Date/Time
Date(s) - Wed 7 October
12:00 - 13:00
Location
M103, Murphy Building, VUW
Presented by Arianna Waller – Research Fellow at Te Tātai Hauora o Hine — National Centre for Women’s Health Research Aotearoa, Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington
Pīkau is commonly understood as the ancestral Māori practice of carrying pēpi on the back. This seminar presents findings from Kaupapa Pīkau, a doctoral research project that began by exploring historical practices of baby carrying and developed into an Indigenous framework for understanding parenting, whānau wellbeing, and relational care. Drawing on archival photographs, historical records, and whānau photo wānanga, the research examines how pīkau provides insight into Māori understandings of caregiving, collective responsibility, and intergenerational wellbeing. The seminar will discuss the development of Kaupapa Pīkau as both a methodological and conceptual framework and consider its relevance for contemporary Indigenous health, parenting, and wellbeing research.
Arianna Waller (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa) is a sociologist and Māori health researcher whose work explores Indigenous knowledge, relationships, and whānau wellbeing through Kaupapa Māori and sociological perspectives. Her doctoral research developed Kaupapa Pīkau, an Indigenous methodological and conceptual framework grounded in ancestral baby carrying, archival inquiry, and whānau-led storytelling. Her research focuses on Indigenous philosophies of care, visual methodologies, and the ways Māori knowledge can inform contemporary understandings of parenting, health, and social life.