Tuupuna Times -
Preserving the narratives of Ruuruhi and Koroheke®

My Research

Intergenerational Knowledge Transmission

My PhD project investigated the way knowledge is transmitted inter-generationally, and the teaching and learning methods (or pedagogies) used to do this. The transmission referred  to knowledge about practices associated with celebrations of the Kiingitanga ‘kingship movement’ of which the Waikato iwi ‘tribe’ have long been the kaitiaki ‘guardians’.

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I set out to analyse whether there is any correlation between the traditional Maaori knowledge frameworks of old being utilised in the way we learn the roles associated with three domains on the marae ‘communal gathering place’: te whakarite, whakapai marae/wharenui, te wharekai/ kaauta and te paepae during three key Kiingitanga events.  My thesis explored how learning was undertaken in ngaa whare waananga tawhito ‘traditional houses of learning’ before documenting my participants’ narratives about how they learned their roles on the marae.

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The information from the project showed us that overall, there was not one single, definitive pedagogy amongst the participants when it came to primary learning preferences. Role modelling was most prominent in the te whakarite, whakapai marae/wharenui workspace.

Likewise learning by exposure was most prominent in the te wharekai/kaauta workspace. There was no clear preference in te paepae – karanga workspace with those responding there primarily referring to a different pedagogy in their narratives. Titiro, whakarongo was most prominent in the te paepae – whaikoorero workspace and with those speaking about te paepae – waiata kiinaki.

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However, the combined data from across the three parts of the te paepae divisions, showed titiro, whakarongo easily represents the most influential pedagogy across all the workspaces on the marae.

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