Data, data everywhere, nor any a datum to think...

Data runs through everything I do, or am meant to do, as a researcher.

Data are pieces of the world, and they are people. We have a relationship with data that is, or should be, intimate.

Data have whakapapa.

Tahu Kukutai and friends have just published a free (!) book on the issues for us as Maori: Indigenous Data Sovereignty. Tahu has also been interviewed by Dale Husband on Waatea news, here.

"...if my data been linked up all over the show how do I know that that data is going to be used for my benefit or the benefit of my whanau or iwi. I think without having Maori right at the forefront of those conversations it's not going to benefit us."

Colleague Karaitiana Taiuru (blogging at http://www.taiuru.maori.nz/ ) has worked tirelessly in forging more space - and safer space - for Maori in the digital world. Check out his digital whakapapa thoughts here.

"It is/was common to hide and preserve whakapapa so that outsiders could not make claims to mana and land. Yet Māori in the digital area do not have the same concerns."

I'm always tussling with data: how to store it, who to show it to, what I can do with it at the end of a project. A timely reminder of the importance of proper data control in times of crises (and when are Indigenous peoples not in a crisis?!) has come from Nathaniel A. Raymond and Ziad Al Achkar of the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology, Harvard.

Nate and Ziad are that data are a central component of humanitarian response. Too often, however, "there is a disconnect between data, decision-making and response." The pressures on decision makers to make informed decisions in the first hours and days of an emergency are extreme,

"and if the elements to effectively gather, manage and analyse data are not in place before a crisis, then the evidence needed to inform response will not be available quickly enough to matter. What's more, a lack of readiness to use data can even cause 'big data disasters'".

There thoughts are available here, also free!

'Maori Economy' grab bag...

	NEWS
	Māori Television Integrated approach needed for Māori economic development Scoop.co.nz (press release) He Mangōpare Amohia: Strategies for Māori Economic Development details the findings of Te Tupunga Māori Economic Development Research ... 'Integrated approach needed' for Maori economic development - Voxy Full Coverage Flag as irrelevant
	Conference provides opportunity to showcase Māori research Scoop.co.nz (press release) Conference provides opportunity to showcase Māori research ... Zealand's top research science companies and leading figures in the Māori economy. Flag as irrelevant
	waateanews.com Crown researchers reach out to Maori waateanews.com Crown research institutes are looking for better ways to engage with leading figures in the Maori economy. The seven CRIs and Callaghan Innovation ... Flag as irrelevant

Indigenous Peoples as Citizen Scientists

I'm off to the inaugural Citizen Science Conference in San Jose, February 11-12 next year. I'll be delivering a 'speed talk' which entails 5 minutes to deliver the message, a great idea for conferences where it can be hard talk sitting through hour after hour of deliveries...

My 300 seconds will be on the role of Indigenous Peoples in this CitSci space. We hold important knowledge of their environments. This ancient knowledge is increasingly sought as data for a variety of scientific disciplines and practices including environmental management, ecology, ethnobotany, fisheries, forestry, and disaster risk reduction. Many Indigenous communities are not opposed to working with scientists and various international conventions have articulated a role for Indigenous knowledge, particularly traditional ecological knowledge. However, the history of much ‘collaboration’ has created significant barriers to progressing truly inclusive Citizen Science in many countries. I'll give a few brief examples from Aotearoa New Zealand will to show that empowering Indigenous individuals and collectives as 'Citizen Scientists' will require an acceptance of possibly radically different worldviews as well as the acknowledgement of broader issues of justice and ethics.

Maori well-being post-disaster

The latest CERA Well-being Survey - the fourth since the big one - shows Maori are still less likely to rate their lives in the city post-disaster as positive:

Despite the ongoing trumpeting of a 'resilient' community, Maori now worse off than October 2012.

Hard rain is falling...

New funding for Maori research at Lincoln University

Lincoln University has funding for two new projects.

The first is called 'People and pīngao: Weaving the Connections'. Historically, pīngao was a major component of sand dune vegetation across New Zealand and was used extensively by Māori for weaving bags (kete), hats (pōtae) and mats (whāriki), as well as a range of decorative items.

The plant, which is of great cultural and ecological significance to New Zealand, exhibits pronounced biological variation and is identified as a key indicator of biodiversity through its capacity to create an environment which allows for the establishment of other native species.

Headed by Dr. Hannah Buckley, I'm involved as an associate researcher. The project would suit a student at the end of their undergraduate or postgrad studies. Contact me at simon.lambert@lincoln.ac.nz for details.

Photo by Anna Wild (http://tearai.kete.net.nz/site/images/show/53-pingao-at-pacific-rd-entrance-te-arai)

The second is part of a MoBIE funded project 'Harmonisation of Communities and Ecosystems, looking to develop Community-based indicators for conservation. Focusing on possum and TB control, this project is explicitly interdisciplinary, and therefore could be of interest to students from a wide range of disciplines (social or natural sciences). The project will look at conservation initiatives across a range of outcome areas – ecological, social, cultural and economic. 

Key players in this project are:

·         CAPTB programme at the Centre for Wildlife Management and Conservation (CWMC)

o   Supervisory oversight and project collaboration from Helen Blackie, Shaun Ogilvie, Will Allen

o   Fees covered

o   Stipend of $14,000 (approximately $270/week)

o   Ngā Matapopore connection facilitated (Maori Advisory Committee)

·         Lincoln University

o   Supervision from Dr. Simon Lambert simon.lambert@lincoln.ac.nz

o   Departmental coverage of expenses ($2,000)

NZ R&D ... if we're standing still, we're going backwards

Its the Red Queen dance, despite what Minister for Everything St Joyce says.

While government called businesses bluff, our actual commitment as an economy is flat and while inflation is low, it ain't zero.

And the relevance for the Maori economy?

We're embedded within this stumbling, penny-pinching innovation ecosystem with mediocre leadership and no strategic plan for improvement.

I've searched the released docs for any mention of Maori but we're not there despite the (relatively small) Matauranga Maori fund.

DCD and the 'Sleeping giant' that is/was the Maori economy

But are the dogs running or sleeping?

Me and dogs.

I don't mind dogs. We got a Dalmatian last year, Lila, lovely dog, killed a massive rat in our lounge once.

And I use to fish the Tutaekuri River which ran a few minutes walk from our whare in Kauri Street, Taradale. Dogs can be kai.

looking upstream of Tutaekuri, towards the Otatara pa .

I expect to see at least two guard dogs in every truck yard I pass, like the yard on the corner of Vickerys and Washbourne Roads, back of Sockburn by the old airbase. One of the dogs there - they used Dobermans, Rottweilers, the occasional Alsatian- was three-legged. Dangerous work, if you can get it.

sunrise through the HotDip galvanising plant

the old burger bunker, a wreck before the quake...

Nice.
In Capitalist korero there is the term running dogs of capitalism...which Wikipedia tells me is a "literal translation into English of the Chinese/Korean communist pejorative zǒu gǒu 走狗, meaning lackey or lapdog, an unprincipled person who helps or flatters other, more powerful and often evil people. It is derived from the eagerness with which a dog will respond when called by its owner, even for mere scraps.


I also know to Let sleeping dogs lie, remember the film? I was somewhat stunned by the synopsis:

 Following the break-up of his marriage caused by his wife's affair with another man named Bullen (Mune), "Smith" (Neill) arranges to live on the Coromandel peninsula on an island owned by a Maori tribe. Meanwhile, political tensions escalate as an oil embargo leaves the country in an energy crisis. Tensions boil over into a civil war and guerrilla activity. However, Smith enjoys his peaceful island life and has little interaction with the rest of society.

Well, we all know what happens to Smith. (Actually, I forgot, so I had to look it up.)

What we don't know is what's happening to the 'Sleeping giant' of NZ Inc that is the Maori Economy?

With so much riding on the dairy sector, it poaka-fisted attempts to control korero on its soil management strategies must. give. one. pause. to. think.

I recall Ingrid Collins, chair of Parae Whangara B5 which took out Te Ahuwhenua, saying we/they had reached the limits of intensification, and they're mainly sheep and beef.

Pity the lowlands.

i think this water is looking for the Heathcote...near Tower Junction...

Without wanting to oversimplify, the reason I'm posting on what was an obscure chemical (albeit one developed on the very campus from which this is posted...) is that Rod Oram touches on the risk to our Maori economy, or at least that chunk still on the land. DairyNZ and Fonterra, through supporting/contracting research on technological solutions to the environmental (and hence social and market contexts), are reaching those limits, both limits to the land, the water, their ecosystems, and to people, the hours they can work, the injuries they can carry.

We've seen the invisible hand reaching to the Pacific all those years ago. Now its is grasping, pummeling, clenching, all too desperate, and all too visible if you know where to look.

I think we are seeing the extremities of the logic of accumulating capital. Maori have seen the land squeezed from our hands, the blood wrung out of us as workers but still. it. goes. on.

So this latest corporate fuck up (and perhaps more in the arrogance of the political arm rather than the technocratic) is merely the latest incarnation of capital's logic. More people are aware, more focused questions can be asked, more scrutiny of the answers is possible.

Ain't the end. Ain't even the beginning of the end. But it might be the end of the beginning.

Indigenous Geographies

Recent exchange between members of the Indigenous Peoples Special Group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) brings to light this brochure...

The IPSG works for five specific goals:
1) service to Indigenous communities;
2) service to the field of geography;
3) service to Indigenous geographers;
4) bridge the gap between Indigenous communities and geography/ers;
5) investigate what ethical research means in relationship to Indigenous communities and help guide researchers in conducting such research.

We, the IPSG, believe that Indigenous communities are highly

capable of determining their own research needs, and as researchers who work with

Indigenous communities, we see an important role for geographic tools, methods and

theory for facilitating such research.

I link to their site, or should that be our (I think I'm a member but can't recall paying any fees...)

Upcoming conference of the NZ Geographical Society in one of my home towns, Napier, in two weeks. I'm presenting some more of our earthquake research....here's the abstract:

Indigenous responses to urban disaster: Maori mobility after the Canterbury earthquakes

Abstract: The recent earthquakes in Canterbury have highlighted ongoing response and recovery efforts by those people affected by the most significant urban disaster in New Zealand for 80 years. Many of those neighbourhoods badly affected by the initial quakes and extensive aftershocks have high proportions of Maori and Pasifika populations. This paper presents quantitative and qualitative data on the Maori response. While standard interpretations of Maori being ‘people of the land’ and agitating for land settlement remain valid, the tactics and strategies of those affected by the disaster involve significant mobility. Notwithstanding the cancellation of the 2011 census (due to the February 22^nd quake), statistics on Maori are disappointingly sparse. However, Maori school enrolments reveal Maori children moving at rates three times those of Pakeha. Interviews conducted with Maori in the aftermath of the earthquakes further show their concern for their children, the use of whānau networks, and the willingness to migrate, including to Australia, as a response to urban disaster.

Keywords: Maori, urban disaster, cultural resilience.

Balancing Innovation and Tradition?

Through the wondrous ways of the world wide web, I linked into a blog on innovation that seems to have emanated from the recent 'Transiting Venus' hui on the East Coast. Being quite partial to a good debate on innovation, I delved in, or is it on, and must confess to being rather disappointed at the pitiful start...


"For a start, put aside labels like “Maori” – we are all just “people”. Many traditions are made to be broken – they are anchoring us to the past. Remember the past, but don’t dwell in it. To achieve progress, boundaries must be pushed, old ideas thrown out or built upon. “Traditional” doesn’t mean “perfect”; change is sometimes required."


This from someone called 'ShadowMind'. For many Maori, this is the sort of conversation that somewhere includes, "I'm not racist, but..."


Anyways, I added my thoughts and awaited, with baited breath, for my post to appear like a wee fly struck in the proverbial www. Unfortunately, there was a hiccup as I made a rather undiplomatic comment about an old researcher I've worked with in the past, a woman who has made a bad habit of playing devil's advocate while the jury was still out. Nice work if you can get it.


Anyways, I removed the offending sentence though left my overly polite comment on ShadowMind's use of anonymity, being 'mindful that shadowy anonymity is an innovation enabled by digital technologies.' I even left a smiley face :) Oh, and I blog under my own name.


I'm quite happy with labels like 'Maori' in relevant contexts, such as a debate on innovation and tradition in NZ. My concern is that there's a huge literature on innovation, as we might expect from something that has been so dominant in modernity (not least through Schumpeters 'creative destruction', the guts of capitalism). Let's tap into it.


So far, no posting from the McDairmid institutes forum. And I must confess I used the opportunity to promote my upcoming paper on 'Innovation, Maori, and the Māori Economy: a flat or lumpy world?' that will be delivered at Nga Pae's conference in Auckland at the end of this month. 


My wider concern is that we just aren't engaged in the debate, although I understand the reasons why. I accuse ShadowMind of racism, the moderator disagrees, afterall, she's already accepted the first posting, presumably thankful to have something to present to the world, I call them a bunch a fcukwits....


You get the pikitia.


Two friends of mine - Pauline harris and Hemi Cummings - have tried to spark debate on a faceBook page dedicated to the Maori Association of Research Scientists. So far, Rob Whitbourne and I have had a nice exchange, Pauline's posted on the Transit of Venus event. Otherwise very little. 


WTF.


One reason might be fear. I know I'm scared to post sometimes. In my early days, I put something out there and got burnt, or is it flamed?! Kinda knocks you for a while, and for some, maybe there's no coming back to the www. Or you keep it inhouse, amongst friends, between Maori and fellow travellers.


Tain't how our tipuna did it.

NAISA 2012

Just arranging tickets to this years Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) conference in Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, Connecticut, for June 3-6. The host institutions are University of Massachusetts Boston; Dartmouth College; Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP); University of Massachusetts Amherst; and Yale.

Looking forward to catching up with old friends. I'm presenting on the Wednesday, 'Indigenous Resilience to urban disaster: Maori and the 2010/11 Christchurch earthquakes', data coming out of our Lincoln projects on how Maori have been affected by the ongoing quakes (big aftershock of 5.49 yesterday).

Essentially, "The response and recovery of Māori to the massive dislocation of the earthquakes in Ōtautahi displays the strength and resilience of Māori cultural values and skills as well as the distressing effects of ongoing Māori economic vulnerability. The institutions of whānau, marae and iwi provided immediate and much needed help to more than just ‘their own’, and the values of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga were manifested in the actions of countless individuals and groups. 

However, any framing of Māori resilience as benefiting from generations of poverty – a callous on our collective lives – risks reifying the status quo of economic vulnerability, diluting our attention from a key component of resilience to hazards and disasters, namely asset wealth. Understanding Māori resilience as nuanced, place-based and culturally ‘attuned’ opens up possibilities for better disaster preparation and improved post-disaster recoveries than simply judging Māori response(s) and recovery(ies) according to assumptions of population stability or resistance to change. But understanding and manipulating the macro-economic context remains fundamental to improving the resilience of marginalised communities such as Māori and poses a continuing challenge to our efforts to reduce our collective vulnerability to what will be recurring events."

I update our earthquake research on a Lincoln webpage, 'Maori Resilience.'

Disease affecting Southland kanakana/lamprey

This from MAF: 

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY

MEDIA RELEASE

Kanakana, or lamprey, in the Mataura River have become affected by a bacterial disease.

The bacteria is no risk to human health, however we advise people not to eat kanakana or other fish that look unusual or unhealthy.

We have provisionally identified the bacteria as Aeromonas salmonicida and are completing full testing to identify the exact strain and understand its significance. This bacteria has not been identified in New Zealand before. Full results are expected by late October.

We are also stepping up monitoring programmes in Southland and working with Environment Southland, commercial fisheries, recreational and customary fishers of kanakana, and recreational water users to find out if other waterways and fish are affected.

Until more information is confirmed, fishers and river users are reminded to be vigilant to check, clean and dry their equipment and clothing between waterways.

To date, there are no signs the bacteria is affecting other species. It is known to affect salmon, trout, eel, and whitebait and could affect native fish such as kokopu.

Kanakana with the bacteria are likely to have:

• red and/or swollen fins
• red and/or swollen marks that look like bruises or blood clots.

If anyone finds sick or dead kanakana or any other fish with these symptoms, they can phone the MAF hotline (0800 80 99 66) who will advise what to do next, such as collecting them for testing.

ideas are like hillocks on a landscape

"It is simply common sense at its best – rigidly accurate in observation and merciless to fallacy in logic."

Thomas Huxley, who had Darwin's back when he was propounding his theory on natural selection.

I like this as well...
"In the early stages of research, ideas are like hillocks on a landscape. So you design experiments to discriminate among them. Most hillocks shrink and disappear until, in the end, you are left with a single towering pinnacle of virtual certitude."

WAI 262 website

Have found this very good site that gives the history, contents, commentary, interviews and photographs of all things 'Wai 262', the huge, 23-years-in-the-preparation report that began as the flora and fauna claim but soon extended into cultural property rights and processes.

Love this picture of the kawe roimata for those who leapt from Te Reinga before the report was released...



Love too this pikitia from the 1988 ethnobotany hui at Rehua, here in Christchurch/Otautahi. Hohua Tutengaehe (centre, moustacheod) was kaumatua of CPIT when I was studying te reo there in 1994.

Documentary, Maori Television

Kia hiwa ra!

A documentary on the issue of toxins poisoning land and people, as evidenced in the lives of sawmill workers. Joe Harawira has been a stalwart fighter for education and remediation of what is a serious environmental and societal concern in many places in Aotearoa/NZ.

Ko Aotearoa Tenei: WAI 262 preamble...

Love the intro which begins with ...'Aue e te mate, kei hea tau wero, aue e te reinga kei hea tou wikitoria?' which is translated as ...'Oh death where is thy sting; grave, where is your victory', nice allusion to both Corinthians 15:55 and a sonnet by Shakespeare.

Then follows a parade of faces, many having shuffled off this mortal coil.

The report then gives a potted history of Kupe's People, then Cook's People - sailors one and all (useful 101, even 201, histories). Then a number of quite revisionist statements:
" Maori culture locates us in the Pacific and gives us our deep roots here. Pakeha culture locates us at the same time in the West and gives us our right to the West's heritage."

Then quickly comes the following: "Bicultural fusion gives our vibrant multicultural reality a solid core with enough gravity to pull immigrant cultures into orbit around its vision, values, and expectations. A nation cannot sustain itself without that solid core" (p.16).

Of course WAI 262 was never a standard claim, if indeed its possible to speak of such a thing. It is acknowledged that the claim always asked 'novel questions' about who owns or controls
1. matauranga Maori;
2. the tangible outputs of matauranga Maori;
3. 'things that are important contributors to matauranga Maori, namely
i) taonga species
ii) and the natural environment of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

I see these as posing ontological, epistemological, and empirical challenges, respectively, to Maori and Pakeha; What can be known; how do we know and use this knowledge; and what does this knowledge result in, how is it manifested in our lifeworlds?

Maori and Carbon Sequestration: if my pohutakawa seedling dies, is the Whenua Conference no longer carbon neutral?

As mentioned earlier, carbon credits, the ETS, and Maori agribusiness were top of the pops at the 2010 Whenua Conference at the Distinction Hotel, Rotorua. As part of the giveaways, attendees received a dainty wee Pohutukawa seedling, along with the ubiquitous flax kete. My old employer, Manaaki Whenua/Landcare Research Ltd. have been very proud of their money-spinner, carbonZero. By planting these baby trees about the whenua, we were supposedly ensuring the conference was carbon neutral and therefore somehow sustainable.

Maybe.

Mine's been in the flax kete sitting in the storage compartment next to the drivers seat in my clapped out and definitely carbon-spewing Subaru Legacy (okay, except when I took it out for a photo shoot after a jug of Classy Red at the Lincoln road Harringtons Bar and Brewery).

My question is quite simple. If I let the thing die (and i don't think it can survive this far south), does the conference then become non-neutral for carbon auditing reasons?

Tahuri Whenua AGM 2010

We celebrated the 7th AGM for the National Maori Vegetable Growers Collective, a.k.a. Tahuri Whenua, on September 18th at Parewahawaha marae, Bulls. The mother of all storms - as big as Oz they said - was passing overhead, so a formal powhiri was dispensed with and we ran through the whakatau inside the wharekai.

It was great to catch up with old friends, including Rosie from Ruatoria...
Rosie fed back from regional Ngati Porou efforts.


Nick and Hanui talking about the kumara varieties cared for by Del Wihongi. Tahuri Whenua has offered to help Del's daughter with kaitiaki duties.


Aleise Puketapu presenting her research on the 'Lifecycle and epidemiology of the Tomato/Potato psyllid'. This pest, originally from North America, has seriously impacted on several crops including Taewa. Aleise, incorporating research findings from experts from UC (California, not Canterbury) advises monitoring your crops, choose selective chemicals, and plant a border crop where you can hit them first, fast, and hard!


Who dat?!


...Aunty Chrissie!

We've produced an excellent poster celebrating the first seven years of T.W., with photo's of each hui about the motu, including the Peru trip of last year.

Christchurch Earthquake: Ruana te whenua...

I've yet to say anything significant about the recent Christchurch earthquake. 7.1 - a decent shake by anyone's estimation - I was in Wellington at the third and final MANU Ao Maori Academic Leadership. Yeah, irony in spades...

No deaths, lots of broken wine glasses, some frazzled nerves, and one of those reminders we may not want but always need.

Anyways, my drinking spatiality has been dramatically altered. The Lincoln staff club will change venue, Memorial Hall being more like a barn...



The Famouse Grouse, Lincoln's historic pub (no, I didn't know either; second oldest in Canterbury evidently) is no more...




And even the Craic on Riccarton Road is fenced off.


Otherwise the storm is about to start. Don't for a moment think that Cantabrian spirit and resilience is in good shape.

Whenua Conference

Really enjoyed the just done Whenua Conference, Rotorua, 21-23 July at the Distinction Hotel. Good keynote speakers although must say I'm tired of the 'we are unique' spiel that the Minister of Maori Affairs trotted out (We're the only Indigenous minority who are marginalised, undereducated, suffering poor health, subject to ongoing racism and ... well we're not. Ay...).

Anyways, I presented on the opportunities for Halal branding for Maori, a project I'm squirreling away on with a couple of contacts at Lincoln and in Malaysia. More later...

As for the future of Maori agribusiness, am I the only one whose noticed any society that pins its economy to agriculture suffers declining relative wealth? And are there any ecologists not in the pay of the dairy sector who think dairying is sustainable? And with the growth in robotics in agriculture, where are the jobs for our youth? (Okay, in computing and engineering but we're not exactly getting numbers through). And how many Maori agrifood ventures are in profit. Real profit. Just a few minor points, don't wanna piss on anyone's parade. Not yet anyway ay.

Loved the skewering of Carbon Credit Forestry ... nothing more testing than a Maori audience. Word to the wise: the answer 'You can find them on the internet' is not a good one for the question 'Where are these carbon traders?' Chur...

As for my boys, Bruno (left) wants to be a copper, Whiti (right) wants to make movies and be an actor. Well, lest they don't wanna do a PhD!


Maori boys on the farm?

Traditional Knowledges Conference

A good time was had by all in the recent Traditional Knowledges Conference, Auckland University in the well-appointed School of Business. I flew up on the Tuesday, staying Wednesday night. Met many old friends from MAI days, quite a few of us now having passed through the PhD grinder and surviving relatively sane.

Great to finally meet Prof Dan Longboat. He's been hosted by Dr. Jamie Ataria (who's spread between LandCare and Lincoln Uni). Dan 'gave' us the term 'Re-indigenising Humanity' which we're using at Lincoln to frame projects to do with, well, more about that later...

Prof Dan Roronhiake:wen (He Clears the Sky) Longboat

Conversations with Dan and his colleague Steve Crawford (who's also visited LandCare a couple of years ago) are just further enticement to work closer with Indigenous peoples across the Pacific. So many similarities and opportunities to learn from each other and transfer the ideas, skills and people we all need. Then we can starting helping Pakeha...


As for the conference dinner, most excellent food if slightly delayed...and why am i always at the naughty table?!

Table 12: Waitangi Shortland, Pip Pehi, Lisa Kanawa, Sean Ogilve, Craig Pauling in the front row; Tui (?), Marg Wilkie, moir, Dan Longboat, Mahinarangi across the rear.