Traditional knowledges are not homogeneous or tidy; they often contain hidden meanings and tensions. In some cases, they are contradictory and therefore understanding them requires careful analytical and critical thought. The marginalisation and exclusion of Indigenous knowledges in contemporary contexts has perhaps been (falsely) justified because they do not easily translate into non-Indigenous ways of knowing. The purpose of this article is to critically examine traditional Māori knowledge and epistemology in relation to modern challenges and meaning-making. Indigenous conceptual frameworks allow for Indigenous interpretation of our experiences on our own terms.

The beauty of te ao Māori is the pragmatic fluidity of many of our concepts. Generally employed to explain our genealogical links and connections to land, whakapapa can also be applied within the context of rangahau to organise, structure, analyse and understand information, experiences and relationships. This article introduces Te Waka Pounamu, a whakapapa-based framework developed as a methodological research model for my doctoral studies. Included in the whakapapa framework is a tikanga Māori model I have named Te Tuamaka.

Ko te tino kaupapa o te tuhinga nei hei whakaatu i ngā rautaki a te Maori mō ngā rākau taketake e kainga ana e te ngāngara. Kua whakaputaina mai ngā rautaki e rima nei; pūrākau, rāhui, karakia, tohu, me te mahitahi. I ahu mai ngā rautaki katoa i te mātauranga Māori. Ahakoa, he rerekē ētahi o ngā āhuatanga mō ia rautaki, kotahi noa te whakaakoranga ka puta i ngā rautaki katoa—ko te hononga o ngā mea katoa. Koirā te kitenga matua o te rangahau. Nā te mea, ko tātou ngā tāngata o te ao tūroa, ngā tamariki o te moana, o ngā roto, o ngā awa, o ngā ngahere hoki.

This article identifies the entrepreneurial mindset as a resolve to engage in exploration and action in order to address an issue or accomplish a goal. Entrepreneurial mindset, in the context of navigation, espouses an expectation of resilience, analysis, adjustment, application and development in all areas of intention. For thousands of years, Polynesian navigators negotiated the unpredictable and unknown Pacific islands, waters, winds and rains to voyage the breadth of the Pacific Ocean.

This paper explores the process of co-designing a mātauranga-Māori-informed mindfulness intervention with rangatahi in a wharekura and examines the effects on wellbeing. Mahitahi co-design methodology underpinned the design, implementation and evaluation of the intervention, and quantitative psychological tests measured improvements in wellbeing and dispositional mindfulness. Findings showed positive indications for a decrease in levels of psychological distress, improvements in Māori quality of life domains and higher levels of dispositional mindfulness.

Indigenous wisdom traditions regard knowledge as an active and creative process of coming to know. Descriptions of the emergence of knowledge are found in cosmological whakapapa narratives, which reflect and inform an Indigenous worldview. Outlined in this article is an Indigenous Māori research paradigm that is underpinned by the cosmological whakapapa and describes knowledge creation as a relationship with experience. A Māori methodological framework, Te Hihiri process, is offered as a research tool to keep researchers grounded in Indigenous wisdom, guided by ancestral knowledge and entrenched in spirit.

He kipakipa mutunga kore kua oho ake i te whatumanawa o te tangata kia mōhio anō ia ki ngā taonga tuku iho a ōna mātua tūpuna. E kitea ana i te hiakai o te iwi Māori whānui ki ngā kōrero mō Matariki, te maramataka Māori, te whakatere waka, te whakaora tikanga, me te tupu matomato rawa o ngā kaupapa whakarauora reo. Nā, ko te aronga nui o tēnei tuhinga he kuhu atu ki ngā kōrero tuku iho e pā ana ki ō tātou atua Māori. Inā rā, ko te matapae i tōna whai tikanga nui ki te whanaketanga o te tuakiri Māori, ka tahi. Ka rua, he whakatakoto tauira o tā te tangata Māori whakahāngai i ērā kōrero atua ki ōna horopaki hou o tēnei ao hurihuri. Āe rānei, ka whai take i tua atu o Rautaki, o Mahere?

The overarching policy strategy for Māori education is contained in the document Ka Hikitia— Accelerating Success 2013–2017: The Māori Education Strategy (preceded by Ka Hikitia—Managing for Success 2008–2012), out of which fall some specific Māori education resources. One of these is Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners. The Tātaiako framework purports to define behaviours and skills that reflect a teacher’s Māori cultural competence to ensure the success of Māori students, as Māori. These competencies are identified as five traditional Māori values and concepts: ako, manaakitanga, tangata whenuatanga, wānanga and whanaungatanga.

This article reports the findings of a two-year transdisciplinary research project that explored the implications of climate change for the security and safety of drinking water supplies in three communities in Te Hiku o te Ika in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this region, potable water comes mainly from “roof and tank” systems. The project was designed as integrative Kaupapa Māori research utilising climate science, microbiology and social science to develop community-oriented approaches for dealing with the complex issues at the nexus of climate change.

Kua hau ngä rongo o te hangarau i te mata o te whenua, me uaua ka kitea he tangata kāore i te whakamahi i tētahi momo hangarau—te pouaka whakaata, te waea pūkoro, te rorohiko, me te ipurangi. Katoa ēnei nei mea he uri nō te wāhiaotanga, ā, he whakangāwari i te horapa o ngā mea katoa ki ngā hau e whā o te ao. Ko te ito o tēnei tuhinga roa he titiro ki ngā mata e rua o te hangarau, arā, te mata i tāmi i te iwi Māori, me te mata i whakawhanake i te iwi Māori. Ko ngā whakahau ka whakatakotoria e māua i tuhia hei whakaohooho, hei whakatenatena i te iwi Māori kia kaua e waiho mä te ao te tuakiri me te reo Māori e waihanga ki te ao.