The Ancestor of Water & The Maori Way with Heni Unwin

·1 hr 3 min·5 clips

What does it mean to treat water as a living ancestor, and how can Māori knowledge reshape our relationship with the ocean?

The episode begins with host Carrie Kim introducing Heni Unwin, a marine scientist in the Māori Research Team at the Cawthron Institute in Aotearoa (New Zealand). The host frames the discussion around humanity's primordial connection to water and the Māori perspective of water as a living ancestor. Heni starts by introducing herself in Māori, sharing her tribal connections to mountains and rivers. She explains how Māori language words like 'iwi' (tribe and bones) and 'whenua' (land and placenta) embody deep relationships with the environment. Heni describes her childhood fascination with the ocean and how her 'why' is to give back to the natural spaces that have been her sanctuary. The conversation shifts to Mataranga Māori, which Heni defines as a recent term to validate Māori knowledge systems, noting that in Te Ao Māori, science and spirituality are integrated. She illustrates this with the cosmological story of how the earth was born from the separation of sky father and earth mother. Heni discusses her mixed heritage, with a Pākehā mother who instilled pride in being Māori and a father who experienced trauma from colonization. She explains the saying 'I am the river and the river is me,' which emerged from the fight for the Whanganui River's legal personhood. The Treaty of Waitangi is examined, highlighting differences between English and Māori versions that led to loss of sovereignty. Heni talks about changes in sovereignty, crediting young people for driving social and environmental justice. She shares her year-long immersion in Te Reo Māori, revealing the historical price of language loss due to beatings in schools. Heni moved back to her ancestral homeland and discusses Māori prophecies and teachings for the world, emphasizing care for future generations. The issue of water ownership is explored, with Heni describing it as a 'tuakana taina' (elder-younger sibling) relationship rather than Western ownership. She concludes by explaining how she integrates spirituality into her marine science research on microplastics, using genealogical links to ensure the health of mussels.

As heard by us

A thoughtful episode on water as kin, responsibility, and a living source of collective well-being.

The Maori Way of Water frames environmental responsibility as a living relationship, not a policy abstraction. Heni Unwin, a marine scientist with the Cawthron Institute's Maori Research Team, discusses how science and Maturanga Maori, the Maori worldview, can meet in research…

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Why you'd press play

Press play when the phrase "I am the river, and the river is me" deserves more than a passing thought.

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