Tahuri Whenua hui, Haraki Marae, Te Puke

Another great Hui-a-Rohe for Tahuri Whenua, this time in the Bay of Plenty, Te Puke, Kiwi Fruit country (I'm old enough to remember these little tarts as Chinese Gooseberries, a more accurate term...). I stopped off at Maketu for some quiet time. Never been there before but definitely want to go back.

The famous Catholic church ... and a wee kina

 Manaia detail...














I was one of the first to arrive, the other members dribbling in from around the motu. Then we were called on...

In the midst of a growing district. Detail from the whare nui... and of course, the ukelele appeared!

Maori vegetables: taewa and kamo kamo

The most popular post on my 'Maori Economy' blog is on the 'Physico-chemical and morphological characteristics of New Zealand Taewa (Maori potato) starches', which links through to a research paper investigating Maori potatoes for their starch properties.

The most popular search term has been 'kamo kamo', something I'm not growing this season (and regretting that decision...next year!). So, here's some pictures from when I last grew this ever popular, somehow defining Maori vege...

Alby Marsh, Plant and Food, is working on some research with Tahuri Whenua on Kamo kamo to prepare a kamo kamo worksheet which will involve interviews with growers across the country over the next 6 months.

Bibliography: Maori Sustainable Development, Horticulture and Cultural Resilience

Adger, W. N. (2000). Sociological and ecological resilience: Are they related? Progress in Human Geography, 24: 347-364.

Amin, A., Cameron, A. and Hudson R. (2002). Placing the Social Economy. London and New York: Routledge.

Amin, A. and Thrift, N. (Eds.). (2004). The Blackwell Cultural Economy Reader. Malden, Oxford and Carlton: Blackwell.

Anderson, A. (2002). A Fragile Plenty: Pre-European Māori and the New Zealand Environment. In E. Pawson and T. Brooking (Eds.), Environmental Histories of New Zealand (pp. 19-34). Auckland: Oxford University Press.

The Diffusion of Sustainable Technologies to Maori Land: A Case Study of Participation by Maori in Agri-Food Networks

Abstract: Within innovation diffusion literature, indigenous peoples have historically been described as ‘laggards’: slow to adopt new technologies. While accepted as the originators of (acceptably ‘quaint’) traditions, Maori, like other indigenous peoples, are targeted as passive adopters of new and theoretically beneficial innovations. However within sustainability discourse, indigenous peoples are considered to possess innovations conducive to sustainability. For Maori, this assumption has converged with niche marketing strategies in agri-food networks and Maori initiatives to participate in research programmes. This paper details the diffusion of innovative objects in the form of taewa or ‘Maori potatoes’ within sustainability research programmes. Knowledge sourced from Maori in their role as kai tiaki of taewa have seen attempts by research institutions to accommodate Maori growers within collaborative programmes. However, the intended diffusion of collaborative research with Maori outwards from ‘core’ research institutions is paradoxically reliant on a counter-diffusion of ‘Matauranga Maori’ from Maori growers. This counter-diffusion is subject to validation from Maori collectives: if cooperation is withdrawn by these collectives, progress is not possible. Rather than the non-adoption of sustainable technologies by Maori, such withdrawal is interpreted as non-participation in unsustainable networks.

Keywords: Maori horticulture, agri-food networks, potatoes, innovation diffusion.