Pūrangakura

About

Our name literally means a source that weaves together those things that are most precious to us, and can be broadly translated as the ‘Precious Woven Centre’ (Aperahama, 2022).

Our work focuses on providing research and supporting development that enhances who we are and how we want to live as Māori – protecting and nurturing our taonga (treasures) in order to support intergenerational well-being for Aotearoa. Our work seeks to be transformative for our communities, who we believe, will always lead the most meaningful change.

The Pūrangakura logo depicts woven strands that represents our collective and collaborative approach as a multi-discplinary team. Pūrangakura honours our partnerships with our whānau, hapū, iwi, marae and communities, and acknowledges the diversity of lived experiences, skills, knowledge and expertise. Kaupapa Māori is the commonality that brings all things together – our commitment to value and add-value to our cultural worlds, to bring positive and innovative solutions with, and for, our people.

Pū

We are grounded as tangata whenua
Pū brings us back to our origins, our whenua, our waterways, our whakapapa and our mātauranga. It reminds us of our purpose and recentres us as Māori.

Ranga

We weave together people, research and kaupapa
Ranga connects ‘old’ ways of knowing and doing with ‘new’ ways of being, to support vibrant whānau, hapū, iwi, marae and communites. It guides the work of our kaupapa Māori research.

Kura

We nurture growth and transformation
Kura keeps us focused on our taonga. It illuminates the treasures we hold, we pursue and will reclaim. It calls for radical transformation for the future, for our whenua, te taiao and our mokopuna.

Team

Our inaugural directors bring together a wealth of expertise, experience and enthusiasm to Pūrangakura.

Each person is a leader in their respective professions and are well regarded in te ao Māori with whānau, hapū, marae, iwi and communities. The directors work collectively to ensure the kaupapa of each project is honoured and strengthened. Guided by the values and practices of our tūpuna, the directors provide the tuapapa for the work of Pūrangakura.

Dr Jenny Lee-Morgan

(Waikato, Te Ahiwaru, Ngāti Mahuta)

Ngāhuia Eruera

(Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Tamatera)

Rau Hoskins

(Ngāti Hau, Ngāpuhi)

Eruera Lee-Morgan

(Te Arawa, Pare-Hauraki, Pare-Waikato)

Dr Jenny Lee-Morgan
(Waikato, Te Ahiwaru, Ngāti Mahuta)

is a senior kaupapa Māori researcher. Formerly the inaugural Director of Ngā Wai a te Tūī Māori and Indigenous Research Centre, Unitec, Jenny has led several large community centred research projects. Currently she is also a Trustee of Te Ahiwaru Trust and Te Motu o Hiaroa Charitable Trust.

Ngāhuia Eruera
(Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Tamatera)

brings a wealth of business solutions and operational management expertise from her background and senior leadership roles in sports, tertiary education (Wānanga) and research sectors. A home-grown ‘pa’ girl she is passionate about whānau wellbeing and hauora Māori, in particular marae development. She is currently a board member of the Auckland Mataatua Society Inc and Te Tini o Toi Housing Trust.

Rau Hoskins
(Ngāti Hau, Ngāpuhi)

is a renowned Māori practitioner, researcher and educator in Māori architecture, housing and cultural landscape design. As the founding Director of DesignTribe architects, a board member of Toi Ngāpuhi and Trustee of Te Matapihi, Rau works closely with iwi and agencies to advocate for better Māori housing solutions.

Eruera Lee-Morgan
(Te Arawa, Pare-Hauraki, Pare-Waikato)

has 30 years’ experience working in broadcasting, radio, film, Television, and digital media as a practitioner, strategic leader, manager and more recently a board member of ‘Ngā Aho Whakaari’, (Māori film and Television industry. He also brings a strong voice for Māori communities and social development, language, and cultural revitalisation to everything he is involved in. Eruera chairs the Manukau Institute of Technology, Rūnanga board as well as his integral role as co-chair of Ngā Puna o Waiōrea (Western Springs College co-governance board).

Our Staff

Maia Ratana

(Te Arawa, Ngā Rauru kī Tahi, Ngāti Raukawa)

is a kaupapa Māori researcher in Māori housing, sustainable and innovative housing design, homelessness and equity in tertiary education. She is also a lecturer at the Unitec School of Architecture, a PhD student at AUT, and a māmā!

Jacqueline Paul

(Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga)

is a researcher and rangatahi leader with a background in landscape architecture and urban planning. She has a Masters from the University of Cambridge, and is currently a PhD student in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

Hanna-Marie Monga

(Ngāti Whātua, Te Uri o Hau, Cook Islands)

is an Architectural graduate and Research Assistant in the ‘Rangatahi ki te Kāinga’ research project, and rangatahi leader in housing research.

Dr Cat Mitchell

(Taranaki)

is a senior researcher with a PhD in higher education from the University of Auckland. Cat works across a range of projects including Marae Ora Kāinga Ora, Marae ki te Kāinga and Digital Twin: Ihumataao.

Kim Himoana Penetito

(Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Tamaterā, Raukawa)

has a Masters in Māori Development, and a background in Kaupapa Māori community development, training and education. She is the co-director of Hauā Partnerships and a researcher at Pūrangakura.

Hareruia (Ruia) Aperahama

(Ngāti Pikiahu, Ngāti Waewae, Ngāti Tūtemohuta, Tūrangitūkua, Ngāti Kuri, Te Aupouri, Ngāti Whātua)

is an award-winning singer, songwriter and illustrator, respected for his deep knowledge of te reo and mātauranga Māori. He is also an experienced teacher and school-based researcher of Te Aka Pukaea, Newton Central Primary School.

Dr Jo Mane

(Ngāpuhi)

is a senior kaupapa Māori researcher. As part of a community-led initiative, Jo was integral in the establishment of tribal radio in Ngapuhi. Her Masters study documented a history of the radio station Tautoko FM and her doctoral thesis studied ‘The Impact of Māori Language Broadcasting on Māori Language Survival’.

Irene Kereama-Royal

(Ngāpuhi, Parehauraki, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maniapoto)

is a senior researcher and a PhD student at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. She co-leads a Vision Mātauranga MBIE funded project “Kia tika te hī ika” with the Iwi Collective Partnership, a collective of 19 Iwi fisheries entities and the “Mā Hinewaikōpua e whakahou” Health Research Council funded project with community based wahine Māori breast cancer researchers and equity advocates.

Whitiao Paul

(Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Ruanui)

is a highly experienced social worker. She is currently the Team Leader of Manaaki Tangata programme at Te Puea Memorial Marae. She is also a marae-based researcher in the ‘Marae ki te Kāinga’ research project that continues to investigate and foreground the work of marae in assisting our most vulnerable whānau.

Pania Newton

(Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Waikato, Ngāti Mahuta)

holds a Conjoint Degree in Law and Health Sciences and is currently completing her Master’s degree as part of the Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity, The University of Melbourne. Well-known and highly respected for her leadership in the campaign to protect tribal whenua at Ihumatao, Pania is also a valued researcher with the MOKO and Rangatahi ki te Kainga projects.

Irene Farnham

(Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe)

is a community based kaupapa Māori researcher with a background in social work. She has provided Māori cultural support, advice and education in various social service roles including within housing, youth, and whānau social work settings. Irene is currently a student of the Master’s of Applied Practice, Unitec.

Keisha Rawiri

(Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi, Waikato)

has recently submitted her Masters of Architecture supporting the regeneration of the Tau Henare Marae in Te Taitokerau (Northland) and is the recipient of the The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust (KEECT) Scholarship. She is a rangatahi researcher for Rautaki for the Generation Kāinga project.

Joanne Gallagher

(Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kahu, Ngai Takoto, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara)

brings her strong sense of manaaki and organisational skills to her work as Executive Assistant (EA) and project administration. Jo is passionate about her people, her whänau, iwi and hapü, she is the chairperson for her local Kōhanga Reo.

Bernadette Lee Te Young

(Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Whakaeke)

is an experienced administrator and kindly supports our kaimahi in a wide range of administrative and operational tasks.

Kate Lee

(Ngāti Hine)

has a BA in Art History, Cultural Heritage & Museum Studies from the University of Auckland. She is the research administrator of several research projects that form the Urban Intergenerational Kāinga Innovations programme of work, funded by BBHTC, National Science Challenge.

India Miro Logan-Riley

(Ngāti Kahungunu, Rongomaiwahine, Rangitāne)

Brings a background in heritage and lived experience of climate injustice, drawing on a broad range of experiences from UN climate negotiations to harakeke roots work on #landback kaupapa with rangatahi Māori and Pasifika. India dreams of resilient communities where everyone is safe and joyful, and is excited to support those dreams into reality through their work in Generation Kāinga.

Te Nia Matthews

(Ngāti Kahu, Tūhoe)

Passionate about mātauranga-a-iwi and the protection of matauranga Māori as a whole, Te Nia has recently finished his Masters in Science Communication. In his thesis Te Nia explored the ways mātauranga-a-iwi can be used to better understand environmental and ecological changes in te taiao. Te Nia now works in policy for Te Puni Kōkiri to support the active protection, and enable the appropriate use, of mātauranga Māori.

Projects

Some of our current research projects:

Generation Kāinga: Rangatahi building a regenerative and resilient Aotearoa

Science Lead:
Dr Jenny Lee-Morgan with a large fabulous team!

A four-year project funded by Endeavour, MBIE, this project addresses one of the most pressing Māori priorities and greatest aspirations: Māori housing tenure and our ability to exercise authority over our kāinga for the well-being of whānau, hapū, iwi and communities. This research project seeks to unlock the capacity of rangatahi Māori to become key agents in promoting and developing whānau housing and kāinga solutions. Our vision for Generation Kāinga focuses on enabling rangatahi to transform the future of kāinga through Indigenous collective and participatory processes of reimagination, resilience and regeneration so that Aotearoa is ‘the best place in the world’ for rangatahi and their whānau to live.

Marae Ora, Kāinga Ora (MOKO)

Science Lead:
Dr Jenny Lee-Morgan with a large fantastic team and five marae in South Auckland!

A three-year kaupapa Māori community research project funded by MBIE Endeavour, in collaboration with five South Auckland based marae – Papakura Marae, Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae, Makaurau Marae, Mataatua Marae and Manurewa Marae. MOKO draws attention to the innovative capability of marae and Kāinga to assume central roles in the provision of culturally based housing initiatives that can support and enhance our lives as whānau Māori in urban centres.

Urban Intergenerational Kāinga Innovations (UIKI)

Science Lead:
Dr Jenny Lee-Morgan

Urban Intergenerational Kāinga Innovations (UIKI) is a multi-project, four year programme of work based in Tāmaki Makaurau, funded by Kāinga Tahi, Kāinga Rua; Building Better Homes Towns & Cities National Science Challenge. The three projects featured here are led by Dr Jenny Lee-Morgan: Marae ki te Kāinga; Rangatahi ki te Kāinga; Whare Kāhui.

Marae ki te Kāinga

Research Team:
Whitiao Paul, Irene Farnham, Dr Jo Mane, Dr Cat Mitchell and Kate Rodger

In collaboration with Te Puea Memorial Marae, this project focuses specifically on the whānau who have moved through the Manaaki Tāngata (MT) programme, into the ‘Whānau Ora Mana Motuhake’ phase. The purpose of this study is to better understand the ways whānau have reestablished homes and reconnected into their new communities.

Rangatahi ki te Kāinga

Research Team:
Maia Ratana, Jacqueline Paul, Pania Newton, Hanna-Marie Monga

Rangatahi Māori communities have their own distinctive issues, challenges and needs from experiencing homelessness to aspirations of homeownership. The objective of this project is to explore a diverse range of rangatahi Māori aspirations of kāinga to understand how to mobilise and navigate innovative pathways to secure an affordable and safe home that meets the intergenerational needs of whānau.

Te Whare Kāhui

Research Team:
Rau Hoskins and Kate Rodger

A key outcome of this project is to create both widespread awareness of the whare kāhui typology, as well as direct support for Marae and low – medium income whānau to develop their whare kāhui. This project will produce a prototype of a whare kāhui dwelling at Papatūānuku Marae.

Click here to see more of our mahi

Ko Te Aka Pūkāea kia ita, ko Te Aka Pūkāea kia eke!

Research Team:
Dr Jenny Lee-Morgan, Dr Jo Mane, Ruia Aperehama and Jo Gallagher

This two-year kaupapa Māori project investigates the ways in a two Māori medium pathways (bil- lingual and immersion) work together in a newly build Flexible Learning Space (FLS) to progress te reo Māori and the aspirations of whanau. This project takes a strengths-based approach, and is based on the experiences of Te Aka Pukaea, Newton Central School.

Kia tika te hii ika

Research Team:
Irene Kereama-Royal, Eruera Lee-Morgan, Maru Samuels and Greer Samuels (ICP) Iwi Collective Partnership.

This two year project investigates and shares examples where fisheries tīkanga from Iwi knowledge holders is remembered through continued practices or related to the protection and conservation of certain fish species of particular significance to their Iwi and geographic location. A key outcome of the project is re-telling some of the common tīkanga, kawa and principles of fisheries practice, to help inform future decision making of Māori commercial fishing activities.