send to a friend

print

Monte Aranga 

About Me

Born in Whakatāne, with initial schooling in Te Teko then Kawerau and Opotiki Colleges then finally Meadowbank Technical College in Sydney; gaining entrance into the University of New South Wales. After twenty years in Poihākena Monte was advised to return to Aotearoa by his tutors in Ataarangi at Bondi Beach. Amongst these were Te Auta Akuhata and Haromi Williams. On return, helping to establish Te Reo Irirangi o Te Mānuka Tūtahi led to further training in radio programme production in Wellington. In 1995 he enrolled in the fledgling Bachelor of Māori Studies Degree at Awanuiārangi with Tāmati Kruger, Te Hue Rangi and Joe Malcom. Continuing with Professor Hirini Mead as his lecturer in Te Reo o ngā Tohunga, Monte then went on to complete a Masters Degree with first class honours in 2002, entitled, “A Hermeneutic Exploration of Whakapapa and Knowledge.”

He has taught at both graduate and undergraduate levels in subjects as varied as Māori Philosophy, Comparative Linguistics in Polynesia, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Cultural and Intellectual Property, Mātaatua Waka and Te Reo o ngā Tohunga. Further duties have included Masters Thesis supervision and marking and many years on the Awanuiārangi Ethics Committee and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa. Monte is atheistic and a Theravada Buddhist with a developing interest in Queer Theory.

Teaching Responsibilities

• MAO415 – Advanced Study of Mātauranga Māori (Semester One and Two – 2010)
• E komokomohia ana tēnei wahanga akoranga, i te ariā o te whānuitanga o te mātauranga e hono ana ki ngā momo hapū/ iwi Māori o nehe rā, tae atu ki tēnei wā.
• This course incorporates the notion of knowledge in its widest sense, as it is associated with the many cultures of Māori communities past and present. Research and analysis is centred on defining the concept `mātauranga Māori’ and an examination of its characteristics, with emphasis on changes in perception over time.
• In 2010, this course will be taught in both semesters in Whakatane, Whangarei, Kaikohe and Kaitaia.

Current Research, Projects or Papers

1. Provisional enrolment in PhD at Auckland University: “Tapu in Māori Epistemology.”
2. Paper “Traversing Plateaus of Mana within the Research Process” with Dr Susan Mlcek
3. Paper “Te Aka Matua: Voices of the Ahi Kā on Mātauranga Māori Transmission and Retention.”
4. 4. Paper “Contextualizing mātauranga Māori as whakapapa and weltanschuung within the Confines of Philosophical Hermeneutics” for SITES Journal of Social Anthropology, Otago University.
5. Research Project, “Io Theological Construct: An examination of the theoretical assumptions of practitioners and non-practitioners of this belief system.”
6. 6. Paper “Hermeneutics of Māori Knowledge and Cosmology,” Journal of Intercultural Studies (Routledge)
7. 7. Paper “Pedagogy, Literacy and mātauranga Māori,” Lambert Academic Publishing (Germany)
8. 8. Research Project “Toa Takatāpui: Difference as signifier of existential determinism.

Publications

• ‘Te Piko o te Māhuri, tērā te tipu o te rākau: language and literacy in marae based programmes.” Ministry of Education Publication “Education Counts”, August 2009. (Keywords: language; literacy; marae-based programmes)
• “Ngā Painga o te Whare Wānanga Māori.”  - Te Wharekura 86: Toitu Te Mana. 2009 (Keywords: whare wānanga Māori; kura Māori; Te Teko; Awanuiārangi)
• “Kia Hiwa Rā! Being Watchful: The Challenges of Student Support at Te Whare Wānanga ō Awanuiārangi.” M A I Review, 1, Article 6. 2008 (Keywords: curriculum design; literacy; Māori pedagogy; wānanga)
• “The Hidden School of Rua: Te Kura Huna a Rua” -  International Journal of the Humanities. Vol 6, Issue 9, pp.117-124. 2008. (Keywords: Māori esoteric epistemology, concealed knowledge, indigenous knowledge)
• “Restructuring Towards Mainstream: Disjuncture and Reclamation” -  NZARE Journal, Auckland University. 2003. (Keywords: institutional restructure; language lost and reclamation; wairua; mauri; Zen)