Set the Overgrowth Alight and the New Shoots Will Spring Forth: New Directions in Community Based Research

Abstract

Kia tupu whakaritorito te tupu o te harakeke

Set the overgrown bush alight and the new flax shoots will spring up

A literal translation of this proverb illustrates the task of custodianship exercised by traditional weavers thus ensuring the sustainability of fax, arguably the most precious plant to the early Māori. One of the conditions required to ensure both continuity and quality of the resource is that the overgrowth be set alight. The practice of burning and clearing to assist new life is imperative to the durability of the plant and quality of the fibre. Metaphorically, the saying means clear off the old and bad that the new and good may grow vigorously. Proverbially, the process can also symbolize the regeneration, renewal, and development of the line of human descent and of the kin based corporate structures (Walker, 1996) of whānau, hapū and iwi. For Māori, the fax plant supplies medicine but more importantly, the woven product provided material for basic needs of shelter, clothing, hunting and gathering equipment, lashings and cord. Art forms such as decorated tukutuku interior design panels and whariki large woven mats of intricate design. Prized traditional cloaks are created from muka – a soft fibre produced from scraping the leaves of fax.

The flax bush represents our continuity as a people sustained by episodes of renewal, upheaval and transformation (Walker, 1996). The introduction of fire generates two important processes: reduction of the inhibiting overgrowth poor quality for weaving and; nourishment of the plant enabling regeneration and development of new shoots.

Setting alight the exterior of the bush is likened to the purging of Eurocentrism and its pervading ideologies and systems that mainly serve to keep indigenous peoples from flourishing. The fire is indigenous research, the overgrowth is patriarchal post colonial systems, nutrients in the ash are the resilient enriching knowledge customs and practices of indigenous peoples and the new shoots represent the coalition of newly developed and practiced western models that are harmonious with indigenous paradigms, knowledge and practices.

The following discourse outlines priorities, challenges, new directions and notions of excellence through the narrative of two insider community researchers.