TE RITA PAPESCH
Waikato-Maniapoto, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Whakaue
He Rākau Taumatua – (Ngaia, TW. 2018)
A Māori Model of Leadership Practice
Te Rita was encouraged by her parents to pursue education and a musical career which began with studying classical piano and singing. She completed both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the University of Waikato. Her Master’s degree was on Waiata-ā-ringa (Māori Action Song). Her PhD was achieved at the University of Canterbury with a title of: Creating a Modern Māori Identity Through Kapa Haka. Te Rita eventually became Head of the School of Māori at Canterbury and on her return home to the Waikato from Christchurch she became Head of the School of Māori, Pasifika and Indigenous Studies at the Waikato Polytechnic Institute. Te Rita is currently lecturing in the Masters of Applied Indigenous Studies at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in Hamilton.
Te Rita has been both a Regional and National Judge at Kapa Haka competitions for over 40 years and now works as a translator of performances at Te Matatini, the National Kapa Haka competitions. She has published extensively on Māori Performance, Kapa Haka, both ritual and competitive.
He Waka Hiringa (HWH) is a Masters of Applied Indigenous Knowledge offered as a programme of two years’ study by Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. The main pre-requisite for enrolment in to this graduate degree is for the student to be a master of their own practice, whatever that practice may be. In other words, they are already leaders in their own field of practice. My task is to help them clarify how they indigenise their practice; introduce them to academic processes to achieve this and encourage them to create their own Models of Practice (MsOP) to guide them as they work with students or clients.
In 6 years I have succesfully helped 3 cohorts to graduate and have encouraged development of and approved about hundred different new Models of Practice, each unique in its own way. No longer do graduates of HWH have to rely on Whare Tapatoru ( Wi Te Tau Huata Snr. 1967, personal communication), Whare Tapawhā (Durie, M. 1984), Te Wheke (Pere, R. 1997) and Poutama Pōwhiri (Huata, P. 2011) to name a few well known MsOP.
However, in terms of a Leadership MOP I have not seen a better one than that created by my youngest child and daughter, Te Wairere Te Pūāwaitanga o te Whakaaro Ngaia to fulfil the requirements of her Masters in Management Communications and Te Reo Māori (Māori Language) graduate degree at The University of Waikato. So, with her permission I am going to use her MOP for leadership in competitive Kapa Haka as my model in this delivery.
The title comes from a waiata-ā-ringa (action song) composed by one of her tuākana (older sisters), Te Ingo Karangaroa Ngaia, entitled ‘He Rākau Taumatua!’, for their whānau (family) kapa haka, Te Haona Kaha.
