Multidisciplinary research collaborations, Vision Mātauranga science and the potential of anthropology in Aotearoa-New Zealand

Abstract

Vision Mātauranga policy has been created to commodify and globalise Māori knowledge that belongs to Māori communities, and is now the expected mechanism for all engagement between university researchers and Māori communities. However, much of the risk associated with forming new collaborations rests with Māori communities, and even more so with the Māori researchers who act as intermediaries and brokers between these communities and the research team. In this new knowledge landscape what opportunities and spaces for action does Vision Mātauranga hold for social anthropology? Furthermore, how does Vision Mātauranga force anthropology to be more inclusive of the descendants of Maori ancestors on whose backs the discipline was built?