Hongi (pressing of noses), Harirū (handshakes) and Hau (sharing breath) In The Time Of Covid-19

How did the Covid-19 pandemic impact sociality and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand, particularly among Māori, the Indigenous people of this Pacific nation? What lessons can be gleaned about this most recent pandemic by looking to history, specifically to the 1918 Spanish Flu, and its impacts on Māori communities? This public lecture by Dr. Marama-Muru Lanning, Associate Professor and Director of the James Henare Māori Research Centre at the University of Auckland, explores how one Māori community has responded over time to the public health threats that emerged in the wake of British colonialism and that have continued to impact New Zealand’s Indigenous people into contemporary times.
Presented on Thursday, October 12, 2023 at Dartmouth College. Co-Sponsored by the Departments of Anthropology and Native American and Indigenous Studies and the Dickey Center for International Understanding.
Dr. Marama-Muru Lanning is Associate Professor and Director of the James Henare Māori Research Centre at the University of Auckland in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her research is dedicated to transdisciplinary research with Māori communities that prioritizes equity. As a social anthropologist, her work focuses on the cultural specificity of tangata whenua (“people of the land”) groups and their unique sense of place and belonging in Aotearoa. She is internationally recognized for her work on human-environment relationships, mātauranga (Māori knowledge, values, and philosophy), and transdisciplinary research methods. In recent years, she has developed a passion - and new approaches and methods - for doing research focused on the wellbeing of kaumatua, Māori elders.