Deconstructing the Doctrine of Discovery

This seminar is about deconstructing (and decolonizing) historical narratives about the colonisation of the indigenous world and an opportunity to revise and re-examine the historical record about the ‘discovery of Aotearoa’ Speakers Tina Ngata is a mother of two from Ngati Porou, Tai Rawhiti. Her work involves advocacy for environmental, Indigenous and human rights, highlighting the role of settler colonialism in issues such as climate change and waste pollution. She promotes Indigenous conservation as best practice for a globally sustainable future and writes frequently at ‘The Non-Plastic Maori’. Tāwhana Chadwick (Ngāti Kahungunu) is a tangata moana/tangata whenua from Heretaunga. Tāwhana is a captain of waka hourua (doubled hulled sailing canoes) with about 50,000 Nautical miles of blue water experience. His passion is for the revitalization of waka knowledge and justice for Te Moananui-a-Kiwa (including the people and creatures within). Dr Emalani Case is a lecturer in Pacific Studies at Victoria University of Wellington's School of Languages and Cultures. As a Hawaiian woman, scholar, activist, writer, blogger, and dancer, she is deeply engaged in issues of indigenous rights and representation, dietary colonialism and food sovereignty, art and activism, political independence, and environmental and social justice.