Wairaka was the daughter of the rangatira Toroa, who captained the Mātaatua waka navigating across the Pacific Ocean to Aotearoa, New Zealand. When the Mātaatua waka arrived on the shores of Whakatāne, the men disembarked, but when Wairaka saw that the waka was in danger of drifting out to sea, ignoring the tapu forbidding women from handling the waka. She decisively acted to save the waka, calling out, “Kia Whakatāne au i ahau – I will act the part of a man” to draw on the strength of a man. In doing so, she heroically saved the Mātaatua waka and all those aboard. Indigenous peoples have long preserved their historical accounts using a variety of oral traditions. For Māori, the sharing of pūrākau is one-way oral records have been retained, shared and used to teach or inspire. “He kairangahau waahine, he whaangai ma matou kia kiia he uri nga Wairaka. We have adopted this group of female researchers in order that they emulate our ancestress Wairaka”.These words were included in a letter of support from kaumātua to conduct our rangahau of the te kōti rangatahi o Mātaatua. While we were honoured to be embraced, we were equally mindful of our responsibility to emulate Wairaka. From the outset, our research has been influenced by powerful pūrākau like that of Wairaka. In this article, we outline how we have drawn on personal, iwi, hapū and whānau participant pūrākau together with our observations to analyse and re-present pūrākau as a self-reflection and reflexivity analysis tool in developing a framework.

This commentary reflects on Auckland University of Technology’s Eke Tangaroa programme, which aims to increase the number of Māori and Pasifika academic staff of the university and to support them in developing their research careers. The commentary has three parts, representing the past, present and possible future of the programme. The first part (past) is by the two senior professors who came up with the idea in the first place. The second part (present) is by the inaugural and current kaiurungi (navigator) of the programme, also the first author of this commentary. The third part (future) draws on a conversation with the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic, who is responsible for the programme.

Drawing on personal experiences, ethnographic observations, novels, videos on social networking sites, a poem, and a family diary, this essay explores the mourning of deaths in one’s family history and in the migrant community against the backdrop of political events, including the Russia-Ukraine war, and geological occurrences. Paying attention to how soil manifests itself in these events, the author investigates the potential of soil to serve as a medium for experiencing and coming to terms with the world. The study proposes a genre of autopedology in which the ethnographer writes about events through soil and undergoes the process of formation together with the soil. The essay travels a road of six signposts, from the embodied to the ontological, then to the destructive, to the decomposing, to the consumable and consuming, and finally to the mourning soil. It is shown that the soil within us offers the means to express and stand up against unjust deaths. The study is complemented by photography as a means of visualisation of the process of mourning with soil.

In this paper, I aim to centre and attend to the transformative possibilities and power of the intimate, everyday spaces of parent-child relationships in the journey of mental and spiritual decolonisation. Drawing on the concept of “Ethical Space” from Cree legal scholar Willie Ermine, I share what I have learned from insights and wisdom of Indigenous women mentors and writers centring mothering, parenting and family in the work of healing, decolonisation and resurgence. I share two autoethnographic vignettes of my own mental and spiritual decolonising journey, as this is interwoven with my experiences as a mother. My journey grew from, and continues to reciprocate within, the relationships and strength of Stó:lō Téméxw (Stó:lō lands and world) on the Pacific Northwest coast in lands now known as Canada. I particularly share from within my mentorship and friendship with Ts’elxwéyeqw matriarch Lumlamelut (Wee Wee Láy Láq), and in learning from the writing and teaching of Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer and artist Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. Both emphasise children’s honoured place in family and community and an understanding that governance, leadership, and respect for others’ self-determination begin in the cradle of family relationships. I begin to see how the ways of being my mothering passes on are part of what upholds the contemporary colonial reality – and to experience the cracks that make space for other ways of being to emerge. Through sharing pieces of my journey, I aim for readers to witness the power of opening oneself to look into the mirrors held up in relational spaces across differences, and call for a deep reflection on the cultural beliefs and socialisation that shape parenting and family life. From here, we can question whether the beliefs and ways we see in the mirror are who we want ourselves and our children to be/become and what we hope and dream for the collective future they are already part of creating.

This article examines the creation of ‘Before It Is Too Late’, a collaborative performance project created with the Peeps- short for Peoples- living on the streets of Aotearoa, New Zealand, who identify as Māori (Indigenous New Zealanders). The Peeps face profound, persistent, unjust inequalities, inequitable mortality rates, and devaluation of their lives by the wider community. The performance project is centred on the Peeps’ perspectives and is informed by whanonga pono (Māori values) and tikanga (customs), the principles of community-based research, relational ethics, and critical performance ethnography. The project aims to initiate a conversation with health professionals to improve the quality of care provided and to ensure greater respect and dignity in relation to the death of Māori homeless people. We present the drama Before It Is Too Late that has resulted from this collaboration with the Peeps to open a transformative space for their voices, experiences, priorities, and rights to be heard and acknowledged.

Through ethnographic inquiry of the author’s novice experiences of riding on water, the study dismisses using the preformed category of surfing and proposes the novice approach to fieldwork, instead. The article discusses the lines, or categorical thoughts, that researchers draw separating the body from the sea, or surroundings from experiences. Through the discussion of Georges Bataille’s famous water in water and related literature, the author argues how the lines can be blurred. The article further explores the methodological possibility to deepen future academic inquiries by examining so called non-Western thoughts and perspectives.

Background: The aim of this research was to explore the lived experience of a mental health peer worker; the thought processes and actions, and the way relationships are built in order to support those with mental health concerns. This article reflects the research journey of a Masters student discovering the skills that underpin her practice as a Peer Support Worker within mental health services of a rural community in Queensland, Australia. 
 Methods: Reflexive writing, storytelling, focus group with key informants
 Results: Seven ‘Letter to Peers’ were written by the first author, reflexively analysed, and discussed during a focus group with key informants. It was discovered that the key themes from reflexive writing and focus groups are skills used by the peer workforce and their support of people on their mental health recovery journey. 
 Conclusions: Peer workers are skilled in many areas that are used to support another on their recovery journey. These skills are acquired from their own journey of recovery, through life, and on reflection on the support given to others. Underpinning the peer practice are skills such as: relationship building, validation, self-care, trauma informed practice, implementation of boundaries, and self-education.
 Key words; Autoenthnography, Mental Health Peer Worker, Recovery Journey

Liberation is the act of setting free from internal and social oppression (Afuape, 2011), in 2019 it was the Liberation Trail fire that raged through our place, turning the living essence of our livelihood, and belongings to dust. The dust had barely settled when the torrential rains drenched the remains, weeping over the ashes. These ashes were not just of things, houses, and furniture, but also of trees, ferns, and animals of all sizes. Next, it was isolation and fear that arose from the ashes in the form of Coronavirus (COVID-19 virus). Isolating people from the natural environment and from each other. Through these transmutations, we relied upon the resilient nature of the human spirit to survive. This autoethnographic story explores human resilience in the face of personal and global loss. The power of storytelling is an ancient tradition, stemming from a human need to make meaning of the lived experience. Each person who tells a story speaks from their ‘biographical position’ and is unique as the storyteller (Denzin, 2014). Stories, or narratives, assisted in the survival of cultures by retelling warnings of potential threats. They are intrinsic to all cultures, whether they are written or verbal. The act of storytelling can impart a metaphysical presence that can provide a sense of spirituality in the communication process (Snyder & Lindquist, 2006; Uys, 2014). Storytelling has been described as an expression of human consciousness and as such, can guide the person towards healing the spirit, and liberating from trauma (Carter,2019).

The purpose of this paper is to share a poem I wrote as I seek to publish findings from my PhD. The poem, which can be considered as a form of evocative autoethnography, expresses trauma incurred during childhood triggered by feedback accompanying a desk reject. The poem echoes internalised judgement but also seeks to provide hope that achievement is possible even in the face of what feels insurmountable. The backdrop of the poem is the neo-liberal university, the emotive and perilous demand to publish or perish, as well as patriarchal mansplaining.

Schools in Aotearoa New Zealand often find it challenging to align Pacific value systems with their own forms of leadership and culture. The education system is being asked to shift its practice when it comes to Pacific learners, families and communities, including the Pacific teaching workforce. This paper aims to offer reflections from two Pacific education leaders who have recently left their schools and are currently working in different areas of the education sector in Aotearoa New Zealand. Specifically, it seeks to outline our experiences, while offering thoughts derived from Pacific epistemologies. Challenging and disrupting the western model that is currently the foundation of how schools operate in this country is critical, particularly as we work to support Pacific teachers and students. As two Cook Islands teachers and researchers located in Waitaha, Canterbury, we have sought to live these shifts in our contexts, focusing on building teacher capacity and changing approaches within the pastoral care system.