Māori scientists, traditional concepts and working with animals
Scientists Eloise Jillings (Ngāti Maru Hauraki), Leilani Walker (Te Whakatōhea, Thai) and Kimiora Hēnare (Ngāti Hauā, Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa) discuss the benefits of combining aspects of te ao Māori and Western science in their research and teaching. They give a very brief overview of some traditional Māori philosophical and ethical concepts.
Please note that the video footage of the laboratory mice is from the United Kingdom and not from the University of Auckland.
It is recommended that educators view this video before showing it in the classroom. It includes footage of people with cancer and may be triggering.
Questions for discussion
Eloise says that having greater world views encompassed in her veterinary profession is a benefit. What are some of the benefits mentioned by the three scientists in this video?
Leilani says that she uses Western science in data collection and analysis and te ao Māori in how she tells the story of these species. What do you think she means by this?
Kimiora says that kaupapa helps him through difficult times as a researcher. What do you think he means by this?
Transcript
Professor Eloise Jillings (Ngāti Maru Hauraki, veterinarian and educator, Massey University)
Often people see mātauranga Māori and Western science as almost competing. Instead, we can think about what’s the best of both that we can take and actually be better as a result. And because Western science is more dominant, particularly in the university, the question is how can we bring in those aspects of mātauranga Māori and make our students better for it, make us better for it?
Dr Leilani Walker (Te Whakatōhea, Thai, lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Environmental Science, Auckland University of Technology)
Coming into my work with a dual perspective of being from te ao Māori and having been trained in Western science, I experience them as being intertwined.
Western science has been my training, so it’s the things that I do, it’s the way that I analyse data and collect data. And I think that the more te ao Māori side is about the way that I tell the story of these species.
Dr Kimiora Hēnare (Ngāti Hauā, Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa, Research Fellow at Waipapa Taumata Rau – University of Auckland)
Fundamental to using mātauranga Māori in all sorts of contexts is the idea of doing things that are tika or right. The information that’s been handed down from our ancestors is often embedded with the right way of doing things. So the application of mātauranga Māori in animal work, in addition to the ethical guidelines, just helps you further understand how you best take care of whatever it is that you’re working with, whether it’s the animal while they are involved in the experiment or afterwards when the experiment is finished and you are analysing the samples with care and grace.
Dr Leilani Walker
Mātauranga and tikanga come with values that exist in the Western world but don’t always exist in Western science. The values of how we relate to the environment and to other species are really important for everyone to be thinking about when we work with our native species.
Dr Kimiora Hēnare
Mauri, which is the life essence or life force, is another concept in Māori world views, and it’s sort of the glue that keeps the tinana, or the body, and the wairua, the spirit, together. If your mauri diminishes, that correlates with the loss of life and the wairua separates from the tinana. And even though cancer is living, the net effect of cancer is that it diminishes the general mauri of the organism. So efforts to kill the cancer is an attempt to protect the person. Everything has a mauri but how you navigate that is whether or not it has a diminishing or an enhancing effect, and so you’re wanting to work towards enhancing mauri.
Dr Leilani Walker
Within te ao Māori, we still have this thought of wairuatanga, of all things having a spiritual and physical aspect, and the whakapapa, their stories, their relationships to other parts of the environment. And I think that my storytelling sensibilities as a scientist come more from that side. We’re trying to explain the world. We’re trying to understand it and communicate it to other people.
Dr Kimiora Hēnare
There are other also concepts in mātauranga Māori, which help you navigate some of those hard days. Kaupapa would be one. I’m interested in solving a major health issue in Aotearoa, which is cancer, and Māori are disproportionately impacted.
The days where we reach the end of an experiment and we need to collect the tissues from these mice, they are hard days. We’re euthanasing all of the animals in a really humane way.
So the kaupapa, the reason why we’re doing it is what drives you forward, but it doesn’t change the fact that these days are quite heavy, quite sad. You’ve been looking after these animals so you do get to know them a little bit. From a Māori perspective, I’m in the process of trying to develop karakia that helps you navigate those days.
Professor Eloise Jillings
Having greater world views encompassed in the profession is a benefit and not a threat. Having a greater inclusion of the breadth of Aotearoa in things like medicine, in things like veterinary science, in anything to do with working with people is of benefit. We need to think about those broader benefits.
Acknowledgements Professor Eloise Jillings, Tāwharau Ora – School of Veterinary Science, Massey University Dr Leilani Walker, Auckland University of Technology Dr Kimiora Hēnare, Waipapa Taumata Rau – University of Auckland Advisors: Professor Georgina Tuari Stewart and Dr Sally Birdsall Patient with stent being walked by hafakot, and cancer patient with partner on beach by kopitinphoto. Licensed through 123RF Ltd Whai (stingray) and seastar underwater, The Ōkahu Bay project, Revive Our Gulf, The Mussel Reef Restoration Trust. CC BY-NC-ND-3.0 Tuatara feeding, and tusked wētā, DOC. CC BY 3.0 All footage of laboratory mice and rats, Understanding Animal Research. CC BY 4.0
