Indigenous Knowledge Revitalisation: Indigenous Māori Gardening and its Wider Implications for the People of Tūhoe

Abstract

The revitalisation of Indigenous knowledges is vital to the emancipation of Indigenous peoples worldwide, as well as an increasingly essential component of environmental sustainability. The re-establishment of traditional communal gardening practices and their associated rituals is part of such revitalisation efforts in Aotearoa|New Zealand. We document recent efforts to re-establish the knowledge and practice of communal gardens and the related ritual of māra tautāne in an Indigenous Māori community – Te Māhurehure – in the Rūātoki Valley, Bay of Plenty, Aotearoa|New Zealand. We discuss that, beyond food provision, such revitalisation has a concentric influence of revitalising a range of other Indigenous knowledges for this community.