Inspired...

Came from the MAI Doctoral Conference this past weekend...


Approximately 65 attendees, many of whom are elderly and there were a handful of youngins all in Ngāti Awa land at Wairaka marae.


The conference itself left a lot to be desired in terms of organisation - however, what I got from the conference was special. I'm one of those people that constantly need the fires to be stoked within. Without bursts of motivation, I become limp, uninterested and vacant. 


My moment of motivation came during my presentation on Saturday afternoon - I had a nice audience, Graham Smith also sat stealthily at the back of the auditorium; my beautiful MAI ki Pōneke coleagues sitting at the front; old, young and all in between were present.


As I spoke about my research, I felt myself getting quite passionate at certain times - particularly when explaining my concerns with tradition vs technology and how we as Māori are managing our mātauranga ā iwi and tikanga in this new virtual space. As I finished my presentation, I returned to my seat, opened up the Facebook app on my iPhone and updated my life; "Presentation of my research to the Maori PhD contingent here in Whakatane - done! Inspired to push myself harder and get on with this funky phd journey :)"


It was true, I felt like my research had some validity, finally putting it out there; presenting it to a community of Māori (albeit PhD students!) and getting a silent, but reassuring response as I finished. Many people came up to me afterward full of interest in the project and questions as to what I thought about their daughters use of Facebook or whether this idea would be interesting for a group page (I never once claimed I was an expert of SNS!) 


Needless to say, being surrounded with Arama, Awanui, all of my MAI ki Poneke colleagues and the rest of the crew at the conference all helped me to conceptualise my research again, check myself in what  my research means for me and for Māori, challenge my thinking and allow me to theorise more and more... 


It's a work in progress. But I do love my job. Time for some TV!