Associate Professor
Alice Te Punga-Somerville
Dr Te Punga Somerville's work is underpinned by her belief that we (Māori, Pacific and/ or Indigenous peoples) are constrained when the stories about us are limited. She therefore focus on texts as evidence, sites and foundations of stories that are far more complex than those that are told about us by other people or even those that are generally told by ourselves.
Dr Te Punga Somerville's MA and PhD focused on Māori written literatures, and as she deliberately sought broader contexts for exploring this writing she developed a twin interest and expertise in Indigenous studies and Pacific studies. She also writes the occasional poem.
Abstract
“A mark on a page:” the uses of use-less research.
Should all Taranaki research have a use? Surely none of us want to do useless research, but how about research that is use-less? In a context in which our communities have so many urgent research needs, how do we think about research desires? In this presentation I will talk about my current use-less research on twentieth century Indigenous writing. With a focus on Taranaki writers and texts, and mindful of the kaupapa of developing Taranaki research networks, I hope to make a case for the potential contributions of research that might not appear to make a contribution.
Connect
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