Start with a Blank Piece of Paper

Uncategorized

10 Mar

LEAD’s Hilary Star Foged writes of her own learning and experience from engaging with mana whenua.

“When you come to us, please come with a blank piece of paper.” This is one of the most challenging statements and yet profound requests I received from mana whenua when I was on Aotea/Great Barrier Island last year at a workshop. I had been invited to meet with the local community to talk about Te Tiriti partnership in action.

Coming with a blank piece of paper is challenging because this is not the way Pākehā tend to work. In my experience Pākehā mostly seek affirmation of our plans and objectives when they are well down the track and want mana whenua to support our intentions. This is especially so if there is a requirement from funders to engage with iwi in support of project planning and funding.

To genuinely start with a blank piece of paper is a significant contribution to engagement in partnership with mana whenua. It is about starting from the beginning and working out why, what, and how, together. But with few examples of this being the experience, it can be difficult to envisage what this really looks like in practice. There are however, some significant key aspects to understand.

Firstly, knowing who mana whenua are. Mana whenua are the indigenous people (Māori) who have historic and territorial rights over the land. It is important to ensure we are approaching and building relationship with the appropriate people.

Secondly and most importantly, is that this engagement needs to be relationship based. Not just an instant meeting but building relationship over time so trust and understanding have time to grow. It is about building relationships with mana whenua from a place of deep respect, openness to learning, with an authentic desire to find a mutual way forward. Mana whenua have knowledge and insights that Pākehā can greatly learn from and to inform whatever decisions are to be made together.

Another significant aspect is that it takes time. Time that Pākehā often feel we don't have, as we act in response, for example, to requirements from funding and a need to report back to the funders within set timeframes.

Finally, another key aspect is resourcing. Often the scale of what is needed is under resourced and very often budgeting for consulting with and working alongside mana whenua, is not included. Resourcing is required that provides for the time and wisdom input from mana whenua.

I experienced ‘starting with a blank piece of paper’ not only challenging but a genuine invitation to robust conversation that leads to deeper understanding of each other and a strong foundation to work out what is needed and is possible.

What does this ask of Pākehā? It means recognising and acknowledging the depth of how the dominant culture in Aoteaora has been informed and impacted by colonisation. It means being informed about our history as a nation which continues to play out in how we do things. To honestly acknowledge how our country’s systems, processes, law, health, education etc, have all been strongly founded and organised from a foundation of colonisation where western perspective and values, have resulted in damaging harm to Māori communities, where they experience disproportionately poverty, alienation, inequity and imbalance. It means taking intentional action to change this power imbalance and entering into engagement with mana whenua without presets or fixed ideas about how we consult, discuss and come to decisions together. It may mean some of the processes and current ways we have been doing things need to change to enable a true partnership going forward to be possible.

Having a blank piece of paper calls for an openness to the wisdom and perceptions of mana whenua about what is needed and how it will come into being. There are projects and communities where there is now an openness to growing understanding of how this all works in practice. But for many it is hard to conceive what true equity and partnership when engaging with mana whenua, really looks like, without having experienced it. I have found a genuine approach to learn, to engage honestly and authentically has been met in the most part by a generous spirit towards building relationship.

I have found it a humbling and deeply learning experience to be in the generous space, making mistakes and working with tikanga to guide our conversations, our behaviours, and setting goals for change that will benefit everyone. When Pākehā recognise and acknowledge our different paddles and paddling styles, and work out how we will develop a shared direction and vision for our shared waka, then there is greater potential for following an agreed path to a destination that has been envisaged together. As so beautifully expressed in this whakatauki:

Kaua e rangiruatia te hāpai o te hoe; e kore tō tātou waka e ū ki uta.

Do not lift the paddle out of unison or our canoe will never reach the shore.