Putting collections back on the ground: mana taonga, mātauranga Māori and NATHIST museum collections

Technological, cultural and climatic changes are shifting natural history collection management (NATHIST CM) more and more into a post-normal science environment, in which the pressures are more diverse, solutions less clear and straightforward, outcomes less predictable and impacts potentially greater than anticipated. This thesis explores how Te Papa’s core philosophy mana taonga, mātauranga Māori and the new biology as studied, for example, in Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES), Third Way of Evolution and panbiogeography, have created new contexts for the management of biological specimen collections that can help NATHIST CM to adjust better to the dynamic and complex post-normal science environment. In the 1980s Te Papa’s collection management (CM) of cultural collections began transforming from using traditional museum practices of curation to co-management with source communities under mana taonga. CM of biological specimen collections has remained more or less unchanged in this respect. The beneficial impact mana taonga had on CM of cultural heritage collections, on source and user communities and other aspects of CM are hardly ever discussed among NATHIST CM professionals, who have mainly science but no museological backgrounds. Consequently, a dearth of publications exists that cover mana taonga and mātauranga Māori from a natural history museum viewpoint. My thesis is closing this gap by examining the space where mana taonga, mātauranga Māori and CM of biological collections meet. As a researcher of New Zealand (NZ) land snails and biogeography, I explore from my perspective and experience starting points for future efforts to revitalise collections by enhancing their ties with communities, but also through management of biological collections in a manner that advances epistemic justice, overcomes miscommunication and a lack of shared concepts, counterbalances CM operated purely with instrumental rationality and provides room for interaction with mātauranga Māori. To achieve this, I gauge the understanding of and commitment to mana taonga and mātauranga Māori in the NATHIST sector and investigate how both can enrich NATHIST CM and how standard CM practice could interact in meaningful ways with mana taonga and mātauranga Māori to put collections back on the ground and help advance testimonial and hermeneutical justice.

In this thesis I am employing a combination of literature review, autoethnography and action research. The literature review covers aspects of museological literature, evolution, conservation and philosophy of science that are relevant to CM but cannot obviously be exhaustive. Through the literature review I connect my own experiences and observations of CM to broader cultural, political, and social concepts and debates. I use my experiences with collection management of NZ micro land snails at Te Papa and as a former member of the panel of the Department of Conservation’s New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS), NZ’s equivalent to the IUCN Red List of endangered species, to make recommendations. I use my insider knowledge to test theoretical claims in ways outsider knowledge is unable to do. The cases (exhibits) used in this thesis were selected for their suitability to describe the problems with interweaving two knowledge systems in Te Papa’s permanent Te Taiao│Nature exhibition, potential conflicts arising for NATHIST CM while juggling local and global interests, trends in conservation and data networks with regard to mana taonga, tikanga, mātauranga Māori and issues of epistemic injustice arising through operating CM from a purely technical perspective and adherence to concepts rooted in Neo-Darwinism. My thesis establishes that the application of mana taonga varies highly between the cultural and taxonomic collections at Te Papa. Cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary openings appear sparse and professional development opportunities for NATHIST staff are limited and underdeveloped. I demonstrate how mana taonga, mātauranga Māori, EES, Third Way, panbiogeography and the Anthropocene provide the necessary tensions and contradictions for NATHIST professionals as means to step outside the knowledge and wisdom bubbles of their usual ‘peer’ groups to reassess concepts, opinions, arguments, means and ends of actions in order to stay and become more relevant to communities and society. As a result of my examinations, I propose strategies for putting collections back on the ground and better alignment with mana taonga in a post-normal science environment and for NATHIST CM to usher in postcolonial and post-Modern Synthesis NATHIST CM. Putting collections back on the ground involves a range of actions that contribute to the process: adopt rational pluralism, have an understanding for different ways of knowledge production, foster diverse documentation and complex system thinking, facilitate data repatriation and reinterpretation, employ thematic collecting, use local tikanga to inform CM, develop a nuanced understanding of differences.