Indigenous cultures teach us that one’s Tuakiri (identity) is drawn from a place deeper than just what we do for work. For the Māori, this means that understanding who we are requires looking beyond today and tomorrow to consider the yesterdays of our ancestors. In her talk, Kaye-Maree Dunn walks us through her personal journey of reclaiming mātauranga (knowledge) of her whakapapa (ancestry) to illustrate a wider application: an indigenous developed and led archival platform designed to unearth history named Āhau. In doing so, she encourages us to widen the scope from which we consider our existence as in order to move forward, one must always look back.
Underpinning this talk is the Māori whakatauki (proverb): ‘kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua’ (I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past).
