Rediscovering Aotearoa
An 8-part bilingual short documentary, podcast and article series, made with the support of NZ on Air. The series travels Aotearoa meeting young Kiwis as they discuss the impacts of colonisation today, modern race relations and how they are decolonising themselves.
Each episode looks at a different kaupapa from the lens of a young person who is Māori and a young person who is tauiwi, delving into the Māori and non-Māori world views around Taiao (Nature), Reo (Language), Takatāpui (LGBTQIA+), Mātauranga (Knowledge), Hauora (Health), Whānau (Family), Aroha (Love) and Manatika (Justice).
The West Auckland Bail House Trying to Keep Māori Out of Jail
The number of prisoners waiting for case outcomes is at an all-time high. Like the wider muster population, Māori account for at least half. A West…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Podcast - Manatika | Justice
We spend a lot of money locking people up in this country. It costs $100,000 to keep one person in prison for one year. More has…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Manatika | Justice
A Pākehā criminal lawyer sits down with a Māori former-prisoner to talk about Aotearoa’s justice system. Awatea Mita was jailed for a non-violent drug crime. She…
One Couple, Two Cultures: In Photos
It might seem strange in 2019 to write an article about cross-cultural relationships. But even today, many of us still partner up within our own culture.
In…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Podcast - Aroha | Love
Migrants and Māori are often pitted against each other in Aotearoa. But the March 15th terrorist attacks at two Christchurch mosques showed the power of aroha…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Aroha | Love
Tyla is a 28-year-old from Ngāi Tahu who converted to Islam six years ago. Saba is Pakistani, and moved to Aotearoa when she was eight. They…
Will New Zealand’s State Care System Ever be Decolonised?
The state’s child care and protection system is steeped in colonial principles. It has harmed and disenfranchised thousands of Māori. Is change and decolonisation even possible…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Podcast - Whānau | Family
Between 1950 and 1999, it’s estimated around 100,000 children were taken into state care. The majority of them were Māori, and many of them were abused.
This…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Whānau | Family
When he was four weeks old, Mana was placed into foster care. The first years of his life were marked with fear, violence and isolation as…
Fighting the inequity of our racist health system
In October 2018, the Waitangi Tribunal began the Wai 2575 inquiry into health services and outcomes for Māori.
The resultant report is a stark and disturbing reminder…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Podcast - Hauora | Health
Only 4 percent of psychologists in Aotearoa are Māori. But Māori are 50 per cent more likely to experience mental distress than tauiwi, or non-Māori.
This episode…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Hauora | Health
Medicine student Aniket Chawla is welcomed into a rongoā Māori wānanga (course) at Motatau Marae, near Kawakawa in Northland. He meets Juan and Tahjai Brown, twins…
‘What we are is enough’: the fight to ban conversion therapy in NZ
Sexual diversity and gender fluidity are nothing new in Aotearoa, they’ve always been around.
New Zealand is currently debating whether or not gay conversion therapy should be…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Podcast - Takatāpui | LGBTQIA+
Gender fluidity and sexual diversity was an accepted part of Māori and Pacific societies before colonisation.
This episode is about Takatāpui | LGBTQIA+, and how pre-colonial understanding…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Takatāpui | LGBTQIA+
Gender diversity was an accepted part of Māori and Pacific societies before colonisation. But European Christian values brought stigma and shame. Jaimie Waititi and Falencie Filipo…
Restoring the Imbalance of Māori Perspectives in Aotearoa’s History
Arini Loader drops an armful of books on the table in front of us with a thud. Their spines are coloured in deep blacks and rich…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Podcast - Mātauranga | Knowledge
The voyage of Polynesian ancestors to these shores has been called the “greatest migration story in the history of mankind”. But we hear very little about…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Mātauranga | Knowledge
There are 110 statues or monuments in Wellington, but only 10 of those represent Māori narratives. Two strangers, Safari Hynes and Peter McKenzie, meet to discuss…
The power of finding your voice
On a Saturday night in September, dozens of teenagers took to the stage of the Auckland Town Hall. They were there to perform at the grand…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Podcast - Reo | Language
Te Reo Māori was banned in schools in 1867.120 years later it became an official language, but by then only 15% of Māori could speak their mother…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Reo | Language
Ngā Hinepūkōrero are a group of champion slam poets fluent in te reo. They meet Takunda Muzondiwa, who moved to Aotearoa from Zimbabwe as a child,…
Inside Te Urewera: The overdue pardon of Rua Kēnana
Atamira Tumarae-Nuku, 30, stands looking out over the valley at Maungapōhatu. One hundred years ago this was a thriving village home to over 1000 people, but…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Podcast - Taiao | Nature
The forest of Te Urewera, in the middle of the North Island, was the first place in the world to be granted legal personhood - all…
Rediscovering Aotearoa: Taiao | Nature
The last bullet of the Land Wars was shot in 1916 at Maungapōhatu in Te Urewera, and the forest was later taken into government control. Atamira…
