A kawa led approach for the practical application of geospatial science : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Earth Science at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand. EMBARGOED indefinitely.
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Date
2023
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Massey University
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Abstract
Cartography was a tool of colonisation and often contributed to land alienation and injustices to Māori. However, historic maps produced through processes such as land surveys often contain significant information that presents an opportunity for use by Māori, provided it is in alignment with kawa of the community. To investigate the potential for use, publicly available historical maps of the Whanganui River were used to extract information from maps that connect to iwi indicators of wellbeing. This process was developed to extract the location of ngā ripo and other key locations such as manga iti, falls, waterfalls and kainga, identified in historic documents relating to the Whanganui River. Historical maps were georeferenced, processed through newly developed text extraction tool and symbolised into map data sets. This dataset allowed creation of new maps that better align to Tupua te Kawa, wellbeing indicators, and recognised the Te Awa Tupua status. The desire of iwi is to care for, protect, manage, and use through their own kawa (customs, values) and tikanga maintained by uri overtime. For this reason, a story map was created to allow ready access and interaction with the information created giving back the information to the rightful owners. In putting Te Awa Tupua at the centre of this new method, the GIS data follows a kawa led approach that enables iwi aspirations to be met, and the use of GIS and metaphysical and physical properties of Te Awa Tupua and the intrinsic connection the people of the awa. Future work should involve critical examination of all aspects of data sovereignty and protection access to public data that pertains to aspirations and use for further enquiry to ground truth or reclaim knowledge.
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Embargoed indefinitely
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Māori Masters Thesis