The Cashmere Club, 50 Colombo Street, Sydenham
Thursday 8 May
Doors open: 7pm
Talk starts: 7:30pm
This talk dives into a research project trying to bridge the gap between climbers and Mana Whenua. First, we explore how the Arowhenua whānau perceive Aoraki and mountaineering activities. We reveal Arowhenua perspectives on our highest peak and how they feel about mountaineers being up there climbing. Next, we break down a survey of mountaineers that reveals some differences among four types of climbers, especially when it comes to climbing attitudes and handling human waste. Finally, we use the tuakana-teina (older sibling-younger sibling) framework to show how spending time together can lead to mutual learning and better understanding between Arowhenua whānau and mountaineers.
Toni is a senior lecturer and Māori academic in the Faculty of Education at UC with tribal affiliations across the Ngāi Tahu region. She identifies Arowhenua as her whānau home. Growing up in a small South Canterbury town, she was raised in a multigenerational household with her grandparents, who shaped her identity, worldview, and confidence as a bicultural and bilingual woman. Toni successfully navigated an education system that did not always recognise her ways of knowing and being, an experience she knows is not shared by all Māori. This understanding has inspired her career in both education and research where she aims to make positive contributions to Māori advancement. In this research, Toni worked closely with her Arowhenua whānau to gain a better understanding of different ways that Arowhenua feel about Aoraki, and mountaineers. She was also a participant in the knowledge exchange week between mountaineers and Arowhenua whānau.
Chris North is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health at UC and teaches and researches in the areas of outdoor education practices, environmental education and initial teacher education. In his free time, Chris has been a keen climber and mountaineer and loved the outdoors. This project sits well alongside his research and personal interests because it is trying to improve environmental outcomes in mountain environments and also to find ways to connect well with Mana Whenua.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you want to purchase an alcoholic drink from the bar, you must show a Guest pass. You can pick one of these up inside the room we meet in where they’ll be on a table near the door.
Everyone is welcome, you don’t need to be an NZAC member to attend.
