Decolonisation research wins award
Research exploring what decolonisation might mean for Aotearoa New Zealand’s towns and cities has won an award for excellence and innovation.
The Imagining Decolonised Cities team was presented with the Te Rangaunua Hiranga Māori Award by Royal Society Te Apārangi.
Announcing the honour the Royal Society said the seminal research, recognised nationally and internationally, has shifted thinking in communities, making current understandings of often misunderstood ideas around decolonisation more accessible.
The authors of Imagining Decolonisation. Team leader Dr Kiddle is in the green dress.
“The work of the team has promoted the fact that urban spaces have always been indigenous spaces and has explored how to better exemplify this fact,” the society said.
“The interdisciplinary collaboration between iwi and university researchers alongside rangatahi has ensured that the work is relevant and accessible to whānau, hapū and Māori communities.”
The core IDC team, led by Dr Rebecca Kiddle, is a collaboration between Ngāti Toa Rangatira iwi members and Te Herenga Waka Victoria University researchers who worked alongside rangatahi and the wider public to imagine utopian decolonial possibilities for Porirua.
He Haerenga ki te Maunga board game
Funded by UNESCO the team held a public urban design ideas competition around how to create cities that work well for Māori whānau, hapū and iwi. Rangatahi helped the team design a board game that’s used as an educational tool by secondary school and university educators to create a fun and accessible way to learn about colonisation and decolonisation.
A book by the team, Imagining Decolonisation, has also won praise, appearing on lists of anti-racism readings and used by academics here and overseas.