A rōhi by any other name
This snippet comes from the submission of the Indigenous Genomics Institute. Ko wai mātou? The Indigenous Genomics Institute (IGI) (currently an LLC in the process of transferring to a charitable trust) began coalescing in 2020 in recognition that a gap existed in the RSI ecosystem in “for Māori, by Māori” guidance and leadership around genomics. We aim to be a resource and a voice for Māori communities, hapū, and iwi when it comes to educating whānau about genomics, empowering them to utilise genomics for their own kaupapa, and engaging with genomics researchers.
We note that even just relatively recently (in 2015), the ‘Endeavour’ fund was created, administered through MBIE. In addition, The Royal Society Te Apārangi administers a “James Cook Research Fellowship”. We hope it can be appreciated that Māori may have mixed feelings about applying for such fellowships, given through their naming, they privilege an English explorer’s name and the name of his ship (and contact with a civilisation that had negative impacts on Māori), over the many Māori tūpuna and their waka who had arrived centuries before. In fact, although we acknowledge that due to colonisation many Māori do not have te reo Māori names, only 2 of the 23 funding opportunities advertised by the Royal Society Te Apārangi have te reo Māori names. It may seem like a relatively small thing, but a key tenet of Te Ao Māori is that names have power. The names we chose for awards and funding opportunities should reflect this power, as well as the diversity we want to see among the work force. Our built environments also reflect this issue. Many buildings/structures throughout the RSI system could be from anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere: it is hard to see a visual representation of Te Ao Māori within the current RSI sector. Weaving Te Ao Māori into the RSI sector in a holistic manner – the way that Te Ao Māori functions – will nurture the uniqueness and strength of RSI in Aotearoa.
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