Mana Wahine & Our Stories

Mana Wahine & Our Stories will give participants a basic understanding of some of the key

concepts related to mana wahine with a particular focus on our pūrākau (ancient stories).

Emphasis will be placed on storytelling. Participants are encouraged (though not required) to

bring their own stories – there will be time for sharing! (again, this is optional and not a

requirement of participation).

The course will cover the following content:

1. Mana wahine, indigenous feminisms, and the ‘F’ word: similarities & differences.

2. The impact of colonization on our stories.

3. Pūrākau: what are pūrākau and how do we utilize them in everyday life?

4. Hei tauira: Storytelling. A look at pūrākau that utilize a mana wahine framing.

5. Using a mana wahine lens to interrupt and frame your own stories. Examples will be

shared from Tauranga Moana and Mōkai Pātea.

Date: Friday March 8th (PST) | Saturday March 9th (NZT)

Time Zones:

Los Angeles - Friday @ 4pm - 5:30pm

New York -  Friday @ 7pm - 8:30pm

Aotearoa -  Saturday @ 1pm - 2:30pm

Sydney/Melbourne - Saturday @ 11am - 12:30pm

Brisbane - Saturday @ 10am - 11:30am

Perth - Saturday @ 8am - 9:30pm

Investment: Koha (donation - pay what you want)

***All koha will go towards providing a scholarship for a Māori wahine living abroad to learn te reo Māori in Dr Hayley's upcoming Learn Māori Abroad Beginners Course.***

FAQ (Answered by Dr Hayley Marama Cavino) 

1) Who is this workshop for? Whose perspective are you speaking from?

Ko Aorangi, ko Kopukairoa ngā maunga

Ko Moawhango, ko Waitao ngā awa

Ko Takitimu, ko Mātaatua ngā waka

Ko Mōkai Pātea te rohe pōtae

Ko Ngāti Whitikaupeka, ko Ngāti Whatumāmoa, ko Ngāti Pūkenga ki Tauranga ngā iwi

Ko Ngāti Whiti-tuturu te hapū

Ko Te Riu o Puanga, Ko Moawhango, ko Te Whetū o Te Rangi ngā marae

Ko Hayley ahau

This workshop is aimed at a broad audience – Māori and tauiwi, those with little or no

understanding of mana wahine and/or pūrākau as well as those with some familiarity with

these concepts. The class will include my own storytelling. There will also be opportunities

for participants to bring and share their own stories—particularly those that are focused on

wahine. Mana wahine is a big kaupapa—much bigger than can be covered in a short session.

That said, we will focus on how mana wahine is represented in our stories. I will be speaking

from my own perspective and experience as a wahine Māori born into a mixed Māori/Pākeha

whanau, raised outside of her rohe and reo but actively reclaiming and recovering

connections to te ao Māori in adulthood. I do not, and can not, possibly represent all

matauranga related to this kaupapa – in fact, no one can. There are as many different

framings and understandings of mana wahine as there are tangata Māori! Every Māori

individual and community will have their own knowledges, understandings, stories, and

tikanga related to this kauapapa. As such, I welcome participants who want to share. It is my

view that we are all knowers, we are all teachers as well as learners, and that ako is a lifelong

journey.

2) What is your aim with this workshop?

My aim is to provide participants with a basic understanding of mana wahine and how this

relates to other indigenous understandings of gender as well as the ‘f word’ (feminism). The

workshop will include a particular focus on pūrākau. I am especially invested in sharing tools

that enable participants to consider our stories with a critical eye, and that also embolden us

to reanimate, rehabilitate and, where necessary, create new versions of our stories that re-

center wahine.

3) What is your background? What experience do you have with this kaupapa?

My name is Hayley Marama Cavino, I was born in New Plymouth and raised both there and

in Putaruru, but I whakapapa primarily to Ngāti Whitikaupeka (Mōkai Pātea ki Central

Plateau) and Ngāti Pūkenga (Tauranga Moana). I also have connections to Te Arawa and

Rongowhakaata as well as English, Irish, Scottish and Jewish whakapapa (through my Māori

mother and English immigrant father). In Aotearoa I have lived my whole life on raupatu

(confiscated) land: first in Taranaki, then Waikato, and now Tauranga Moana. This has very

much shaped my experience of being Māori on this whenua. I am a product of that ongoing

māmae as well as the legacy of strength, resilience and survivance of our people (especially

our wāhine). I have spent much of my working life in academia: I was a bachelors and

masters student in psychology at the University of Waikato in the 1990s and then did a

doctorate at Syracuse University (New York) where I wrote a doctoral thesis on raupatu and

intergenerational trauma in Tauranga Moana, primarily as told through the life stories of three

generations of tupuna wāhine in my whanau. During my graduate studies in the United States

I also completed a Certificate of Advanced Study in Women’s and Gender Studies (also at

Syracuse University). A significant portion of my doctoral work was funded by Te Atawhai o

Te Ao (Whanganui) under Dr Cherryl Smith and supported by Dr Jenny Bol Jun Lee-Morgan

(who has done extensive work on pūrākau). Previously I worked for more than a decade as an

applied researcher, including ‘for Māori, by Māori rangahau conducted in Aotearoa. Most

recently I have taught graduate students in the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies at the

University of Waikato, and for Native American & Indigenous Studies at Syracuse

University. Previously I also taught at Ithaca College (sociology, women’s and gender

studies), and Colgate University (education studies) in New York. Prior to 2023 I lived for

more than twenty years on the traditional territories of the Onondaga Nation, Firekeepers of

the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, with my partner, three sons and a small, excitable Boston

Terrier. I now live in Tauranga Moana, where I am currently writing a non-fiction book based

on my doctoral research. Ngā mihi nui, Hayley.

For more info email us on info@learnmaoriabroad.com.  Ngā mihi!