Weaving knowledge

Rewi Newnham is a palynologist and professor of physical geography at Victoria University of Wellington. In this video, Rewi discusses some of the different methodologies that underpin conventional science and mātauranga Māori. He notes that, when the two knowledge streams weave together, one enhances the other.

Jargon alert

Palynology is the study of dust. Palynologists analyse pollen, spores and other tiny particles found in the air or water or from sediments.

Questions for discussion

• What does Rewi mean when he says conventional science and mātauranga Māori are world views?

• With all of modern technology at our fingertips, why do you think palynologists ‘lump’ flax species together?

• What is a taonga species?

Transcript

Professor Rewi Newnham

Tēnā ra koutou katoa. Ko Rewi Newnham aho. Nō Te Tai Tokerau. E mahi ana au ki Te Whare Wānanga o Wikitōria.

There’s a lot of talk about so-called western science or conventional science and mātauranga Māori. We should recognise that they are different world views, they have different methodologies, but those differences are telling us something as well. With science, it’s all about objective observations, right – detaching the personal from the target observations – whereas those things are really important in mātauranga – integral to the whole process – the connection of people with place, connection with the environment. 

But as I say, we can also find some overlaps and I can give you an example from Moawhitu. Pollen, like most science, is not perfect. It’s got limitations and it’s got gaps. We can recognise plants in some cases down to species level, but in some cases, we have to lump species together because the pollen grains are very similar between two different species. Take our flaxes, for example, in New Zealand. The well-known harakeke – the common flax – the pollen grain is identical or very close in appearance to a related species called wharariki, which is a local species at Moawhitu and which is actually a taonga species with Ngāti Koata.

So the western science, if you like, the palynology can only go so far in terms of telling us what flax is growing and when at Moawhitu. But with the mātauranga, we know what species of flax that is because Ngāti Koata have an intricate relationship with that species. And so we can put the label wharariki on the pollen grain that we see at Moawhitu. So there’s an example of where the two knowledge streams, if you like, weave together and the one enhances the other.