Recently Aneta Cram and two members of her supervision team, Drs Lynne Russell and Amohia Boulton were fortunate to participate in the 2024 Hawai’i-Pacific Evaluation Conference in Kāneʻohe, Hawai’i. The theme of the conference was “Breaking Boundaries: Charting Paths towards Aloha, Joy, and Justice in Evaluation”. In a presentation entitled Wānanga (knowledge sharing): An Indigenous mentoring approach to supporting Indigenous students and evaluators, the three-member team presented a frank reflection on the challenges and joys of supervising Māori students, as Māori, in a predominantly Western, mainstream institutional setting. Issues explored in the presentation included what is required to create a “safe” space for Māori PhD students; how we value and honour mātauranga Māori in the PhD journey and in our practice as supervisors; and how we as supervisors and students navigate the many tensions (familial, social, political etc.) in our daily lives that impact on the successful conclusion of a PhD. Importantly for this audience, the team also reflected on how the lessons we have gleaned thus far can be used to influence and inform the support of new and emerging Indigenous evaluators in the practice of evaluation.
The team was excited by the large number of Indigenous evaluators who took part in the conference as well as by the number and quality of Indigenous-led conference presentations which drew heavily on Indigenous worldviews and practices. Presentations included results as well as methodological innovations and, in common with other evaluation conferences, covered a range of kaupapa from education and language revitalisation through to healing from the Maui fires and fishpond restoration. Highlights from the conference included us presenting for the first time as a team; meeting and spending time with participants in Aneta’s PhD work; and listening to the wisdom of the many elders present.
With my Whakauae Research Centre Director hat on, the comment from the conference that will remain with me the longest is that from Whaea Puanani Burgess; a stalwart of evaluation in Hawai’i and participant in Aneta’s work, who passed away a few weeks before the conference. Whaea Burgess often asked of both evaluators and community members, “when we are busy undertaking our work, who speaks for the trees?” As a Māori health research centre with a commitment to undertaking research and evaluation which supports health and wellbeing in all its myriad forms, I think this question is a timely reminder of the work we have before us. I hope that this will not be our first, and only, opportunity to attend the Hawai’i-Pacific Evaluation Conference as it is clear the links between our work and that of our Pacific whānau remain strong despite both time and distance.
Citation: Cram, A., Russell, L., Boulton, A. (2024). Wānanga (knowledge sharing):An Indigenous mentoring approach to supporting Indigenous students and evaluators. Paper presented at the Hawai’i-Pacific Evaluation Association Conference, Kāneʻohe, Hawai’i, 19 September.
Recently Aneta Cram and two members of her supervision team, Drs Lynne Russell and Amohia Boulton were fortunate to participate in the 2024 Hawai’i-Pacific Evaluation Conference in Kāneʻohe, Hawai’i. The theme of the conference was “Breaking Boundaries: Charting Paths towards Aloha, Joy, and Justice in Evaluation”. In a presentation entitled Wānanga (knowledge sharing): An Indigenous mentoring approach to supporting Indigenous students and evaluators, the three-member team presented a frank reflection on the challenges and joys of supervising Māori students, as Māori, in a predominantly Western, mainstream institutional setting. Issues explored in the presentation included what is required to create a “safe” space for Māori PhD students; how we value and honour mātauranga Māori in the PhD journey and in our practice as supervisors; and how we as supervisors and students navigate the many tensions (familial, social, political etc.) in our daily lives that impact on the successful conclusion of a PhD. Importantly for this audience, the team also reflected on how the lessons we have gleaned thus far can be used to influence and inform the support of new and emerging Indigenous evaluators in the practice of evaluation.
The team was excited by the large number of Indigenous evaluators who took part in the conference as well as by the number and quality of Indigenous-led conference presentations which drew heavily on Indigenous worldviews and practices. Presentations included results as well as methodological innovations and, in common with other evaluation conferences, covered a range of kaupapa from education and language revitalisation through to healing from the Maui fires and fishpond restoration. Highlights from the conference included us presenting for the first time as a team; meeting and spending time with participants in Aneta’s PhD work; and listening to the wisdom of the many elders present.
With my Whakauae Research Centre Director hat on, the comment from the conference that will remain with me the longest is that from Whaea Puanani Burgess; a stalwart of evaluation in Hawai’i and participant in Aneta’s work, who passed away a few weeks before the conference. Whaea Burgess often asked of both evaluators and community members, “when we are busy undertaking our work, who speaks for the trees?” As a Māori health research centre with a commitment to undertaking research and evaluation which supports health and wellbeing in all its myriad forms, I think this question is a timely reminder of the work we have before us. I hope that this will not be our first, and only, opportunity to attend the Hawai’i-Pacific Evaluation Conference as it is clear the links between our work and that of our Pacific whānau remain strong despite both time and distance.
Citation: Cram, A., Russell, L., Boulton, A. (2024). Wānanga (knowledge sharing):An Indigenous mentoring approach to supporting Indigenous students and evaluators. Paper presented at the Hawai’i-Pacific Evaluation Association Conference, Kāneʻohe, Hawai’i, 19 September.
