The Ancestor of Water & The Maori Way with Heni Unwin

EcoJustice Radio

For Indigenous peoples, such as the Māori, Water is an Ancestor, a living entity to be communed with, revered and treated with sacred reciprocity. We spoke with Heni Unwin in 2023 as she shared her perspectives as a Maori descendant and marine scientist. Humanity has a primordial connection to water. For Indigenous peoples, such as the Māori, Water is an Ancestor, a living entity to be communed with, revered and treated with sacred reciprocity. We owe our lives to the oceans, rivers, lakes and streams of the world. And although marine ecosystems have often been viewed and studied through the abstract lens of economics or science, today, traditional Indigenous knowledge and cultural relationships with marine life and water in all its forms, are at the forefront of a new weaving that blends the ancestral past with the present. There is a growing wish to restore traditional concepts of marine and aquatic cultivation and care, to address climate change, microplastics, health of marine life, contaminants, and aquaculture. If water is an ancestor, what is our obligation to it? How do we restore a harmonious relationship with water, that supports future generations of life, and preserves the lifeways and worldviews of Indigenous peoples? What do the waters of the world ask of us? What should stewardship of marine ecosystems look like? What might we learn from the Māori, expert navigators of the waters, who have long held that their relationship to the land and waters is sacred. To them: Nature is everything. In this episode, join Heni Unwin, Kairangahau or Research Scientist with the Cawthron Institute [https://www.cawthron.org.nz/], in pondering these questions from her diverse perspectives as a Māori descendant and marine scientist. For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio Heni Unwin is a marine scientist in Te Kāhui Āio or Māori Research Team [https://www.cawthron.org.nz/our-people/heni-unwin/]. Her main role is to interweave science and Mātauranga Māori – the Maori world view – into research projects. She is passionate about caring for the taiao - the environment – that cares for her. Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, Indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth. Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/ Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/ Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url Executive Producer and Intro: Jack Eidt Hosted by Carry Kim Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats Episode 197