KÄore a Ahorangi Graham Hingangaroa Smith e warea ki ngÄ whakaaro o Ä“tahi atu mÅ te Ähei, te kore Ähei rÄnei o te whakatutuki i tÄ“tahi whakaaro pai. I te tau 2017 i Uropi i whakapakepake ia i tÄ“tahi kaitaraiwa waka topatopa ki te rere i a ia ki runga o Mount Olympus – e ai ki ngÄ kÅrero KirÄ«ki, te wÄhi ka titiro iho ngÄ atua ki te ira tangata. Ehara i te mahi mÄmÄ, heoi he mahi whai mana. He pÄnga tÅ te maunga ki a ia, he tohu hoki ki a ia: Ko ngÄ matua kÄ“kÄ“ o Ahorangi Smith nÅ Whanganui i pakanga ki Åna rekereke i te pakanga WWII.
"He tini ngÄ hoia MÄori i mate i Mount Olympus. I mauheretia taku matua kÄ“kÄ“ ki reira, i a ia e tiaki ana i te tohu o te mÄtauranga nÅ Te Uru. Heoi ka pahure Ä“nei tau maha, e ngana tonu ana mÄtau ki te tiaki, ki te whakamana i ngÄ mÄtauranga MÄori ki tÄ“nei whare wÄnanga. Koia te take i hiahia ahau te rere ki runga – kia kitea katoatia e au."
E mÅhio nei a Ahorangi Smith ki tÄ“nei whakahÄ“tanga: i tana umanga kua para ia i ngÄ huarahi i te ao mÄtauranga kia whai uara, kia whai mana ai hoki ngÄ mÄtauranga taketake. I tana tÅ«nga hei Toi Ihorei ki PÅ«rehuroa, ka tautoko ia i te whare wÄnanga kia mÄrama, kia whai hoki i ngÄ hiahia o ngÄ tauira, kaimahi, whÄnau MÄori hoki, me te whakatutuki i te hiahia kia Ärahina e te Tiriti. Ä€ te wÄ kÄore ia i te kauhau i Äna rangahautanga ki te ao, ka tautoko ia i ngÄ kaupapa here a te whare wÄnanga, ka whakaita whanaungatanga me ngÄ tari kÄwanatanga, ngÄ iwi hoki, me te whakahaere kaupapa hei whakawhanake i ngÄ kaimahi iwi taketake. He tÅ«ranga motuhake tÄ“nei i waihangatia kia whai wÄhi te mana, ngÄ pÅ«kenga, me te whakapono o Ahorangi Smith kia whai hua ngÄ rangahau ki te ao ngÄ mahi rangahau, e huri ai te ao.
"Mai i te tirohanga MÄori, me hiahia mÄtau ki ngÄ putanga whakawhanake o Ä mÄtau mahi – kia rerekÄ“ ngÄ putanga tÅrite auau."
Ko te whiu nei ka whakakaha i ngÄ mahi a Ahorangi Smith, ko ngÄ whakaaro me rite tonu te huri hei mahi. I a ia e whakawhanake ana i te ariÄ Kaupapa MÄori i ngÄ tau 1980, ko ia tÄ“tahi kaiÄrahi i ngÄ mahi whakatÅ« i te Kura Kaupapa MÄori – he kura tuatahi e ako ai ngÄ tamariki i tÄ“tahi marautanga ko tÅna tÅ«Äpapa nÅ te ao MÄori, i tÄ“tahi taiao ka whakanui i tÅ rÄtau ahurea. I a ia e tÅ« ana hei Tumuaki MÄori i Te Whare WÄnanga o TÄmaki Makaurau, i whakarite mahere ia hei tautoko i ngÄ MÄori me ngÄ iwi taketake 500 kia whakatutuki i Å rÄtau tohu kairangi i ngÄ tau e rima.
"I te tau i riro i a au taku tohu kairangi, ki taku mÅhio ko ahau anake te MÄori whai tohu kairangi i te motu. NÅ reira i puta au me te kÄ« ka taea kia 500 – i pÅhÄ“hÄ“ te katoa he tai-wawa. I Ähua whitu tau te roa i te mutunga iho, heoi kÄore anÅ mÄtau kia titiro whakamuri."
Ko ngÄ hononga a ao o Ahorangi Smith me tÅna mana ka hÄ“ri mai he mauri hou ki ngÄ toronga iwi taketake Ä-ao o Te Kunenga ki PÅ«rehuroa. Ko Åna pÅ«kenga i ngÄ horopaki iwi taketake e taiÄwhio ana i Te Moana-nui a Kiwa, pÄ“nei i a Ahitereiria, Alaska, Hawai’i Micronesia me KÄnata he mea whakaaweawe. E waru tau ia e noho ana hei upoko i te Educational Policy Studies Department i te University of British Columbia i KÄnata, i reira i whakawhiwhia ia ki Ä“tahi tohu kairangi whakahÅnore e rua mÅ Äna mahi puta noa i a British Columbia. I tana hokitanga mai ki Aotearoa, i tÅ« ia hei kaiÄrahi i Te Whare WÄnanga o AwanuiÄrangi, i reira i whai whakauru ia i ngÄ huarahi Kaupapa MÄori ki te wÄnanga me te hapori whÄnui.
Kei te mahi tonu a Ahorangi Smith mÅ te whanaketanga o te iwi MÄori. Ko Äna mahi ina tata nei e pÄtai ana i ngÄ akoranga mÅ ngÄ iwi taketake i te mate urutÄ COVID-19, i te wÄ i whakahaere ngÄ tÅ«ao MÄori i ngÄ kaupapa tiaki i ngÄ iwi i te wÄ kÄore te pÅ«naha i toro ki a rÄtau. Ko Å rÄtau angitÅ«tanga i kitea i roto i ngÄ huarahi Kaupapa MÄori, ko te waihanga huarahi ki tua nÄ roto i ngÄ uara taketake, ngÄ pÅ«kenga me ngÄ mahi.
"He hua pÄpori kei roto i ngÄ uara taketake pÄ“nei i te whanaungatanga, te manaakitanga me te tauutuutu. Ka tautoko tÄ“tahi i tÄ“tahi, Ä, ka whakapunatia ngÄ rauemi a te takitini. Ki te taka tÄ“tahi ka taka mÄtau katoa. I te tÅ«ranga mahi kei ahau i Te Kunenga ki PÅ«rehuroa ka ngana ahau ki te whakatinana i tÄ“nei huarahi – whakakotahitia ngÄ pÅ«kenga kei a mÄtau, e whai hua pai, hua mahi, hua whanake ai hoki. Kei te hiahia ahau ki te whakatipu i ngÄ pÅ«kenga MÄori toki e mÄrama ana, e whai pÅ«kenga ana e taea ai e rÄtau te panoni i Å mÄtau hapori whakaraerae."
Professor Graham Hingangaroa Smith has never let anyone else’s view of what is and isn’t possible get in the way of a good idea.
On a visit to Europe in 2017, he persuaded a helicopter pilot to fly him over Mount Olympus – in Greek myth, the place where the gods sit and look down on mortal human beings. This wasn’t straightforward, but it was important. The mountain had a personal meaning, as well as a symbolic one: Professor Smith’s uncles, who were from Whanganui, had fought on its foothills in WWII.
"A lot of MÄori soldiers died on Mount Olympus. My uncle was captured there, defending this great symbol of Western knowledge. And yet all these years later, we’re still trying to defend and validate our MÄori knowledge inside the academy. And that contradiction is why I wanted to fly over it – to get the full view of it."
Professor Smith knows this contradiction better than most: he has spent a career in Education Studies championing the value and importance of indigenous knowledge. As Te Toi Ihorei ki PÅ«rehuroa (Distinguished Professor at Large) at Massey, he helps the university understand and react to what MÄori students, staff and whÄnau want, and move toward its aspiration to be Tiriti-led.
When he isn’t presenting his research around the world, he helps shape university policy, builds relationships with government bodies and iwi groups, and runs programmes to advance indigenous staff. This is a unique role, created to make the most of Professor Smith’s profile, expertise, and belief that scholarship has to get real-world results, forcing change to the status quo.
"From a MÄori perspective, we have to be interested in the transforming outcomes of our work – in making a difference around persistent inequalities."
This conviction powers Professor Smith’s own work, which routinely translates ideas into action.
While developing a Kaupapa MÄori theory of education in the 1980s, he played a leading role in creating the Kura Kaupapa MÄori – primary schools where children study a curriculum grounded in te ao MÄori, in an environment that celebrates their culture. As Pro-Vice Chancellor MÄori of the University of Auckland, he came up with a plan to support 500 MÄori and indigenous students through PhDs in five years.
"In the year I got my PhD, I think I was the only MÄori PhD student in the country to graduate. So to come out and say we’d do 500 – well, everyone thought it was impossible. And it took about seven years, in the end, but we’ve never looked back."
Professor Smith’s international connectedness and profile bring a new vitality to Massey’s international indigenous outreach. His scholarship is influential in indigenous contexts around the Pacific Rim, including Australia, Alaska, Hawaii, Micronesia, and Canada.
He spent eight years as Head of the Educational Policy Studies Department at the University of British Columbia in Canada, where he was awarded two honorary doctoral degrees recognising the impact of his work across British Columbia. When he returned to Aotearoa, he took over the leadership of Te Whare WÄnanga o AwanuiÄrangi, where he was able to apply Kaupapa MÄori approaches in the institution and the wider community.
Professor Smith continues to work for MÄori development. His recent work asks what we can learn from the indigenous response to the COVID-19 crisis, when MÄori volunteers ran projects to look after people the official system couldn’t reach. Their success lay in the ways they applied distinctive Kaupapa MÄori approaches, building ways forward based on traditional values, scholarship and action.
"There’s a social capital embedded in traditional values of whÄnaungatanga, like manaakitanga and reciprocity. Everyone tries to support each other and pool all our collective resources. If one falls over, we all fall over. In the job I have now at ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓƵI try to stimulate this kind of approach – to mobilise all the talent we have here, to get positive, proactive and transforming outcomes. I want to help build exceptional Maori scholars who have critical understandings and skills that will enable their work to make a transforming difference in our communities of need."
Distinguished Professor Graham Hingangaroa Smith
NgÄti Apa, NgÄti Kahungunu, Te Aitanga a Hauiti, KÄti MÄmoe