(Lecture) Once Was Home: Indigeneity & the City

Hirini Matunga

Lincoln University, New Zealand

Once Was Home: Indigeneity & the City

February 3, 2015

11:30 am, Thorvaldson Building Room 159

The history of colonialism across many places that became cities is also a history of the progressive and often violent marginalization, subjugation and eradication of the memory, materiality, presence and humanity of Indigenous communities who once called these places home. Professor Matunga’s presentation will explore how colonial Christchurch, New Zealand is now confronting its own loss of life, memory, materiality and the familiar as it rebuilds following the catastrophic earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. These disasters have created an opportunity to rethink, revision and transition from a colonial to postcolonial city that not only rebuilds, but also reflects and re-embraces its Indigenous origins and peoples. The challenge for urban planners, designers, architects, ecologists, artists, business and local governments is how?

Hirini Matunga is Deputy Vice Chancellor, Communities and Professor of Indigenous Planning at Lincoln University. Prior to that he was Director of the University’s Centre for Māori and Indigenous Planning and Development and Associate Director of its Centre for Māori Studies and Research. He is Indigenous New Zealand and Cook Islands Māori. His research interests are Indigenous (including Māori) planning concepts and frameworks, Indigenous and Māori participation in planning and policy processes and the implications of the Treaty of Waitangi for environmental management and planning.