Abstract:
Arts as means to negotiate relationships is not a new concept. However, notions of interculturalism, and how we approach culturally centred relationships in arts, is significant when considering a specific Indigenous lens, or perspective (Hindle et. al, 2011; MacFarlane, 2004; Salter, 2000; Whitinui, 2007, 2010). This doctoral research, ‘Te mana motuhake o te kauri: A kaupapa Māori exploration of intercultural praxis’, is conducted in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and Australia, with Marrugeku Dance Theatre, an interdisciplinary theatre company with residency in Yawuru Country, Broome, Western Australia. Identifying themselves as intercultural company, Marrugeku Dance Theatre communicate philosophies of professional practise, that involve performers from different cultural backgrounds, and the navigation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous, story and knowledge (Swain, 2006, 2010, 2014). To critically contribute to intercultural discourse on a wider issue, this research also reflects on contentions revealed when trying to correlate Marrugeku Dance Theatre intercultural praxis, to distinct academic intercultural literature. As a result, an investigation of how Indigenous landscapes, people, and perspective, facilitate culturally distinct settings, disrupt meanings of interculturalism. As manuhiri (guest) engaged in research with other Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities and landscapes, I have engaged a Kaupapa Māori theory, whakawhanaungatanga methodology. Situated in the culturally distinct stories of participants, the research also includes the critical Indigenous perspective and pūrākau of the researcher. In this thesis combative points of convergence that have attempted to navigate discourse, culminate in the development and introduction of a distinct intercultural framework ‘te mana o te rākau kauri’ (the authority of the kauri tree). Reflective of Marrugeku Dance Theatre arts praxis, critical engagement of relevant scholarly literature, and, my own distinct lens as Ngāti Hine and kaupapa Māori researcher, ‘te mana o te rākau kauri’, attends to the equitable inclusivity and authority of Indigenous communities within interculturalism.