28 May Webinar: Intergenerational Intimacies

In this webinar with Haylee Koroi Haylee Koroi (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) and Hana Burgess (Ngāpuhi, Te Roroa, Te Ātihaunui a Pāpārangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) we bring to the fore a whakapapa conceptualisation of kai, one that centers whanaungatanga – being in good relation. When we talk about kai, we are talking about the food we eat, but through whakapapa, the concept ‘kai’ evokes the many layers of whanaungatanga that constitute kai – whanaungatanga ki ngā atua, ki te taiao, ki te tangata, ki a koe anō. Here, the concept of whanaungatanga – being in good relation, is brought to the centre. 

In centering whanaungatanga, we recognise that for our generation being in good relation with kai requires seeing through, and beyond, settler colonialism. Therefore, this kōrero will also seek to expose some of the ways that settler colonialism, and the imposition of hierarchies of race, class and gender, continue to damage and disrupt our relationships with kai. 

Through whakapapa, kai is a call for intergenerational vision. It is a call for community and solidarity. It is an acknowledgement that kai is not separate from te taiao, kai is te taiao. Being in good relation with kai is acknowledging the expansive ways that kai nourishes us.

In conversation with Naomi Simmonds from Te Kōmata o te Tonga, The Deep South National Science Challenge, this webinar invites us to deeply consider our relationships with kai, to immerse ourselves in the intergenerational intimacies that kai evokes.