Elizabeth Allen
Mihimihi
Ko Ngāti Porou te iwi
Ko Te Aowera te hapu
Ko Hikurangi te maunga
Ko Waiapu te awa
Ko Hiruharama te marae
Ko Kapohanga te wharenui
Ko Nga Tamatoa te wharekai
Ko Huria te urupā
Ko Hiroki te ingoa noku whānau
As well as working on the Through Our Eyes Project, I am currently pursuing my PhD and am a tutor for Gender and Women's Studies at Victoria University in Wellington.
I live in Wellington and have a six year-old daughter named, Te Hinemoa Materoa Whaihuarahi Hiroki-Tuiono.
I'm working with rangatahi in Porirua.
Email: Elizabeth.Allen@vuw.ac.nz
Why have I chosen to do the fieldwork in Porirua?
When Hinemoa Materoa left Te Tairawhiti at 18 she met my father in Wellington and together they had three children, I am the potiki.
I was raised in Wellington by my whāea and although the majority of my whānau remained in the East Coast some of my whānau migrated to Porirua. I spent a lot of my childhood in between these three places, to me they are all home.
Throughout my life I have formed relationships with the whenua and the tangata of Ngāti Toa, relationships I will treasure a life-time long. One such relationship is with tetahi wahine toa, a, ko Maitera Tutahi tona ingoa. I te taha nona whāea, ko Tainui tona waka, ko Porirua te maunga, Ko Nohorua te tohunga, ko Hongoeka te marae, ko Ngāti Toa Rangatira te iwi. Maitera specialises in issues regarding Māori health and works as a Diabetes nurse educator with the capital and Coast District Health Board, based at Kenepuru Hospital. I was largely inspired to share this experience with the rangatahi o Ngāti Toa due to Maitera's love and dedication to her people and land.
Ngāti Toa
Ngāti Toa is one of eight iwi that form Te Tau Ihu- at the top of the South Island tribes. The iwi's territory stretches from Porirua in the North to Marlborough in the South. Ngāti Toa migrated from Kawhia, in the Waikato, in the first half of the 19th century.
By the 1840s the tribe held large areas of land on both sides of the Cook Strait, but Ngāti Toa's relationship with the Crown was troubled. For example during 1846-47, the Ngāti Toa ancestor, Te Rauparaha, was kidnapped and illegally detained by the Crown without charges, conviction, or explanation, for a period of 18 months. The tribe reports it had to sell land near Nelson and Porirua to secure Te Rauparaha's release.
The Governor of the time, George Grey, also illegally introduced martial law in the Wellington area, which led to the public execution of Ngāti Toa members, because the crown's actions would have been untenable under civilian law. The history of the area forms a framework for the present; past injustices reverberate across time.
I am looking forward to working with the rangatahi of Ngāti Toa as they are the next generation who have the potential to carry on the work of their people. I trust that this experience will equip them with useful skills and knowledge likely to enrich their life journeys.
Porirua
Finally, I am offended that so many people hold negative views of the Porirua area. A sixty-one page report commissioned by Porirua City Council in 2002, entitled What do you think of Porirua? revealed that many outsiders view Porirua as unsafe, rough, dangerous and full of 'unsavoury characters'. Some people even described Porirua as a 'hole best avoided'. Views such as these stirred my determination to work with the rangatahi of Ngāti Toa, in an environment where they can share their views--- constructive views of substance, through the use of visual technology.
Not through the eyes of outsiders, but through the eyes of those who belong.
