Transforming our ways of knowing, being, and doing: Amplifying Māori knowledge in higher education

Thursday 4 July: Conference day two, 9:00am – 10:00am keynote

Venue

Large Chem, 301-G050

Presenter

Associate Professor Melinda Webber
Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland

Overview

How might we transform the processes, content and outcomes of higher education to more effectively meet the academic and socio-cultural aspirations of Māori?

A common problematic is our tendency to develop ‘silver-bullet’ interventions or cosmetic strategies that only changes the shape of our colonized experience, or perpetrates it in new ways.

We must move beyond disjointed ‘one off’ projects that make good public relation stories – to more transforming processes that challenge institutions to reconsider what counts as useful, important and valid knowledge.

We need institutionally coherent, sustainable and transformative approaches that amplify Māori ways of “knowing, being and doing” in higher education. Māori have already told us what would positively transform higher education for them – the real question is whether we are truly committed to making the changes required.

Presentation topic

Keynote