Aro-Mind

The recent announcement that the collaboration between Massey and Victoria Universities - in the form of the New Zealand School of Music - is going to end brought back memories of my days at the then Victoria University School of Music. It reminded me of my teachers - David Farquhar, Jack Body, Ross Harris, Alan Thomas, Elizabeth Kerr and more - it reminded me of my student friends - Danny Poynton, Helen Bowater, John Psathas, Jonathan Crayford and many more - it reminded me of special times - visiting Douglas Lilburn, sitting with Peter Sculthorpe during a performance of his 'Mangrove', participating in master classes by Lou Harrison and Bela Siki and much more. Thinking of my time at that Music School also reminds me of the way I left that school - under a cloud, I suggest. It was during music school that my consciousness as a Māori person suddenly burst into life and I became conscientised as to the plight of Māori in this country since the 19th century. I wrote a critica

The purpose of Indigenous Development Research is to enable transformation and positive change in Māori communities. The reason that there needs to be 'high Māori involvement' in this research is so that Māori communities themselves may identify issues for research and craft research questions. It is so that approaches to knowledge creation drawn from those communities (approaches suggested by traditional knowledge and the identity, history, experiences and circumstances of those communities) may be uplifted, and it is so that answers to research questions may be fashioned within the context of the particular community for whom the research is ultimately conducted. Finally, the reason for high involvement of Māori (i.e. the community) in the research is so that the outcomes and benefits of research may move quickly into the hands who enable change in our communities. We wish to empower change agents with high quality and reputable knowledge that enables the very best decisions