Thanks for attending!
Dear attendees,
Thank you for tuning in to ‘Musings and Reflections on Indigenous Politics and Settler Colonialism in Aotearoa New Zealand’ featuring Tūwharetoa scholar, Hemopereki Simon and A/Professor Lorenzo Veracini discussing the intersection of mana motuhake (Indigenous sovereignty), settler colonialism, treaty and the collective future of Aotearoa New Zealand.
86 people joined over zoom, with a lively engagement during the Q&A session.
Themes raised
Treaty Waitangi/Yukon
- Hemopereki Simon offered some background to the Treaty of Waitangi before marking the paradigm shift that occurred in 2014, a moment that propelled them into embarking on their doctoral research. In 2014 The Waitangi Tribunal in The Te Paparahi o Te Raki report stated that if hapū (clans) and/or iwi (nations) signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi they still maintained mana motuhake (Indigenous sovereignty).
- Hemopereki & Lorenzo discuss the Voice to parliament and its comparison to Aoteroan biculturalism. Hemopereki pointed out that the Voice does not meet Human Rights standards and may work to draw Indigenous people into settler-state system.
- Conversation then shifted to Eco-constitutionalism and Te Awa Tupua as ways to connect us back to land – areas of specific focus in Hemopereki doctoral research.
- The conversation concludes with a critical discussion of disciplines such as Political Science and settler colonial studies. Hemopereki problematises Patrick Wolfe’s terminology of ‘settler colonialism’ preferring the use of ‘settler-invader colonialism’.
Some questions from the audience
In Australia, do you believe there is a need for something like the Truth & Reconciliation Commission that Desmond Tutu oversaw in South Africa (to hear and acknowledge the atrocities of apartheid), before even tackling treaty/sovereignty / other solutions for a better future of Indigenous peoples?
Hemopereki, you spoke of the seesaw of knowledge and values being tilted towards the invader/settler, and how it should be balanced. I am wondering why it should be balanced, rather than perhaps tilted towards te ao Māori and matauranga Māori if we are to achieve decolonisation?
Do you think that the Waitangi Tribunal is a tiger with no teeth?
What is the reference to the Maori equivalent to Patrick Wolfe. He mentioned that a Maori response to settler colonialism was expressed poetically in the 1880s?
Final Critical Public Conversation webinar for 2022
Settler Memory and the Pitfalls and Possibilities of a Third Reconstruction - Professor Kevin Bruyneel
Date & Time: Wed 26th October 10 – 11 am AEDT
In this talk Kevin Bruyneel will discuss the chronic displacement of Indigeneity in the politics and discourse around race in American political theory and culture, arguing that the ongoing influence of settler-colonialism has undermined efforts to understand Indigenous politics while also hindering conversation around race itself.
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