2008 Woodie Awards
Professor shows revitalized Maori culture
Bauermeister shares photos and video of her six months in New Zealand
By: Stephanie Covington
Issue date: 3/30/06 Section: News
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Professor Maxine Bauermeister said she had to learn about herself and her own culture in order to understand the Maori culture that surrounded her. Bauermeister spent six months in New Zealand, staying with two Maori families while she worked on her dissertation on the Kohanga Reo and native early childhood education.
Through the Kohanga Reo program, children begin school at age five and are taught in Maori and English. The Kohanga Reo is designed to immerse the children in the native language and culture.
During her presentation entitled "Revitalization of Maori Culture in New Zealand: An Ethnography" March 28, Bauermeister shared video clips and photos from her stay.
Bauermeister, a professor in the learning and communications arts department, said her dissertation committee wanted her to do her research on the Native Americans at first. She said she was against the idea because she had grown up with certain stereotypes of Native Americans and wanted to study the culture of a people she knew little about and she already had contact with a Maori woman in New Zealand.
Bauermeister said she wasn't openly welcomed by the Maori community when she first arrived. She said meetings she attended were often completely in Maori so she couldn't understand what was being said. Later on, she said she gained their trust as being genuinely interested in Maori people and meetings gradually contained more and more English to accommodate her presence.
"Trust was an important part of doing the ethnography," Bauermeister said.
The group she stayed with, called Tuhoe, educated their children from pre-school age, until they were old enough to attend middle school. Then the children were then bused to schools that were more integrated. Bauermeister said the Tuhoe have a remote culture, not influenced a whole lot by Western culture. She said the rural areas in New Zealand are about 60 percent Maori and 40 percent white.
The Tuhoe teaching methods are different than those in the United States because children are taught to be loud and proud of their heritage. In school, children Maori songs and learn to be very vocal. Young children are also taught how to work together in groups, rather than always working individually. Individual learning is included however, Bauermeister said to help the students integrate into the European learning system once they leave primary school.
Through the Kohanga Reo program, children begin school at age five and are taught in Maori and English. The Kohanga Reo is designed to immerse the children in the native language and culture.
During her presentation entitled "Revitalization of Maori Culture in New Zealand: An Ethnography" March 28, Bauermeister shared video clips and photos from her stay.
Bauermeister, a professor in the learning and communications arts department, said her dissertation committee wanted her to do her research on the Native Americans at first. She said she was against the idea because she had grown up with certain stereotypes of Native Americans and wanted to study the culture of a people she knew little about and she already had contact with a Maori woman in New Zealand.
Bauermeister said she wasn't openly welcomed by the Maori community when she first arrived. She said meetings she attended were often completely in Maori so she couldn't understand what was being said. Later on, she said she gained their trust as being genuinely interested in Maori people and meetings gradually contained more and more English to accommodate her presence.
"Trust was an important part of doing the ethnography," Bauermeister said.
The group she stayed with, called Tuhoe, educated their children from pre-school age, until they were old enough to attend middle school. Then the children were then bused to schools that were more integrated. Bauermeister said the Tuhoe have a remote culture, not influenced a whole lot by Western culture. She said the rural areas in New Zealand are about 60 percent Maori and 40 percent white.
The Tuhoe teaching methods are different than those in the United States because children are taught to be loud and proud of their heritage. In school, children Maori songs and learn to be very vocal. Young children are also taught how to work together in groups, rather than always working individually. Individual learning is included however, Bauermeister said to help the students integrate into the European learning system once they leave primary school.