Reflective design practice: re-thinking Pākehā participation in mātauranga Māori-based research to support positive contributions from a Pākehā positional context.
Well-intended Pākehā participants in research similar to Te Muka Taura, are commonly misunderstanding how to make positive and effective contributions from their positional context. These misunderstandings can have consequences such as making a space culturally unsafe, breaking tikanga and disrupting authentic research outcomes. Because cultural tendencies of guilt and silence can prevent admitting fault, mistakes are being repeated. I argue that Pākehā research practices need to be examined by Pākehā, to build collective awareness and address this issue at the core by changing our cultural habits. An invitation to participate in Te Muka Taura provided the ideal conditions for active self-reflection and critical analysis.
The aims of this Auto-ethnographic Reflective design practice following Care Ethics were to..
- gain self-awareness, unlearn counterproductive Pākehā cultural habits and embody non-colonial ‘ways of being’.
- Contribute to the conversation and community of makers that are advocating through craft for increased Pākehā accountability, collective awareness and cultural transformation in the mātauranga Māori space.
Information is generated through audio documented reflections of my participation and contribution in Te Muka Taura research engagements. The knowledge is analysed and developed through re-reflecting the audio reflections into visual representations. This body of primary visual research is summarised into key findings that become the content for material explorations carried out through hand dye and felt practices.