New Zealand is MĀORILAND: Language, literature and lifeworlds in Aotearoa

New Zealand is Māori land. Māori have known her curves and contours the longest and dwell with her and care for her in the ‘now-time’. Taking Māoriland as both a colonial construct and a contested field of Māori self-representation, this lecture explores how Māori cultural narratives, memory, and everyday experience provide an ethical, sustainable roadmap for living on these islands and engaging on the global stage. It operationalises te reo Māori - not simply as a vehicle of communication - but as a repository of histories, knowledge, values and the spinal cord of human place worlding here. Ultimately, I argue that the future of Aotearoa New Zealand must be grounded in the ongoing vitality of the Māori language, Māori literatures, Māori practices and Māori values.

"Te ohonga ake I tōku moemoeā ko te pūāwaitanga o te whakaaro" - Te Kirihaehae Te Puea Hērangi.

The event begins at 4:30 PM with a pōhiri. If you haven’t yet been formally welcomed onto Waipapa Marae through a pōhiri or whakatau - now's your chance.!

Please meet at the gate by 4:15 PM.

Staff who have been welcomed onto Waipapa Marae, please join us inside Tānenuiārangi by 4:25 PM.

Reservations are essential.

Bio

Dr Arini Loader is a senior lecturer in Te Kura Aro Whakamuri, Rapunga Whakaaro, Mātai Tōrangapū me te Ao (School of History, Philosophy, International Relations and Political Science) and Poukairangi Associate Dean (Māori) in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. She belongs to Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Whakaue, and Te Whānau-a-Apanui. Her work is grounded in Indigenous knowledges and methodologies and highlights Indigenous agency, creativity, power, and beauty.

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Waipapa Marae, 16 Wynyard Street, Auckland, New Zealand

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