DAY TWO – Monday 31 October
The Newcomers morning tea sponsored by Victoria University of Wellington and Massey University Library was a fantastic opportunity to meet other librarians and information professionals new to the conference circuit. It was also an opportunity to catch up with fellow MIS students I had met earlier in the year at Orientation, and to meet some of the winners of various LIANZA awards and scholarships. In fact there were so many of us present, it was strictly standing-room only!
The Wai262 Claim keynote, delivered by Dr Aroha Mead, was captivating. The summary for the Wai262 Claim report itself is a staggering 300 pages whilst the entire document spans some 1000 pages over two volumes. I have been told it is not easy reading by any means, and you have to be suitably impressed when you are provided with such an informative overview in the allocated one hour timeslot. Aroha began by providing a historical review of the Wai262 claim including a timeline marking significant milestones within the 20 years it has taken for this claim to complete the Tribunal process. Aroha went on to discuss the outcomes of the report and likened the relationship between Treaty partners to that of a marriage, with the Waitangi Tribunal acting as a Marriage Counsellor. There was, as could be expected in a marriage counselling session, some very sensitive issues: the feeling that one partner gets more than the other, the feeling that one is forging partnerships with others and forgetting the primary partner, leading inevitably to the question of what do you do with the chattels? It would have been interesting to hear from the International delegates and how this may reflect upon their own issues around indigenous ownership, unfortunately time did not allow. Perhaps there may be opportunity at another LIANZA conference in the future?
Kei ā wai? Who has ... was a workshop facilitated by Anahera Morehu and Rukuwai Jury. Our session was bilingual, Māori and English, and covered Kōrero Whakataki (Introductions), Whanaungatanga (Relationships), Whakahua (Pronunciations), Waiata (Singing) and Tikanga (protocols). In small groups, we introduced ourselves before practising those tricky Māori consonants: ‘ng’, ‘r’ and wh’. We then practiced Māori vowels through waiata singing A E I O U, complete with actions, followed by a brain storming session using Māori words. The discussion on tikanga was to answer the question: how do you make Māori feel welcome in the workplace (library). However, for Māori attending the workshop, the question was altered to: how do you make non-Māori feel welcome in the workplace (library). When the notion of connection/kinship/relationships is important to one culture, and perhaps not so to another culture, the question isn’t as easy to answer as you might think. We really had to put our thinking caps on for this one! I’m not going to tell you the answer – you’ll have to attend their workshop next time to find out.
Day two ended with a social engagement – dinner out for members of Te Rōpū Whakahau. This was my first encounter with Te Rōpū Whakahau that didn’t involve a mailing list or a computer and I had a blast! A particular highlight for me during dinner was the interaction between members of Te Rōpū Whakahau with members of INELI seated at the table next to ours. The jovial banter clearly demonstrated the kaupapa of the LIANZA Conference – Te Ihi, Te Wehi, Te Wana: Passion, People, Power. Both groups exchanged waiata with songs rendered in English, Māori, German, Dutch and Portuguese to name a few. It was a truly magical multicultural experience that I think everyone will remember for some time to come.
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