Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Development (Te Ara Poutama)
Permanent link for this collection
The Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Development research expertise covers a broad spectrum from te reo and tikanga Māori to Māori media and multimedia. Explore Te Ara Poutama's research areas:
- Māori Business
- Māori Economics
- Māori Entrepreneurship
- Māori Management
- Māori Multimedia
- Māori Media
- Mātauranga Maori
- New Zealand History
- Pacific Development
- Treaty of Waitangi
Browse
Browsing Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Development (Te Ara Poutama) by Title
Now showing 1 - 20 of 97
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- ItemA chequered renaissance: the evolution of Maori society, 1984-2004(Te Kaharoa, 2009) Moon, P.This article traces aspects of the evolution of Maori society in the two decades following the Hui Taumata in 1984. Issues of language, political and self-determination, and Treaty settlements are explored for their contribution to this evolution.
- ItemA critical reflection of ethical issues in research(Te Kaharoa, 2008) McNeill, H.This article uses the concept of matauranga as a starting point as a device for exploring concepts of Maori mental wellness. Issues of the role of culture are explored in depth, both from theoretical and application perspectives. The iwi of Tuhoe are the focus of attention in the examination of these themes.
- ItemA Dissenter in the Ranks: Barzillai Quaife’s Mission to New Zealand(Wiley, 2024-07-11) Moon, PaulThe arrival of the Congregationalist minister Barzillai Quaife in New Zealand in 1840 casts a new light on the established historiography on the role of missionaries in the colony at this time, revealing substantial (imported) divisions between Anglicans and Dissenting sects, resulting in a level of antipathy that (ironically) exceeded that which existed between Protestants and Catholics in the country at this time. Quaife's presence also illuminates the overlapping roles of the Anglican mission as a branch of state polity as well as a distinct religious entity in the colony, how this othered Quaife's Congregationalist mission, and the potential for misconstruing individual personality traits with strongly-held theological opinions.
- ItemA Māori Crisis in Science Education?(Faculty of Education, University of Canterbury, 2023-12-14) Steward, GeorginaThis article is written for school teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand schools who teach science to Year 7-10 students or as part of a primary classroom programme under The New Zealand Curriculum. What can teachers do about inequity in science education for Māori students? Clear understanding of this complex issue is required, so this article offers a synopsis of the Māori science curriculum debate. Written from my perspective as an insider-researcher interested in this topic for many years, this article engages with important comments about Māori-medium science education made by Sir Peter Gluckman in a major report on science education (2011), and an earlier challenge by Graham Hingangaroa Smith (1995) about the ‘Māori crisis’ in science education. Towards the end I briefly discuss what teachers might do, and consider the potential of ‘bilingual science’ as an alternate approach with relevance for any classroom teacher, and a way of navigating the current theoretical impasse or ‘crisis’ in Māori science education.
- ItemAnimals of Aotearoa: Kaupapa Māori Summaries(Routledge, 2023-01-22) Stewart, GThis article summarizes Māori knowledge of a selected range of animals through the literature as a first step in undertaking research into the potential of incorporating Māori concepts into animal ethics topics for senior school and post-school biology education. This article is based on a critical Māori “reading” of existing literature, a writing process that both collects and analyzes data from available records, examined through a Kaupapa Māori (i.e., Māori-centered lens). The scientific category of “animal” does not exist in te ao Māori (the Māori world), so the approach taken below is to give an introductory synopsis of Māori knowledge of a sample of animals of Aotearoa, mindful that Māori “knowledge” includes and embeds a Māori understanding of ethics. This summary of Māori knowledge of animals is presented in six sections: kurī (dog), kiore (rat), manu (birds), ika (fish), ngārara (reptiles), and aitanga pepeke (insects/invertebrates). Key points emerge about Māori knowledge of animals, including a final point reflecting on the nature and status of a synopsis, a genre of particular relevance to Kaupapa Māori scholars studying Māori knowledge.
- ItemAutopoiesis, enactivismo y aprendizaje del alumno: Un modelo ecológico(School of Art and Design, AUT, 2021-12-31) Frielick, S; Steagall (Translator), MEste artículo es una contribución propuesta a LINK 2021 Special Track: Diseño informativo e investigación dirigida por la práctica desde la epistemología de la escuela cognitiva de Santiago. Presenta un modelo ecológico general del aprendizaje de los estudiantes en la educación superior, tejiendo diferentes hilos de la investigación del aprendizaje de los estudiantes, el trabajo de Bateson sobre la ecología de la mente y los conceptos de autopoiesis y enactivismo que surgen del trabajo de Maturana y Varela en la escuela de Santiago. El artículo toma como punto de partida la investigación fundamental sobre enfoques profundos y superficiales del aprendizaje de los estudiantes, desarrollada, entre otros, por Marton, Biggs, Ramsden, Prosser & Trigwell durante los años 80 y 90. Mientras que otras concepciones neoliberales del aprendizaje de los estudiantes como "compromiso" o "empleabilidad" tienden a dominar el discurso actual, la literatura profunda/superficial todavía se cita ampliamente y constituye la base de muchos cursos de enseñanza en la educación superior. Lo que se explora menos son las formas en las que la investigación del aprendizaje profundo/superficial resuena con los puntos de vista ecológicos de Bateson sobre la mente y el aprendizaje, y la idea de la mente encarnada desarrollada a partir del trabajo pionero de Maturana y Varela. Esta investigación también surgió en los años 80 y 90. Al rastrear los patrones que conectan las ideas anteriores con los avances actuales en la cognición 4E y la biosemiótica, el artículo desarrolla un modelo ecológico del aprendizaje del estudiante basado en conceptos de no linealidad, emergencia, complejidad, encarnación, cognición como biológica, aprendizaje como investigación dialógica, comunidades de aprendizaje y práctica, y las influencias modeladoras del poder que circula a través de las redes de información. El modelo representa visualmente un proceso de aprendizaje informado por principios clave: • Tanto el agente cognitivo como todo lo que está asociado están en constante cambio, adaptándose cada uno al otro, de la misma manera que el ambiente evoluciona simultáneamente con las especies que lo habitan. • El aprendizaje (y de manera similar, la enseñanza) no puede entenderse en términos monológicos; no existe una relación causal directa, lineal, fijable entre los diversos componentes de una comunidad. Más bien, todos los factores que contribuyen a cualquier situación de enseñanza/aprendizaje están relacionados de manera intrincada, ecológica y compleja. • La cognición, por tanto, no es la representación pasiva de un mundo preexistente "ahí fuera", sino más bien el surgimiento o la puesta en práctica en curso de un mundo a través de los procesos biológicos de la vida. • Aprender/enseñar es un proceso de representación mutua de significados: el alumno y el maestro crean un mundo juntos. • La cognición no se ubica en las abstracciones de una conciencia individual descontextualizada, sino en los procesos de acción compartida. • El conocimiento no está separado del mundo, sino que está incrustado en él en una serie de sistemas interrelacionados. • El yo individual se constituye así en una red de relaciones. • El enactivismo es una epistemología ecológica en la que la mente individual es una propiedad emergente de las interacciones entre el organismo y el medio ambiente. • Una visión enactivista de la ecología de la enseñanza/aprendizaje ve a los maestros y a los estudiantes integrados en un sistema dinámico de relaciones entre las personas, la información, el conocimiento y las estructuras y procesos institucionales que forman el contexto del aprendizaje. El sistema actúa para generar conocimiento al transformar la información en comprensión.
- ItemBig bananas in Kiribati(Te Ara Poutama, AUT University, 2015) Brown Pulu, T; Pamatatau, RNo abstract.
- ItemBook Review of G. D. Smithers and B. N. Newman (eds.), Native Diasporas: Indigenous Identities and Settler Colonialism in the Americas, Nebraska, 2014, University of Nebraska Press, 509pp.(Te Ara Poutama - the Faculty of Maori and Indigenous Development, Auckland University of Technology, 2014-06-30) Moon, PIt is from the growing body of literature in indigenous issues that Native Diasporas has emerged. But as the title signals, this is more than just another work surveying the already well-traversed terrain of indigenous identity. Yes, this is a key and unavoidable component, and one that surfaces in various ways in each of its fifteen chapters, but the emphasis on diasporas promises opportunities for all sorts of comparatively little-explored insights into the construct of indigeneity. The subtitle places at least some of this anticipated analysis in the context of ‘settler colonialism’, which serves as a specific reference point for the book’s content – one where, historically, the character of intercultural encounters was often at its most conspicuous and unstable.
- ItemCapturing the Integration of Practice-based Learning With Beliefs, Values, and Attitudes Using Modified Concept Mapping(Libertas Academica, 2016) McNaughton, S; Barrow, M; Warwick, B; Frielick, SPractice-based learning integrates the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains and is influenced by students’ beliefs, values, and attitudes. Concept mapping has been shown to effectively demonstrate students’ changing concepts and knowledge structures. This article discusses how concept mapping was modified to capture students’ perceptions of the connections between the domains of thinking and knowing, emotions, behavior, attitudes, values, and beliefs and the specific experiences related to these, over a period of eight months of practice-based clinical learning. The findings demonstrate that while some limitations exist, modified concept mapping is a manageable way to gather rich data about students’ perceptions of their clinical practice experiences. These findings also highlight the strong integrating influence of beliefs and values on other areas of practice, suggesting that these need to be attended to as part of a student’s educational program.
- ItemClash of civilisations: Tonga and the West(Te Ara Poutama, the Faculty of Maori and Indigenous Development, Auckland University of Technology, 2014-06-27) Brown Pulu, TJThe House thanks God that the king is still in good health, and the Monarch is still in control of the affairs of the country. We thank god for the assistance to Tonga from donor countries (Lord Lasike cited in Matangi Tonga, 2011). At the first 2011 session of Tonga’s legislative assembly on June 9th the House was busy thanking god for king and aid donors, a variation to king and country, the usual saying. Tongan journalist Pesi Fonua poked fun at the country’s lawmakers by translating the parliamentary minutes into English for publication on his media website. The original Hansard transcript in the Tongan language might not have been altogether amusing, but rather, standard convention for formally addressing the monarch. However, one question that Fonua brought to light was at this time in Tonga’s history when a more democratic government was said to have taken the helm, had the hierarchal structure really changed? Furthermore, why had “donor countries” crept into the state’s salutations to the king, and which countries were Tongan politicians thinking of – Western ones or China? (Matangi Tonga, 2011). Personifying a Western-centred view of Tonga’s political system, New Zealand researcher of constitutional law Guy Powles made a brash commentary to Radio Australia. As a Palangi (white, European) observer, Powles presumptuously displayed his over-confidence in giving advice to Tonga. Claiming the Tongan “constitution does need to be studied in detail,” he felt certain “there are areas there of what one might call unfinished business.” Specifically, “the original principle hasn’t been carried through, that is the devolution of executive authority” (Powles cited in Garrett, 2014). Powles was pointing at executive powers the monarch held onto compared to the ones which were handed over to the prime minister and the national executive by constitutional amendment in 2010. Did reasonable expectation surface among the Tongan public that in the near future, all of the King’s executive authority would be delegated to the state? Or could this be read as an explicit case of the Western ego fantasising that all Pacific Island states naturally desired to remake their civilizations and sovereignty in their likeness? This essay pokes the polemics and pragmatics of Tongan civilization enacted in modern times through a distinct set of cultural values. How has the tenacity of Tongan civilization in today’s globalized world run into trouble with Western development partners – New Zealand, Australia, and America – especially when it comes to Tonga’s foreign relations? (International Business Publications, 2011).
- ItemClimate change blues: sustaining village life in Tonga(Te Ara Poutama, AUT University, 2013-12-17) Brown Pulu, TJThe loss of small island states will affect us all. Climate change refugees will become a very serious issue for all countries. Lord Ma’af On the afternoon of December 15th 2009, Tonga’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Lord Ma’afu, made a passionate plea to the international press assembled at the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. He had a message he wanted to get out to the world. Politically, Ma’afu awoke a subconscious fear developed countries stepped around not wanting to stir and be forced to deal with. Snared in the small island uncertainty of rising sea levels was the inevitability climate change refugees might need another place to live (Bedford and Bedford, 2010; Fagan, 2013). Where would they go? Who would take them in? What countries would help the Pacific Islands? Despite sociologists and political scientists documenting the failure of global governance to deliver a legally binding agreement for controlling climate change (Giddens, 2009; Held and Hervey, 2009; Fisher, 2004), alternatives put forward have not been taken up. What other methods for governing over bad weather are there? (Goldin, 2013). And how is village life in Tonga coping with climate blues?
- ItemConnecting Enaction and Indigenous Epistemologies in Technology-Enhanced Learning(Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Library, 2023-03-14) Smith, James; Aguayo, claudioWithin educational scholarship, and in particular technology-enhanced learning research, the ‘enactivist’ conception of cognition has been steadily gaining in prominence over the past few decades (Begg, 2002; Leonard, 2020). Enactivism can be defined as a philosophical proposition contending that cognition emerges by way of active interplay between an organism and its context. Enactive theory sees that organisms create experiences and understandings through their actions and are not passive receivers of input from an environment. They are ‘actors,’ such that what they experience is shaped by how they act (Varela et al., 1991). Enactivist understandings of learning see education as emergent processes in which ‘knowing’ for an organism stems from, and is embedded in, complex systems of relations between individuals and how they influence and are influenced by cultural contexts. These in turn are also influenced by, and influence environmental circumstances (Begg, 2002). Concerning educational technology (edtech), enactivist approaches have gained attention due to this cognitive position being based upon circular forms of influence, in which tools used, environments, social interactions and more, all contribute to cognition occurring (Author 2, 2021). Additionally, indigenous epistemologies and worldviews are also being looked to by many within edtech research, to define and conceptualise learning technology in more ecological, embodied, and co-relational ways (Hradsky, 2023; Meighan, 2022; Reedy, 2019). Indigenous worldviews offer more interconnected, ecological, and systems-oriented ways of viewing education and edtech, connecting to circular enactivist positions. Indigenous worldviews and enactivism relate in that both are interconnected and holistic viewpoints, which see less separation between individuals, other beings, environments, and ‘the world.’ This is important, as in a world full of ‘wicked’ socio-ecological problems, bridges need to be built between ecological and relational indigenous viewpoints, and traditional western science and philosophy (reductionist and rationalistic) (Authors, 2021). In this presentation, we posit that there are potential unexplored links between enactivist educational approaches which utilise technology (such as XR interventions. See: Author 2, 2020, Author 1, 2018; Author 1, 2021), and indigenous approaches and philosophies of technology enhanced learning (Authors, 2022). Such contemporary projects which contribute to this conversation include O-Tu-Kapua (Author 2, 2017), Kōrimurimu (Author 1, 2018) and Pipi’s World (Author 2, 2021; Author 2, 2019). In particular, Kōrimurimu (2018) fostered an educational ‘ecosystem’ in which students could engage and interact with the learning using a variety of different technologies, approaches, and through stimulation of different senses. Embodied and holistic methods were utilised to stimulate learning in not purely rationalistic/cognitive ways. These approaches tied both enactive and indigenous perspectives of knowing and building knowledge experientially and sensorially. Here we present some initial research and conceptual propositions around potential links between these theoretical areas and highlight some proposed methodological approaches to investigating and detailing these connections. Such links between enactivism and indigenous worldviews we have identified include circularity regarding learners to their tools/devices and environment, embodied views of cognition and learning, holistic and interconnected paradigms, and a shift away from Cartesian conceptualisations of separation between mind and body.
- ItemCraik’s The New Zealanders: A Formative Case of Meaning-Construction(Victoria University of Wellington Library, 2023-08-23) Moon, PaulFrom the 1820s, there was a surge in the number of books about New Zealand being published in Britain. George Craik’s The New Zealanders (1830) serves an exemplar of how many of these works – which tended to be more popular than academic – not only provided British readers with information about New Zealand and its indigenous people, but which also contributed to processes of meaning-construction that both reflected current trends in interpreting the non-European world, and to some extent anticipated new ways of understanding the indigenous other.
- ItemCultivating Cultural Heritage and Fostering Belonging in Communities Through Digital and Non-Digital Technologies in Generative STEAM Education(Addleton Academic Publishers, 2024-09-01) Videla, Ronnie; Aguayo, Claudio; Aguilera, José; Aros, Maybritt; Ibacache, Camilo; Valdivia, Paulina; Cerpa, CarolaThe predominance of Western thought, traditionally dualistic and reductionist, has simplified and devalued the complexity and richness of the historical-cultural heritage, including the tangible and intangible heritage of lagging communities and Indigenous peoples across the globe. With the increasing globalisation and migration of people from one place to another, the preservation of cultural identity has become a significant concern for communities worldwide; thus, we ask ourselves: How can the past (material and intangible historical-cultural heritage of lagging communities and Indigenous peoples) be kept alive in the present? Here, we propose that digital technology has the potential to play a vital role in helping communities maintain a sense of cultural belonging. Digital technology offers numerous possibilities for communities to preserve, document, revitalise, (re-)connect and share their cultural heritage, allowing them to maintain a sense of belonging with their roots and history. One of the most significant benefits of digital technology is the ability to document and preserve cultural artefacts, traditions and practices. Moreover, digital technology can enable communities to engage further with their cultural heritage while sharing this with a broader audience and/or other communities in similar situations. With the rise of immersive technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality, and technology such as 3D manufacturing, electronics and biomaterials, cultural experiences can be brought to people worldwide, allowing individuals to learn and appreciate different cultures without physically being present. By focusing on a case study from the commune of La Higuera, IV Region of Chile, we will explore the potential of digital and non-digital technology to keep the past alive in the present and for the future while providing key design principles for others to follow and be inspired by.
- ItemDecolonizing Indigenous Burial Practices in Aotearoa, New Zealand: A Tribal Case Study(SAGE Publications, 2022-02-11) McNeill, HN; Buckley, HL; Pouwhare, RMIBefore European contact, Māori disposed of the dead in environmentally sustainable ways. Revitalizing pre-colonial burial practices presents an opportunity for Māori to evaluate current practices and reconnect with their ancient tribal customs and practices. The research question asks: What is the decolonizing potential of urupā tautaiao (natural burials)? Paradoxically, environmentally unsustainable modern tangihanga (funerals) retain the ethos of customary funerary traditions. Urupā tautaiao presents an opportunity for iwi (tribes) to retain cultural integrity in the death space, without compromising Papatūānuku (earthmother). Methodologically, a Māori worldview frames an action research mindset. The study captures a tribal community’s exploratory journey into urupā tautaiao.
- ItemDisaster Politics: Cyclone Politicking and Electioneering in the Kingdom of Tonga(Te Kaharoa: The e-Journal on Indigenous Pacific Issues, 2014-03-04) Brown Pulu, TJAbstract Entering the new year of 2014 the Kingdom of Tonga had enough to worry about; a local economy choking to near death and a finance minister sacked and replaced in a political spectacle leaving the public baffled over what went wrong between him and the Prime Minister (Fayle, 2014; Lopeti, 2014c; Fonua, 2014b). People uttered they looked forward to the end of year election tentatively set for Thursday November 27th. The 2010 register of around forty thousand voters had increased at the 2014 intake by four thousand, mostly voters who had turned the age of suffrage at twenty one years old. The chorus call from the masses was simple, vote them out. Then Cyclone Ian struck on Saturday 11 January 2014 aggravating Tonga’s money shortage. Journalist Pesi Fonua wrote “the impact on the Tongan economy of the cyclone and the salary rise for civil servants at this point of time is a matter of great concern” (Fonua, 2014a). He was right. The state and taxpayers could not afford economic recovery from Tonga’s cruellest cyclone, a symptom of climate change, let alone paying for a 5% rise in the cost of living allowance for public servants. As the national debt distress sore became inflamed the Public Service Association decided it was the right time to fight cabinet for a 22% living allowance rise because 5% was not enough (Lopeti, 2014a). This essay asks a pointed question. Leading up to the general election of November 2014, how was cyclone politicking being manoeuvred to sway the way people would vote?
- ItemDisaster politics: cyclone politicking and electioneering in the Kingdom of Tonga(Te Ara Poutama, Auckland University of Technology, 2014-03-04) Brown Pulu, TJEntering the new year of 2014 the Kingdom of Tonga had enough to worry about; a local economy choking to near death and a finance minister sacked and replaced in a political spectacle leaving the public baffled over what went wrong between him and the Prime Minister (Fayle, 2014; Lopeti, 2014c; Fonua, 2014b). People uttered they looked forward to the end of year election tentatively set for Thursday November 27th. The 2010 register of around forty thousand voters had increased at the 2014 intake by four thousand, mostly voters who had turned the age of suffrage at twenty one years old. The chorus call from the masses was simple, vote them out. Then Cyclone Ian struck on Saturday 11 January 2014 aggravating Tonga’s money shortage. Journalist Pesi Fonua wrote “the impact on the Tongan economy of the cyclone and the salary rise for civil servants at this point of time is a matter of great concern” (Fonua, 2014a). He was right. The state and taxpayers could not afford economic recovery from Tonga’s cruellest cyclone, a symptom of climate change, let alone paying for a 5% rise in the cost of living allowance for public servants. As the national debt distress sore became inflamed the Public Service Association decided it was the right time to fight cabinet for a 22% living allowance rise because 5% was not enough (Lopeti, 2014a). This essay asks a pointed question. Leading up to the general election of November 2014, how was cyclone politicking being manoeuvred to sway the way people would vote?
- ItemEntangled Cognition in Immersive Learning Experience(SAGE Publications, 2023-06-26) Aguayo, Claudio; Videla-Reyes, Ronnie; Veloz, TomasImmersive learning environments in education provide a set of rich and diverse learning affordances (possibilities). Cognition in such environments can be considered as embodied, enacted, embedded, and extended (the 4Es of cognition). During such cognitive happenings, we assume and live as valid everything we experience. Yet in this enactive structural coupling between individuals and their experiential world, another phenomenon occurs. We become a behaviorally inseparable entity with the virtual/immersive world. We become entangled with that virtual/immersive world. Here we propose that, within the framework of the 4Es of cognition, a recognizable lived experience phenomena occurs when learners engage with virtual or immersive learning environments. That is, cognition becomes entangled in immersive environments with alternative realities. Coming from the Santiago school of cognition, and building from ideas from immersive learning, 4E cognition, and quantum entanglement inspired in quantum cognition, we attempt to describe the process of entangled cognition happening in immersive learning environments. We recognize at least two levels of entanglement from the same recursive phenomenology: one we call a local entanglement, related to perception and sense-making; and a second we call a global entanglement, connected to the process and phenomena of human consciousness and meaning-making, accessible when conceived as a whole. We see the benefits for such a theoretical framework to ultimately guide, justify, and encourage the emergence of an epistemology shift in educational technology towards design principles that account for entangled cognition in immersive learning (and beyond), and the associated possibilities offered by new immersive technologies in education.
- ItemEthical Enactivism for Smart and Inclusive STEAM Learning Design(Elsevier BV, 2023-08) Aguayo, Claudio; Videla, Ronnie; López-Cortés, Francisco; Rossel, Sebastián; Ibacache, CamiloCurrent global challenges of the 21st century promote STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education and digitalization as a means for humans to be the central actors in the construction of a sustainable society that favors a sense of worth and global wellbeing. In this scenario, new educational technology tools and immersive learning affordances (possibilities), offer unprecedented potential for the design of smart and dynamic learning systems and contexts that can enhance learning processes across varied audiences and educational settings. However, current STEAM education practice lacks attention to equipping all citizens with the necessary skills to use digital technologies in an ethical, critical and creative way. This gap calls for attention in design processes, principles and practices that are attentive to ethical considerations and values-based approaches. On the other hand, in its formulation STEAM as an educational approach is framed in four fundamental pillars: creativity, inclusion, citizenship and emerging technologies, which also put attention on the inclusion of disadvantaged and underrepresented social groups during STEAM education design. Following an apparent need to explore ethical and inclusive design in STEAM education, and inspired in the 4E cognition framework, ethical enactivism and embodied and ecosomaesthetics experience design, here we propose a theoretical framework grounded on systems thinking for the design of smart and dynamic STEAM learning systems and settings. The framework is aimed at STEAM educational psychologists, educational technologists, learning designers and educational practitioners who wish to address the global challenges of 21st century education by means of creative, innovative and inclusive education design.
- ItemFieldwork journals on Tonga's 2014 election: what's so funny about that?(Te Ara Poutama, AUT University, 2015) Brown Pulu, TThis essay presents selected passages from the fieldwork journals of Teena Brown Pulu and Richard Pamatatau on Tonga’s 2014 election. Staged on November 27th, here was the second general election under an amended constitution intended to bring about a more democratic system of parliament and government. Woven together are interrelated factors which field researchers like us – academics who craft their written studies on encounters, observations, and conversations gathered from a specific people and place – experience and live through in day-to-day work. Highlighted in this paper are our reflections and recollections as Richard, a journalism academic, and Teena, an anthropologist, researching in the field while fielding a political climate of ordinary folks’ frustration. By this, Tongan people saw the nineteenth century class-system instituted in the 1875 constitution was fixed to the modified political structure introduced in 2010. Therefore, the thread interlacing our journal excerpts to an analysis of what is taking hold in Tongan political life is satire and wit, and how humour is manoeuvred to criticise and critique power and authority.