Professor Eloise Jillings (Ngāti Maru Hauraki), Massey University, and Dr Kimiora Hēnare (Ngāti Hauā, Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa), University of Auckland, are scientists who work with animals. Kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga inform how they work with animals in lab settings. Kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga also guide their work as educators to support the wellbeing of students.
Please note that the video footage of the laboratory mice is from the United Kingdom and not from the University of Auckland.
Questions for discussion
- Kimiora describes multiple ways in which he practises kaitiakitanga. Discuss some of the ways in which he acts as kaitiaki.
- Eloise describes multiple ways in which she practises manaakitanga. Discuss some of the ways in which manaakitanga features in her work as a veterinarian and as an educator.
Transcript
Professor Eloise Jillings (Ngāti Maru Hauraki, veterinarian and educator, Massey University)
We can take many aspects of tikanga and thinking about things like manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga and apply those more broadly across not just our taonga species and our native species.
Different people might have different perspectives on that. Some people think about kaitiakitanga in a more narrow sense of responsibility to only those we would have shared whakapapa with. But there’s the opportunity for us as veterinarians to think about it a little bit more broadly and to think about extending those concepts of guardianship and care and upholding mana and things to a wider variety of species as well as all that we do in our work.
Dr Kimiora Hēnare (Ngāti Hauā, Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa, Research Fellow at Waipapa Taumata Rau – University of Auckland)
In the lab animal setting, it might not be so immediately obvious, but again, as guided by the ethics of using animals or the application of mātauranga Māori or tikanga Māori in looking after those animals, you do have a kaitiaki role for their wellbeing. They’re contributing a lot to the work that you’re doing and for the betterment of us as people and so we have a duty to make sure that we are looking after their wellbeing.
Kaitiakitanga as a scientist, whether working with animals or humans, looks like a couple of things. If I’m working with human tissues, it is my responsibility to be an excellent steward or kaitiaki of those tissues because they are taonga. That’s recognising the importance of tissue, the tapu that is inherent in those tissues. That includes the data that comes from people, which is very precious.
Professor Eloise Jillings
We think about manaakitanga as care or upholding the mana of whomever. There is definitely ways, particularly my role working with our Māori and indigenous Pacific students, in which we can do that right, and that’s ensuring that we’re maintaining a real wraparound of culture associated with what we do. So it’s thinking about them more holistically.
Dr Kimiora Hēnare
If I have Māori students coming into my lab and working with animals, it’s partly my job as a kaitiaki to make sure that they are well looked after and that we have processes in place to manage their wellbeing.
When you’re collecting tissues from a big experiment and you’re having to euthanase these animals, I know that’s a heavy day, from my experience, so I would expect that that would be a heavy day for students who have to do the same thing. So it would be coming up with tikanga or processes that would take care of their wellbeing when they do that as well. And I want to see tikanga develop further so students would feel more comfortable doing this sort of work.
Professor Eloise Jillings
People often get confused with veterinary science. They think about the animals, but actually nothing happens with the animals without going through some people.
Manaakitanga with our students is teaching them about their future roles as veterinarians and the responsibilities that they’ll have for the care of their patients but also the care of their clients, whether those be pet owners, farmers, things like that.
My hopes would be that, in 5–10 years, we’re putting out graduates who have a much higher level of cultural humility, cultural awareness and cultural safety. Manaakitanga really underpins a huge amount of what we actually do.
Acknowledgements
Professor Eloise Jillings, Tāwharau Ora – School of Veterinary Science, Massey University
Dr Kimiora Hēnare, Waipapa Taumata Rau – University of Auckland
Advisors: Professor Georgina Tuari Stewart and Dr Sally Birdsall
Vets working with native birds, and kākāpō brain surgery at Wildbase Hospital, and students and vets working with farm animals, companion animals and animal owners, Tāwharau Ora – School of Veterinary Science, Massey University
All footage of laboratory mice and rats, Understanding Animal Research. CC BY 4.0
