Monday 1 July
This plenary panel featured four prominent keynote speakers who look at ways of decolonising communication through Indigenous perspectives. In line with the conference theme of Weave the people together: Communicative projects of decolonising, engaging, and listening, the panel of Indigenous scholars and writers talk about drawing on Indigenous epistemologies for research oriented towards global justice and breaking down of hierarchies of power. They challenge established structures of communication research and inspire delegates to work with the lived experiences and cultural contexts of diverse groups of people and mobilize strategies for equitable communication for social and climate justice.
This plenary session was kindly sponsored by Waikato Management School, University of Waikato
Chair: Debashish Munshi, University of Waikato, IAMCR 2024 Local Organising Committee
Speakers
Dr Nēpia Mahuika, Massey University, New Zealand
Prof Bronwyn Carlson, Macquarie University, Australia
Prof Selina Tusitala Marsh, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Prof Carl Mika, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Speakers' bios
Dr Nēpia Mahuika, Massey University, New Zealand
Dr Nēpia Mahuika is Ngāti Porou and an Associate Professor in History at Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand. He is a past President of the National Oral History Association of New Zealand and a current Oceania representative on the International Oral History Association (IOHA) Council. He is a long standing leader in Te Pouhere Kōrero (Māori Historians Collective of Aotearoa), a Fulbright Scholar (2013) and the inaugural recipient of the Judith Binney Fellowship (2019). Nēpia is the author of Rethinking Oral History and Tradition (OUP, 2019) which won the OHA book prize in 2020. He teaches and writes in oral history, historical theory, methodology, and ethics, Māori and Indigenous histories, New Zealand histories, decolonization and Indigenization. He was an adviser for the national History curriculum refresh in New Zealand (2019-2023) and is currently leading a Marsden project exploring relevant pedagogies for the teaching of New Zealand and Māori history for educators at all levels in Aotearoa (2023-2025).
Distinguished Professor Bronwyn Carlson, is the Head of the Department of Critical Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University, Australia.
An Aboriginal scholar, Professor Carlson is the author of a number of books including The Politics of Identity: Who Counts as Aboriginal Today? (2016), Monumental Disruptions: Aboriginal people and colonial commemorations in so-called Australia (2023) and has published widely on Indigenous engagements with digital technologies. She is the founding editor of the Journal of Global Indigeneity and a recipient of a number of Australian Research Council grants, including one onIndigenous experiences of technology facilitated violence.
Prof Selina Tusitala Marsh, University of Auckland
Ahorangi Professor Selina Tusitala Marsh (ONZM, FRSNZ) – aka MOPHEAD -- is a Pasifika Poet-Scholar and lectures at the University of Auckland’s English and Drama Department. She is also the co-Director of the Centre for Arts and Social Transformation where she works to ensure that research-based arts makes a difference to people’s health and wellbeing. She is an acclaimed author of three poetry collections and the award-winning Mophead graphic memoir series. Her latest book, Wot KNOT You Got? Mophead’s Guide to Life, is long-listed for this year’s Children and Young Adults Book Awards.
Prof Carl Mika, University of Canterbury
Specialising in Māori and Indigenous philosophy, Professor Mika is the author of Indigenous Education and the Metaphysics of Presence (2017), and several articles on the issue of colonisation and reductionism. He is committed to investigating indigenous notions of holism and is a regular contributor to philosophical discussions arising around matauranga Māori and science.
