TE ĀTI HAU TRUST Trust scholarships provide more than pūtea
Trust Case Study
Two students supported by Te Āti Hau Trust are focusing on the value of mātauranga Māori in the taiao space. The wāhine say at the heart of their studies is the way mātauranga Māori can be used to add different perspectives to understanding the environment. Leana Barriball is a shareholder descendant and also of Ngāti Tama, Te Atiawa, Ngāti Kahungunu and Rongomaiwahine descent. She is using both the Western scientific approach and mātauranga Māori in her PhD studies, looking at the impact rising sea levels would have on two īnanga spawning sites in the rohe of Ngāti Kahungunu. She is the recipient of the PhD Scholarship, which has enabled her to fund the time she needed to spend in the field collecting raw data for her studies. “For me, the two approaches are different ways of knowing things. Science is very specific to the thing you are looking at – you control everything around it, isolate it, to get to know it better. Mātauranga Māori makes connections and looks at how the thing behaves in response. It uses whakapapa, pūrākau and tohu to be able to make predictions and provide understanding. Neither is better than the other, they are just
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different ways of learning about the thing.” Working part-time at the Parliamentary Commission for the Environment, the watchdog for all environmental agencies, studying part-time and co-parenting her two tamariki, Leana is in her third year of the five years she thinks it will take to complete her work. “There’s a lot of juggling, and, unfortunately, money can be a big stressor when you are taking on a period of study,” says Leana. “Receiving the scholarship has made a big difference in enabling me to complete my fieldwork
without having to worry all the time. I’ve also been able to give koha in acknowledgement and appreciation for those who have shared their time and knowledge with me.” But the scholarship means more than just pūtea. “Knowing that my iwi can see the value in my work, and how it will benefit future generations, gives me a greater belief in myself,” she says. And the same is true for Pania Tutemahurangi (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Whakatōhea), recipient of the Ravensdown Scholarship and
