Edited by Maria Amoamo, Merata Kawharu and Katharina Ruckstuhl. Published by Bridget Williams Books, 2021. (NZD 18). Reviewed by Tui Cadigan

He Pou Hiringa, a small book of just 213 pages articulates a massive kaupapa around the expansion of Māori development and engagement with the worlds of science and technology. While there has never been an exclusion of Māori from these fields of study, there has existed a “norm” of how to engage and an unnamed ownership by Western science.

This work arose out of the government funded National Science Challenge programme — Science for Technological Innovation. The book is a pioneering attempt to use a Māori lens to look at the language, processes and methodologies that have dominated research and discussions in science and technology. Crucially, it uses Māori concepts and te reo to name and develop the stance that kaupapa Māori and tikanga Māori critical thinking are essential for future development in science and technology
— for Māori and for the whole country.

He Pou Hiringa holds a Māori perspective invaluable to the research when respectful cultural engagement happens. It is an important work of research for whānau, hapu and iwi along with anyone who thinks their business is geared to work with and serve tangata whenua in a time of co-governance. Hei kona.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 284 August 2023: 27