University of Auckland to host mātauranga Māori symposium

University of Auckland is set to host a mātauranga Māori symposium in early 2022.

The University of Auckland has announced it will host a mātauranga Māori symposium following a debate around the relationship between mātauranga Māori and science.

In July, a letter published by The Listener claimed that while indigenous knowledge contributes to our understanding of the world, "it falls far short of what we can define as science".

The published letter was signed by seven University of Auckland academics.

"Better to ensure that everyone participates in the world's scientific enterprises. Indigenous knowledge may indeed help advance scientific knowledge in some ways, but it is not science."

They raise their concerns about an NCEA working group's proposed changes to the school curriculum that will ensure parity for mātauranga Māori with other bodies of knowledge.

In a statement, University of Auckland vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater said the debate had since moved into "personal attacks, entrenched positions and deliberate misrepresentations of other people's views, including my own".

University of Auckland Vice Chancellor Dawn Freshwater said she understands it will be a challenging and confronting debate. Photo / Elise Manahan

"I am calling for a return to a more respectful, open-minded, fact-based exchange of views on the relationship between mātauranga Māori and science, and I am committing the University to action on this," she added.

In the first quarter of 2022, Freshwater said the University of Auckland they will have a meeting where different viewpoints on the issue can be discussed and debated.

"I envisage a high-quality intellectual discourse with representation from all viewpoints: mātauranga Māori, science, the humanities, Pacific knowledge systems and others."

She said the university has responsibilities as a "custodian of academic freedom and free speech".

Freshwater said she understands it will be a challenging and confronting debate. She said the seven academic staff wrote the letter in "good faith", which sparked the debate.

"Academics have for centuries fearlessly led the public discussion of ideas, including ideas that are controversial and even offensive," Freshwater said.

The university had been undergoing a programme to "review and refresh" its commitment to academic freedom and freedom of expression, she said.

The programme's leader, Professor Peter Hunter, said the "university has a mechanism for debating controversial issues" on the "Hot Topics" forum.

"It is vital that we are able to openly critique and debate all issues in a rational and collegial manner. That is surely a key function of a university."

The letter was co-signed by Kendall Clements, Garth Cooper, Michael Corballis, Douglas Elliffe, Elizabeth Rata, and emeritus professors Robert Nola and John Werry, who are all staff at the University of Auckland.

Dr Dan Hikuroa, University of Auckland senior lecturer, said some - not all - indigenous knowledge has been arrived at using the scientific method and is therefore science. Photo / Supplied

When the letter was published in July, the New Zealand Association of Scientists were "dismayed" to see mātauranga's value to science being questioned so publicly by prominent academics, and the letter was "utterly rejected" by the Royal Society Te Apārangi.

University of Auckland vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater told staff the letter did not represent the university's views.

Dr Daniel Hikuroa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato-Tainui), a geologist and senior lecturer in Māori studies at Auckland University, said science was both "a method for generating knowledge, and all knowledge generated using that method".

Some indigenous knowledge - though not all - had been generated using the scientific method so it was clearly science, Hikuroa said.

He pointed to the Māramataka - the Māori lunar calendar - and how it is applied as science.

"It predicts that things will happen and they continue to happen. That knowledge is accurate and precise. It's been arrived at through ... the empirical approach. Make an observation, then you make a prediction, and that prediction comes true - so cool, then you embed that knowledge."