan)
The University of Auckland
About me:
Olivia is a Pākehā (English, Irish, Scottish) researcher and activist working towards climate justice. She is currently completing her PhD in Psychology at the University of Auckland. Her project involves working alongside the Tuvaluan and Kiribati communities in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland to understand the implications of climate mobility to Aotearoa. Her research is action-based, using research to work towards immigration policy changes in response to climate change. She is a member of the World Universities Network consortium on Climate-Induced Migration and was the recipient of the NZPsS Postgraduate Social Justice Award. Outside of academia, Olivia supports justice initiatives which – like all social issues – intersect with climate change. Olivia has volunteered for Generation Zero, a youth-led climate action organisation. She currently lives in Onehunga, and enjoys tramping, gardening and finding the perfect almond croissant.
“Owning the reality of renting the skies”: Youth climate activism, colonialism and racism in the context of Pacific climate migration
Climate activists in Aotearoa have driven the nation towards a zero-emissions future. However, Māori and Pacific activists have highlighted the structural violence of the movement and calls to decolonise are gaining momentum. Using interviews with Pākehā and Tauiwi climate activists, this presentation explores how Pākehā and Tauiwi climate activists articulate their solidarity with Pacific activists when considering climate change’s impacts in the Pacific. Participants were concerned with the physical impacts of climate change yet many lacked awareness of its broader socio-cultural effects. Nonetheless, they identified that their approach to frontline support needed reform. This required enacting ‘neighbourly’ solidarity, prioritising relationality, and accountability as a shift away from inaction. These strategies may be critical in guiding Pākehā and Tauiwi activists to support climate justice and the broader move to decolonise.
Presentation language:
English
Philippa Isom and Shania McAlister
Shania McAlister - Ngati Maniapoto and Te Whānau a Apanui
Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa (Massey University)
About me:
Philippa is a PhD candidate using short stories to reveal new ways to engage with old problems. Shania is a 2021 graduate of the Graduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching (Primary) and is now teaching full-time at Prospect School.
Decolonising through Ungrading
In 2021, the Graduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa moved to a pass/not yet model of assessment in an attempt to undo power relationships inherent in grading and invite all participants to engage in a rangatira ki te rangatira relationship of learning. This presentation maps the shift of one student from having to “play pākehā” in the institution to being authentically present as Māori with her Pākehā lecturer. Manaakitanga is central to the success of both Kaiako Pitomata (student teacher, a term which speaks to the emergence of the teacher within) and Pouako. The trust established invited radical engagement in a programme that claimed to recognise and value indigenous ways of knowing and demonstrating that knowledge. Rather than assessments requiring a correct and predetermined answer, they were designed to reveal the journey of Kaiako Pitomata and establish the knowledge they would seek out next.
Presentation language:
English
Georgina Davis
Nga Puhi, Ngai Tai, Ngati Porou, Ngati Pakeha
Auckland University of Technology
About me:
Georgina has ancestral links to Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Porou and Ngāi Tai. She has a clinical background as an occupational therapist working in mental health and addictions. Georgina is currently working as a Māori Health Lecturer at Auckland University of Technology and is completing a Doctorate. Her leadership roles in the health sector has led to her doing Kaupapa Māori research in this area.
Tertiary Education in Aotearoa New Zealand: The Stories of Maori Occupational Therapists
Across Aotearoa there are chronic shortages of qualified Maori health practitioners and systemic ethnic health inequities. This study, focussing on the discipline of occupational therapy, explores Maori graduates' recollections of the institutional barriers that impacted on their study.This qualitative study interviewed seven Maori occupational therapy graduates using purakau - an innovative Maori narrative inquiry method. Purakau were collected via kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face) semi-structured interviews. They were analysed using the framework of Pu-Ra-Ka-U which draws on traditional Maori knowledge.The institutional barriers identified were i) cultural dissonance, ii) cultural (in)competency and iii) the limitations of (western) pastoral care. This study highlighted how racism is embedded within the western tertiary education system.
Presentation language:
English
Jenni Moore & Rebecca Gilbert
Ngatiwai/Te Rarawa/Te Aupouri/Ngati Kahu/Ngati Whatua
University of Auckland
About me:
Rebecca Gilbert
“Ka Tangi a Tukaiaia kei te Moana
Ko Ngatiwai Kei te Moana!
Ka tangi a Tukaiaia kei tuawhenua
Ko Ngatiwai tuawhenua!”
A mokopuna of Ngati Rehua ki Ngatiwai, my background has been in health prevention for several years in Tai Tokerau, in my current role with Cancer Society Auckland Northland, we focus on addressing cancer inequities for all peoples of Aotearoa, however whanau Māori and Pacifica experience the highest incidence rates and inequitable levels of cancer harm in nearly all cancers. We prioritise advocacy action for legislation change to reduce the prevalence of cancer at the highest strategic level guided by our Cancer Society commitment to our Equity Charter goals under the partnership of Te Tiriti O Waitangi.
Jenni Moore
I was originally from mid canterbury but have lived in Northland for 32 years. My professional background is in Nursing and I completed my Masters in Nursing five years ago. I have worked in many different roles but a common thread has been working to improve Māori health outcomes and I have held a number of roles which have been Te Tiriti based. In Te Tai Tokerau we have developed a partnership model of supportive care with Māori providers.
In search of authentic equity:
Variable approaches to equitable care prompted the organisation nationally to establish an internal Maori caucus (Te Rito harakeke ) who spearheaded the development of an equity charter which was adopted by the collective body of CEOs around the country. This was followed by Equity being named as a priority in the new national strategic planning process, and a clearly stated commitment from the organisation’s leadership. Te Tai Tokerau had established supportive care roles in partnership with iwi providers prior to these movements, but a significant full division Equity project was carried out in 2019 and an equity action plan established for our division. This presentation will document some of the positive learnings and the challenges faced in this ongoing journey.
Presentation language:
English
Ebony Komene
Ngāti Pikiao (Te Arawa)
University of Auckland
About me:
Ko Tautara Matawhaura tōku maunga
Ko Rotoiti tōku roto
Ko Te Awara tōku waka
Ko Ngāti Pikiao tōku iwi
Kia ora koutou katoa, ko Ebony ahau, I am a young Māori Registered Nurse working in South Auckland, New Zealand. I have worked in primary healthcare settings and am now trying to establish myself as a clinical research nurse having recently graduated the BN(Hons) programme. I have a passion for Māori health and health prevention and feel that driving equity particularly at a policy level is certainly more important now than ever given current global health climates. Ngā mihi nui.
Kōrero Mai: A Kaupapa Māori study exploring the experiences of Māori parents living with and caring for children with atopic dermatitis
In Aotearoa (New Zealand), Māori whānau experience health inequity, socioeconomic deprivation, and discriminatory health care practices. Atopic Dermatitis is a chronic skin condition that disproportionately affects Māori tamariki (children) and international research comments on the holistic challenges that coincide with caring for tamariki who have Atopic Dermatitis. To date, there has been no research in Aotearoa exploring the experiences of Māori parents who may encounter disproportionate challenges when caring for their tamariki. This small qualitative study, using Kaupapa Māori methodology, aims to explore the experiences of Māori parents who are living with and caring for one or more tamariki with Atopic Dermatitis in their homes. Kaupapa Māori guided the study's design and process using a kaupapa kōrero approach. Culturally appropriate engagement was paramount to the study and drew on kanohi-ki-te-kanohi interviews to holisticall
Presentation language:
English
Romy Attewell
Tauiwi with European ancestry
University of Auckland
About me:
I am a South African immigrant to Aotearoa and have lived here for 14 years. I have recently completed my Masters in Health Practice (Population Mental Health) at the University of Auckland. Prior to my masters, I worked in Market Research for 13 years, a career I loved but was lacking in meaning for me. I first learnt about anti-racism during my masters, which I found (and continue to find) mind-altering. I am now looking to pursue a PhD in anti-racism.
A personal reflection on the benefits of decolonisation for white Tauiwi / Pākehā
"If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." Lilla Watson, Aboriginal Australian activist. As a white South African immigrant to Aotearoa, my presentation is a personal reflection on some of the benefits of decolonisation for myself and other white Tauiwi / Pākehā, and the ways in which my liberation is bound with decolonisation. This presentation will reflect on my captured identity that I discovered after reading Baldwin (2015). I will reflect on my predetermined worldview that remained hidden from my view until reading Reid et al. (2019) and Ife (2016). These readings revealed a richer, deeper potential for my identity and worldview, and in turn the ways I could benefit from decolonisation. While these findings are personal, the process provides an avenue of reflection available to begin aligning with decolonisation.
Presentation language:
English
Mereana Te Pere
Tapuika, Waitaha, Ngāti Ranginui
AUT
About me:
Mereana Te Pere
Tapuika, Waitaha, Ngati Ranginui
Auckland University of Technology
The Maori Prison Educator
Māori are severely over-represented in the prison population of Aotearoa New Zealand, making up over half of all prisoners, despite being only about 15 percent of the national population. These Māori statistics are well known to the general population, and tend to add to racist perceptions of Māori in general. There is substantial literature on Māori imprisonment to be found within criminology and related fields, but it mostly focuses on ‘fixing’ the prisoner. There is very little existing research on the experiences of those who work in prisons, and little if any research on the experiences of Māori educators working in prisons. The question of working as a Māori educator in prison was explored in this dissertation using Kaupapa Māori as a framework that aligns with Māori cultural practices and perspectives. The two sources of data used to investigate the question were, first, collecting information from the literature, and second, w