Tupua te Kawa: Indigenous methodologies for non-Indigenous (and Indigenous) organisations

This paper proposes using Tupua te Kawa – a set of Indigenous values at law – together with tribal, kaupapa Māori (Māori approach) and Indigenous methodologies, to introduce a framework for facilitating non-Indigenous organisations’ engagement with and implementation of Indigenous knowledges, values and practices. The framework recognises that Tupua te Kawa, an outcome of giving legal personhood to the Whanganui River via Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Settlement Claims) Act 2017, can be a reorientation to Indigenous methodologies by non-Indigenous organisations. This paper provides strength-based examples of how non-Indigenous organisations can engage with Indigenous knowledges, values and practices appropriately and effectively through Indigenous methodologies. The paper illustrates the critical role Indigenous methodologies play when connecting Indigenous frameworks to Indigenous worldviews, peoples, knowledges, values and practices. To highlight the criticality of honouring Indigenous languages when seeking to understand Indigenous worldviews, te reo Māori (the Māori language) with translations is used throughout, which is necessary to receive the full benefit of the paper.