Local Contexts Summit and Film Premiere – Aotearoa

The second Local Contexts Summit and film premiere was held 28 November 2023 in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand).

We thank everyone who contributed to these exciting events and continue building the international Local Contexts community.

Local Contexts Summit

The Summit brought together people from across the Local Contexts community with a focus on Indigenous authority, control, and governance in the archive and sciences.

Community representatives shared about the implementation of Traditional Knowledge and Biocultural Labels in their community contexts as well as how they envision the potential of the Labels. Institutions and researchers working with the Engagement and Disclosure Notices discussed changing workflows and the importance of developing and maintaining ethical and reciprocal relationships with communities.

Film Screening

Following the Summit was the premiere of “E Kore Au E Ngaro | The Connection Remains,” a film by the Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board and Local Contexts, and a panel with the filmmakers. In addressing both historical collections of plant specimens and present day gene research in local mussel populations, Whakatōhea have implemented Biocultural Labels and Notices to address histories of colonial extraction as well as the realities of open access datasets. In both scenarios Whakatōhea are ensuring that the chain of provenance to their peoples and lands is robust and persistent across global digital ecosystems.

A link to the film will be available soon.

Schedule

All times are NZDT (UTC+13)

Summit

9:30 am	Doors open
10:00 am	Welcome James Eric Francis, Sr. and Stephany RunningHawk Johnson
10:30 am	Design of the Labels and Notices John Moore and Renee Waiwiri
10:45 am	Labels and Notices in Context Danny Paruru, Aaron Wilton, and Nathan Wong
11:40 am	Questions
12:00 pm	Lunch break
1:30 pm	Researcher responsibilities Jane Anderson and Rose Barrowcliffe
2:15 pm	Future possibilities Kandy Wahanui-Peters, Taoho Patuawa, and Katharina Ruckstuhl
3:00 pm	Afternoon break
3:20 pm	Future possibilities Xavier Forde, Laine Fisher, and Cassandra Sedran-Price
4:00 pm	Questions, wrap-up and reflections

Film Premiere

5:30 pm	Doors open, light reception
6:30 pm	Film screening
7:00 pm	Filmmakers panel Danny Paruru, Dickie Farrar, Maui Hudson, Holden Hohaia, Aaron Wilton, Jane Anderson, and Andreas Burgess
8:00 pm	Close of panel

Speakers and Moderators

Rose Barrowcliffe (Butchulla)

Rose Barrowcliffe is Butchulla and a post-doctoral research fellow at Macquarie University. Rose’s research examines the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in archives and her postdoc specifically focuses on embedding Indigenous perspectives in metadata to support discoverability and access of records for the subject communities. Rose is the inaugural First Nations Archives Advisor to the Queensland State Archives. Her roles within academia and a major collecting institution have led Rose to examine Indigenous Knowledge rights throughout the continuum of data/records and consider how researchers can improve their research practice to support Indigenous knowledge rights. This reflexive research practice led to Rose and co-author Leann Wilson (Bidjara) being the first to use a TK Notice in an academic journal article.

Dickie Farrar (Whakatōhea, Te Whanau-a-Apanui, Ngati Porou, Te Aitanga Hauiti and Te Aitanga a Mahaki)

Dickie Farrar is the Chief Executive for the Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board and is of Whakatōhea, Te Whanau-a-Apanui, Ngati Porou, Te Aitanga Hauiti and Te Aitanga a Mahaki decent. She has been with the Trust Board for 13 years leading the transformational change of Whakatōhea on behalf of and beside her people.

Dickie has more than twenty years of successful experience working across social, health and economic development and is passionate about building leaders for the future. She has achieved many things, but most of all, she has been a part of a dynamic team who have led the change within her community on behalf of her people. She believes that collaborative partnerships, collective long term-vision and hard work are the recipe for success.

Laine Fisher (Kāi Tahu, Moriori)

Laine Fisher is a Policy Manager at Te Puni Kōkiri overseeing the work on mātauranga Māori as a taonga and cultural and intellectual property. His team also coordinates the cross-government work programme on mātauranga Māori – Te Pae Tawhiti. He has a background in regulatory design and stewardship, working in a number of policy shops across government. 

Xavier Forde (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa)

Dr Xavier Forde works for the Ministry for Culture and Heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand, supporting tribal projects that revitalise Māori traditional knowledge. Xavier chairs the Māori Heritage committee of ICOMOS New Zealand and seeks to collaborate with other First Nations for greater self-determination over their heritage places around the world. He is also an adjunct senior research fellow at Te Kotahi Research Institute, University of Waikato, and is currently working on a Traditional Knowledge labels pilot initiative with Ngā Hapū o Waimārama for their archaeological sites. 

James Eric Francis, Sr. (Penobscot Nation)

James is Penobscot Nation’s Tribal Historian and is studying the relationship between Maine Native Americans and the Landscape. Prior to working at the Penobscot Nation James worked for the Wabanaki Studies Commission helping implement the new Maine Native American Studies Law into Maine schools and has managed a team of teachers and cultural experts in developing curriculum.

James co-produced a film on race relations in Maine. Invisible looks at the problem of racism as it pertains to Native American people in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. Recently James conducted an extensive Oral History Project for the Penobscot Nation. This project brought to life historical pictures and highlighted a community history that cannot be found in books. He was the curator of Penobscot History in Bangor Maine, an exhibit for the Bangor Museum and Center for History, and more recently the guest curator of “Aunt Lu: the Story of Princess Watahwaso,” an exhibit at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine. James has also been a co-curator for exhibits at the Bangor Center for History, Hudson Museum and Harvard University.

Holden Hohaia (Ngati Maruwharanui, Te Atiawa/Taranaki Whānui)

Holden is of Ngati Maruwharanui and Te Atiawa/Taranaki Whānui descent. He is a qualified lawyer and also holds an interpreter’s licence in te reo Māori. Holden has been the Chair for his tribal trust of Ngati Maruwharanui (Te Kāhui Maru) for the past ten years. In this role he oversaw the process of settling the tribe’s historical Treaty claims against the Crown. He also currently serves on a number of other iwi governance entities and was appointed in 2022 to Wellington City Council as Atiawa/Taranaki Whānui mana whenua representative at the Council table. 

Holden has worked at Manaaki Whenua as GM Māori Partnerships (and more recently as GM Te Tiriti Strategy) for 7 years and has during that time overseen the establishment of the Te Tiriti Partnership Group for Collections and Databases. More recently he has developed expertise in the area of QGIS, a free and open-source geospatial software programme that allows the user to capture, edit and visualise spatial data. He is currently offering QGIS training  to all iwi governance entities in response to the demand he identified from these groups to be more spatially aware and data driven. He sees that QGIS as a platform presents opportunities for hapū/iwi Māori to take back a degree of control and agency over their own data. It also allows iwi-Māori to better understand their whenua and to exercise their kaitiakitanga based on what the data is telling them. Holden is passionate about Māori data governance and believes in the power of geospatial awareness, and free/open source platforms like QGIS, to help Māori to understand their whenua and taiao.

Danny Paruru (Te Whakatōhea)

As Whakatōhea Iwi Development Projects Manager, Danny Paruru has an embedded understanding of Whakatōhea values and operations. Danny is the Iwi Development Manager for the Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, and has a number of responsibilities in cultural and environmental development. Danny has a desire to participate fully in tribal activities that build resilience, build cultural awareness, and to maintain the Whakatōhea way of being.

Maui Hudson (Whakatōhea, Ngā Ruahine and Te Māhurehure)

Maui Hudson is a Council Founding Member and Strategic Advisor of Local Contexts. He is an Associate Professor, Te Kotahi Research Institute at the University of Waikato, focusing on the application of mātauranga Māori to decision-making across a range of contemporary contexts from new technologies to health, the environment to innovation.

Māui supports Māori to engage in the research sector and advocates for Indigenous rights and interests through Te Mana Raraunga: Māori Data Sovereignty Network, the Global Indigenous Data Alliance (GIDA), and the Summer Internship for Indigenous Genomics Aotearoa (SING Aotearoa).

Taoho Patuawa (Te Roroa, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi)

Taoho Patuawa is an Environmental Science Advisor for his iwi organisation Te Roroa. Te Roroa is an active iwi organisation with a strong collaborative partnership approach to environmental issues within their rohe, including various aspects of forest health, monitoring of our freshwater systems and biodiversity, hazard and infrastructure services management, as well as social support for our communities. From this diverse operations portfolio, they have a number of opportunities to incorporate the use of the Local Context Hub and Labels. Of particular interest is the intention to standardize the use of Local Contexts across contemporary environmental projects to promote long-term, collaborative relationships between kaimahi and research teams. 

Katharina Ruckstuhl (Ngāi Tahu, Rangitāne)

Katharina Ruckstuhl is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean Māori at the Otago Business School, University of Otago, Dunedin. Katharina has strong connections to her tribal group of Ngāi Tahu, with whom she has governance and commercial director roles. Katharina leads or is a researcher in several science and technology focussed programmes. She is a recent Director of ORCID, a Deputy Director of the Dodd-Walls Centre of Research Excellence, and a member of the Indigenous caucus of the IEEE working party on Standards for Indigenous people’s data. She has published on Māori language, resource extraction, Māori entrepreneurship, and data sovereignty and is a 2023-2024 ENRICH Global Chair.

Stephany RunningHawk Johnson (Oglala Lakota Nation)

Dr. Stephany RunningHawk Johnson is a Citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and Local Contexts’ Founding Executive Director. Dr. RunningHawk Johnson was formerly at Washington State University, where she held a position as Assistant Professor in Cultural Studies and Social Thought in Education. Her scholarship examines the limitations and possibilities of decolonizing approaches to science education in schools, and explores how changes in educational policy and practice that center Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing have a positive impact on the educational experience, classrooms, and schools of Indigenous students, and potentially for all students. Dr. RunningHawk Johnson has a B.S. in Natural Resources with a Specialty in Youth Education and a Master of Education in Teaching and Learning from the University of Oregon, and a PhD in Critical and Sociocultural Studies in Education from the University of Oregon.

Cassandra Sedran-Price (Muruwari/Gangugari)

Cassandra Sedran-Price is a Muruwari/Gangugari woman and the Senior Research Manager, in the Indigenous Science and Engagement Program within the Office of the Chief Scientist at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and an Adjunct Research Fellow at the School of Social Science, University of Tasmania. She holds a PhD in Marine Science from the University of Tasmania. Cassandra has worked across multiple disciplines, including climate ecology, natural resource management, Indigenous health, and national data development. Cassandra is an Executive Member of a national working group the ‘Maiam nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Collective’. Her current research focuses on operationalising Indigenous Data within organisations and environmental research.

Kandy Wahanui-Peters (Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Kuri, Ngāti Wai, Te Aupouri, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whatua Kaipara me Orakei, Ngāti Paoa, Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Te Ata, Ngāti Mahuta, Ngai Te Rangi, Ngāti Whānaunga, Ngāti He)

Kandy Wahanui-Peters loves capturing marae history and software development for film and television. Kandy’s whānau start up, Tohu Media, is creating action recognition software that together with speech to text tools will produce a digital license for owners of all actions and speech on screen; making the content immediately accessible, monetizable, and trackable.

Renee Waiwiri (Ngāti Tara, Ngāti Naho and Ngāti Hineuru)

Renee Waiwiri descends from Ngāti Tara, Ngāti Naho and Ngāti Hineuru in Aotearoa, New Zealand. She is a User Experience Designer at Indigenous Design and Innovation Aotearoa (IDIA). Her passion is creating transformational change for indigenous people by bringing indigenous thinking and decision making to the forefront so that our people can see themselves in the solution.

Jane Anderson

Jane Anderson is Council Vice Chair & Founding Member, Strategic Advisor, Co-Founder of Local Contexts; an Associate Professor at New York University in Lenapehoking (New York); and a Global Fellow in the Engelberg Center for Innovation Law and Policy in the Law School at NYU. Jane has a Ph.D. in Law from the Law School at University of New South Wales in Australia. Their work is focused on intellectual and cultural property law, Indigenous rights, and the protection of Indigenous/traditional knowledge and cultural heritage.

For the last twenty years Jane has been working for and with Indigenous communities to find, access, control, and regain authority and ownership of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property collections and data within universities, libraries, museums, and archives. Jane has worked in international policy contexts with the World Intellectual Property Organization and written international guidelines for cultural institutions supporting repatriation and restitution of Indigenous collections and accompanying intellectual property. With the Penobscot Nation in Maine, Jane runs training workshops for US-based Tribes on IP law, policy and support for tribal decision making about research conducted on Indigenous lands and waters.

Andreas Burgess

A two-time Emmy Award-winner, cinematographer Andreas Burgess has worked in fiction, non-fiction and the spectrum in between for over 20 years with work screening at Sundance, Cannes, TriBeCa, SXSW and Full Frame and on ABC, PBS, ESPN, FX, Showtime, and Hulu. His narrative credits include nine feature films, most recently Austin Alward’s “Tasmania” and Liz W. Garcia’s “One Percent More Humid.” Series credits include The New York Times’ “The Weekly” (FX / Hulu), “Final Witness” (ABC), “The Last Defense” (ABC) and “A Crime To Remember” (Discovery). Other documentaries include Elisabeth Jame’’ “In So Many Words,” Sadia Shepard’s “The Other Half Of Tomorrow,” and most recently Purcell Carson’s “La Vida No Termina.” A graduate of Wesleyan University, Andreas is a lifelong fan of the Milwaukee Brewers and an avid barbecuer of marinated meats. He lives in New York City with his wife and children.

John Moore (Tangata Tiriti)

John Moore is the Co-Founder of Indigenous Design and Innovation Aotearoa (IDIA), a cultural creative agency focused on designing equitable futures for everyone in Aotearoa. On the ENRICH implementation team, John is a leader in designing the experience within the Local Contexts Hub and developing the Online Learning Platform.

John’s experience spans more than three decades working in advertising, design, and digital experience design—for corporate, government, community, and start-up clients. As a Pākehā (non-Māori) co-Creative Director at IDIA, he has the privilege of working with an otherwise all-Indigenous team in helping redesign products, services, and spaces that reimagine a truly bicultural future for Aotearoa.

Corrie Roe

Corrie Roe (she/her) is the Local Contexts Director of Outreach and Strategy. In her role, Corrie supports Indigenous communities, institutions, and researchers to learn about and adopt the Local Contexts system. Before beginning her current role, Corrie was the Institution Outreach Manager (October 2021-October 2023) and the Institutional Liaison for Hub beta testing (April-October 2021). Corrie is a settler living on Paugussett and Wappinger Homelands. She studied anthropology and museum studies, and has worked in museums and organizations in Lenapehoking (New York City).

Aaron Wilton

Aaron Wilton is a research leader at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research. For over 20 years, he has led a research programme on biodiversity informatics, particularly associated with the nationally significant biological collections for which Manaaki Whenua is custodian. Aaron has a long-term interest in increasing awareness, access and appropriate use of biodiversity data. In addition to his Manaaki Whenua role, he is the technical lead for the New Zealand Organism Register (www.nzor.org.nz), and the Node Manager for GBIF New Zealand (www.gbif.org.nz).

Nathan Wong

Nathan Wong has a wealth of experience in the management, development and growth of Traditional Owner led businesses with extensive experience in strategy and policy development, Healthy Country Planning, Program Management and Delivery.

With a PhD in ecology and over 20 years experience in private and public land conservation as well as business development Nathan brings significant experience to support the continued growth and development of Barapa Land and Water.

Rights and Permissions

Panelists Permissions

This recording was made with the expressed permission of the panelists for educational purposes only. ​​The views expressed at, or through, this site are those of the individual authors writing in their individual capacities only – not those of their respective employers, or communities as a whole. All materials, including text, graphics, design, names, logos, and underlying software are protected by copyright owned or licensed by us, and you acknowledge and agree that this is the case. Except as permitted by law, you must not modify, copy, reproduce, frame, upload to a third party, post, transmit, or distribute the material except as provided for in these Terms unless authorized in writing. Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Biocultural (BC) Labels, Notices, and Template Text © 2015 – 2023 Local Contexts. All Rights Reserved.

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