Indigenous Archaeology Pre-conference Hui 2018

The geographic and historical backgrounds of indigenous communities around Australia, NZ and Pacific Islands are diverse, but our countries have very similar legal processes, professional sectors and operating environments that our local communities are engaged with on archaeological matters.

Building on the opportunity of the combined Australian-NZ archaeological conference, a hui (meeting) of Traditional Owners, kaitiaki Māori and Pasifika involved in archaeology will be held. It will provide a forum for indigenous delegates to the conference to network, discuss current archaeological issues of particular interest to Indigenous communities and explore the challenges and opportunities for indigenous people working on and with archaeology. Likely discussion areas include:

• Indigenous participation in archaeological projects – opportunities for and relevancy (or not) of community engagement; opportunities to increase indigenous professional participation in the sector.
• Archaeological agenda – priority setting in archaeological research programmes; local/state and central/federal government policy; the relevancy of resource management driven archaeology and how it is done; perspectives on resource priority setting.
• Archaeological information and data – is the kind archaeological data recorded, how it’s manged and shared relevant to local communities?

Who and where?

The hui will be held at Waipapa Marae and hosted by the James Henare Māori Research Centre and Te Wānanga o Waipapa (Māori & Indigenous Studies), University of Auckland. To manage numbers and ensure an appropriate discussion space the participants will be limited to Indigenous delegates and their accompanying colleagues if appropriate. Registration is also available for local iwi not coming to the wider conference.

Who will be talking?

The meeting will help the various indigenous delegates get an understanding and sense of each other’s perspectives on archaeological matters prior to the Conference. The focus is on creating a space for the delegates to share general thoughts and ideas in a way that is freer flowing than it would be in the formal conference sessions. Structured formal presentations by delegates are not intended – the space for that is in the AAA-NZAA conference session programme. Instead this hui will explore archaeological issues in each region with a small panel of representatives briefly kick-starting discussions and encouraging open sharing of perspectives by the delegates from that country.

Programme