Towards a kaupapa Maori research project describing geological phenomena within the Auckland Volcanic Field

Sylvia Tapuke

School of Environment

Supervisors

Jan Lindsay
Dan Hikuroa
James Muirhead

Abstract

Volcanological research within the Auckland Volcanic Field (AVF) in Aotearoa-New Zealand is conveyed predominantly through the discourse of mainstream science. This research field includes past studies on the origin of prominent volcanic features in the field (scoria cones and maar volcanoes and associated deposits) and the likely hazardous phenomena of tephra dispersal and deposition, pyroclastic surges, lava flows, and edifice formation associated with a future eruption. The recent transition of fourteen volcanoes under the Tupuna Maunga Authority reflects a shift in social and cultural priorities, evolving perspectives and worldviews, and the growing demand for cogovernance between mana whenua and councils in Aotearoa. Central to these changes in the case of the volcanoes in Auckland is the ‘spiritual, ancestral, cultural and customary, and historical significance of the maunga to the mana whenua of Tāmaki Makaurau’. This body of mātauranga has been absent from the official narratives describing the AVF over the last 150 years. Based on kaupapa Māori methodologies and the co-governance arrangement between mana whenua groups and Auckland Council, this thesis seeks to develop a multi-criteria description of selected vents of the AVF through the holistic lens of Māori stakeholders. This talk focuses on my researcher positionality within this topic as a Tūhoe-Samoan living in the Bay of Plenty.