Indigenous Knowledge Has Value | Curtis Bristowe | TEDxRuakura

ignore mondo in Mario en la cara Netanyahu who own our home where fart Enoch although there no clue though a yachtie who who might our Tokugawa indigenous knowledge has value indigenous knowledge has with most importantly indigenous knowledge can provide answers and offer solutions to contemporary problems by the end of my talk you will have a glimpse into the understanding of why and so my story begins at the Chatham Islands the Chatham Islands are a group of islands that lie roughly six hundred and eighty kilometers southeast of mainland New Zealand they are known by the mauryas for air cody and by the indigenous peoples of these islands the moriori as a vehicle who and scale the Chatham's are roughly half the size of stewart island and a home to around six hundred people of European Maori and moriori descent the landscape of the Chatham's itself is quite spectacular a mixture of volcanic Peaks flat swamplands lagoons and sandy beaches but to the uninitiated the Chatham's is also coldly unforgiving vastly deforested for sheep and cattle farming there are few places of shelter the weather changes quickly and Bower trees pay testament to the strong southerly z-- that lashed the land and turn the sea upon visiting the Chatham's our Chatham Islands it is easy to understand how a solitary and isolated location provided the perfect destination for the New Zealand government to exile and imprison its enemies for what is not widely known or widely recorded in the history of our country is that in the 1860s the New Zealand government utilized the Chatham Islands as a penal facility to which they exiled and imprisoned without charge or trial more than 300 mouldy men women and children who they had classified as rebel or in rebellion against the crown now these people were not just stripped of all lands and positions but they were exiled from their country of birth and was here on the Chatham Islands without hope of escape that they were imprisoned indefinitely now why I share their story with you now as that their story is my story my great-grandmother was just a young girl when she was taken from her home to imprisonment on the Chatham Islands along with their parents and her younger siblings and it was there that you would eventually lose her mother and her younger sister our oral tradition still speaks of the arrival of the prison bars the Chatham Island shores on a cold and wet winters morning and how the prisoners arrived to no food and no shelter as the government of the time had deemed that these very essentials the prisoners must provide for themselves and so in the wit and the rain and the cold they built makeshift shelters of fern fronds and scavenge for food to feed themselves and their children now in hindsight it is not a leap of the imagination to understand that through reasoning of the imprisonment that they had been imprisoned to die at this place but like so many stories of our people dying was something my ancestors refused to do they survived despite everything they survived and when I first visited the Chatham Islands in 2011 and stood at the place that my ancestors had lived and died they will wash with emotion this was the question which plagued me in particular how did they survive how did they survive a hostile environment to which they were unaccustomed and ill-prepared how did they survive the brutality of a 17th century British penal system how did they survive the beatings the floggings the rapes the forced hard labor malnutrition and illness that claimed so many of their lives what beliefs and values did they draw upon to survive and the darkness of their imprisonment now it was in contemplation of this question and others that I came to certain specific cultural understandings understandings of the principles I believe my ancestors utilized to survive their imprisonment and principles which still have contemporary application and can contribute towards positive change in our lives and in the lives of others but firstly to understand these principles we must understand their source now my ancestors look to the natural world than our environment as the greatest teacher they did this in the central understanding that their environment that surrounded us had evolved over billions of years and was operating in a state of perfection all we needed to do was to watch and observe and incorporate those teachings that was them their truth into our lives in doing so my ancestors created unique knowledge systems knowledge systems based upon the natural flows and rhythms of our environment knowledge systems which place collective and spiritual well-being ahead of individual and material need one such example was found in the flight of the cuckoo now the Kuato is renowned as having the longest flight path of any bird on the planet flying from Alaska to alter or New Zealand every year covering more than 17,000 kilometres and flying nonstop for eight days without food without water without rest without sleep now the flight of the cuota has brought international scientific inquiry to our shores focus specifically are born how such a small and inconspicuous bird accomplishes such a monumental task now when my ancestors look to the caca they observed that it flied in a v-shape formation which they named takahe they also observed that a singular bird leads this flop which they named the man who took ether karwa or the leader of the flock but most importantly my ancestors recognized that this leader does not lead for the duration of flight well rather wind fatigue sits in this boy bird falls back and another bird rises to that place of leadership their position of leadership therefore my I are my ancestors understood that the co-worker does not reverse immense distances based upon the strength the will the drive of the one but the collective strength the collective will the collective vision of the whole through examples such as the flight of the Karaka my ancestors defined three distinct principles principles that enabled our people to collective ice to unify for common goal in common purpose the first of these principles and most important is common core may be defined in this instance as the guiding philosophy the collective aim the communal goal that dream that vision you aspire to achieve for those prisoners on the Chatham Islands this was merely survival to survive the brutality of their imprisonment this was the vision their collectivized them this was the goal that unified them this was their light in their darkness and a contemporary context Khoa may be the well-being and prosperity of your father your family it may be social or political change but whatever it may be Kawa is where the deep thinking must take place for this philosophy will lead and guide every aspect of practice and endeavour that follows and without a clear and defined vision you were lost from the beginning the fit second principle is tequila tequila may be defined in this instance as the practice which supports the guiding philosophy at the core of Qigong our collective beliefs and values collective beliefs and values of which my ancestors had meaning collective beliefs and values are vitally important because they inform attitude and behavior and ensured that whatever endeavor was undertaken it was undertaken in an ethical and moral way collective beliefs and values were vitally important for those prisoners on the Chatham Islands for though they were from different tribes they shared this common knowledge base so when they engage with their skills and the abilities they engaged the same way in a contemporary context we all understand how easier it is to accomplish a goal when the people you work beside believe the same things value the same things aspire towards the same things the third principle is Co papa Co Papa may be defined in this context as the utilization of these beliefs and values for specific endeavor for those prisoners on the Chatham Islands this was merely the everyday struggle for survival food shelter clothing medicine perhaps in a contemporary context that is not too dissimilar but what must be understood is that every endeavor undertaken must contribute towards the guiding philosophy and though I have discussed these principles in isolation it must be understood that they operate in unison and seamless unison and the intangible bond which connects them all as way to a thong spirituality or the power of the spirit my ancestor spirituality was based upon the centrality and sacredness of life itself that all life had value that all life had Worth and most importantly that we were connected to all life through a multitude of universal kinship ties and a contemporary context the spirituality of connection may be understood as a deeper feeling or understanding one has when one is focused and mind and body on a specific endeavor an endeavor which takes us out of ourselves and connects us to others ideals causes movements you momentum this feeling this understanding as a spiritual connection and so these are the principles I believe my ancestors utilized to survive their imprisonment principles which teach the importance of being unified in mind body and spirit to accomplish any great deed and this is but one example one example of thousands of examples held within our indigenous knowledge answers which are knowledge which offers answers solutions and alternatives to contemporary problems and I believe that now now more than ever our world is in need of solutions and alternatives and I believe that this is an awakening a realization that is happening globally as globally people are realizing that the systems put in place by the dominant powers are broken systems they are corrupted systems there are systems that have caused global economic poverty and inequality global environmental degradation in exploitation globally people are realizing that the answers to these problems cannot be found in the same knowledge that created them and this is where indigenous knowledge has value this is where it has worth because it is founded upon different principles principles which favor connection rather than isolation which favor protection rather than exploitation principles which offer change principles which offer hope now of course there will be those that question the value of the knowledge that I have shared their question the worth of its contemporary application and in response to these doubts what I failed to mention at the beginning of my talk was that my ancestors goal was just not to survive their imprisonment it was to escape their imprisonment and in July 1868 after nearly three years of imprisonment led by the MALDI warrior prophet Ducati Araki Donita to Turkey the prisoners arose in unison subduing the prison guard and commandeering supply shove the rifleman and despite the brutality to which they had been subject there was no violence there was no arson there was no looting there was no retribution of any kind and three days later on the 17th of July 1868 the riflemen anchored in the sheltered Cove of 40 or more of the east coast of the North Island carrying in its hold and on a stick 297 elderly men women and children their entire prison population of the Chatham Islands our oral tradition speaks of how the prisoners live from the long boats to the shore weeping increasing the land as if a long-lost loved one they never hoped or dreamed that they would see again but they had returned United in mind body and spirit they had survived their imprisonment they had found their freedom and most importantly they had accomplished it together no one was left behind now at the beginning of my talk I said that this was my story but this is not just my story this is our story for this is but one of the many threads that make up the fabric of the collective history of our country and my ancestors struggle and sacrifice for justice and for freedom it deserves to be acknowledged it deserves to be remembered and we are no less or are people of a people or a country for having done so for an acknowledgement of our past its symbols and intend for the prison and encapsulate our collective hopes dreams and desires for the future so in the closing of our story I would like to share with you the words of my ancestors whose teachings and wisdom I have drawn upon throughout my ancestors who stand here in spirit with me now these are their words the words of the past to the generations the prison HECO putahi top Italia heretonight filling are you filling our Anita 40i a day Fatiha we are born of the same womb tied in the bonds of humanity tied to the heavens above us tied to the earth beneath us these are bonds that can never be severed from this life into the next we have but one family moreda right a Papa wanna not Iommi here paranoia to a Makita kawaru ha Tenakee avoid wear a tow hitch watch her on a Mahima taqwa cooing a Mahima Takako Kyoko Tod Moreira occur on a Serie Tina puta tena puta who you know who Donato Tata for a euro he we my Tata Tata

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 55,770

Rating: 4.9101653 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, New Zealand, Humanities, Culture, Social Change, Social Justice, Society

Id: c-PwEnC-Rj8

Length: 16min 59sec (1019 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 08 2016